The Many Faces Of Goldust Ranked From Worst To Best

by John Bills

1. The Original Goldust

Goldust WWF
WWE.com

After being fired from WCW because of the King of the Road blading incident, Dustin Runnels signed with the then-WWF. It wasn't a blockbuster signing but it was still a big deal: a former singles champion from the competition and the son of an all-time great could only be a big deal. However, his incarnation in Stamford was not what most expected.

Autumn 1995 saw the birth of a truly iconic character. Goldust was unique in professional wrestling even then, a sexually-ambiguous weirdo with face paint and a bodysuit who was completely and utterly obsessed with gold. Goldust had mind games won before his matches would begin, his intense inhalation and biting noises throwing competitors off before the bell had even been rung.

Goldust was successful too, defeating Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship within a few months of making his debut. Goldust was a major upper tier performer during his initial couple of years in the WWF, a top level heel who commanded secondary championships and would slide into main event slots with ease. This was Goldust as fans most lovingly remember him.

Dustin Runnels has seen the highest of highs and the lowest of lows during his 25+ years in the wrestling business, and more so than most it is Dustin who shows how brittle the line between stupidity and genius is. Goldust and Black Reign may well be similar characters on paper but in practice they could not have been further from each other.

One must try to forget the name of Black Reign, but wrestling fans will never forget the name of (dramatic breathing and gesturing)... Goldust.

Advertisement
In this post: 
Goldust
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.