Last night on Raw, viewers saw an old-school Goldust style promo, something first brought to WWE over 20 years ago. After splitting with his “Golden Truth” partner, R-Truth, it appears Goldust, as in the old Goldust, might be in line for a push.
Goldust’s First WWE Run
48-year old Dustin Runnels made his WWE debut in 1990. He was wrestling as Dustin Rhodes then, but when he returned to the company 5 years later, they had entirely different plans for him.
The WWE Universe was first introduced to Goldust through a series of bizarre vignettes that began airing in the fall of 1995.
He would make his in-ring debut that October, at an In Your House PPV.
The character immediately moved into some controversial storylines. It was heavily alluded to during his feud with Razor Ramon, that Goldust either had a sexual interest in his rival, or was trying to play mind games with him.
Check out Goldust distract Razor Ramon during his match with a young Jeff Hardy:
After feuding with Razor Ramon, Goldust moved into a program with Roddy Piper leading to WrestleMania XII, and their famous “Hollywood Backlot Brawl”.
Over the course of the next year Goldust would feud with various good guys on the roster. A rivalry once built between he and Ahmed Johnson, after Goldust insisted on giving him mouth-to-mouth recitation after having been knocked out.
This led to Ahmed and Goldust meeting at the 1996 King of the Ring:
The First End to Goldust
By 1997 the gimmick was waning a little. Vignettes of a happy Dustin Runnels and wife Terri began to air, as they played up that his true self was a family man. This started a feud with Brian Pillman that would end prematurely due to Brian’s tragic death.
Pillman defeated Goldust at SummerSlam 97, with the stipulation being that Pillman got Marlena (Terri) for 30 days. Pillman died before the conclusion of the angle.
Dustin then ended up turning on Marlena, and ending their marriage in storyline. Their real marriage would end in 1999.
The Artist Formerly Known As GoldustÂ
With the Attitude Era in full-swing, WWE could take the Goldust character farther than they had before. He was paired up with Luna Vachon, and became “the Artist Formerly Known as Goldust”.
WWE ended up landing in some hot water with upset parent groups in the late 90s and certain characters ended up being changed, Goldust’s being one of them.
Dustin Runnels returned, and started to speak out against WWE’s edgy storylines and characters, a subtle shot from WWE to their real-life detractors.
Runnels became a born-again Christian and began speaking of “His Return”. He was speaking about the Goldust character however.
Goldust would feud with Jeff Jarrett and Al Snow in his final months of his first run as the character. He ended up in a rather bizarre angle with the Blue Meanie as well, leading to a match between the two of them at the St. Valentines Day Massacre PPV in 1999. I searched all over YouTube and this angle is nowhere to be found. It’s on the Network however.
Signing with WCW
Dustin signed with WCW in 1999, after Vince Russo took over the booking. Russo tried to re-imagine the Goldust character as a darker more sadistic persona. He was named “Seven”, but after reactions to the vignettes underwhelmed, he simply wrestled as Dustin Runnels until the company went out of business.
His appearance in WCW in 1999 solidified that the initial run of the Goldust character was over. He’d be back in WWE, but his character slowly moved away from edgy towards a comedy act.
That initial first-run of Goldust is one of the most controversial in wrestling history.
