Former WWE Star Dustin Rhodes reminisces the birth and evolution of one of the most bizarre characters on WWE TV, Goldust.
After signing with WWE in 1995, Dustin Rhodes, the son of the Hall of Famer, Dusty Rhodes, was given the character of “Goldust”. He was involved in obscene storylines and was given the moniker “The Bizzare One”.
The Birth
Dustin dropped his natural in-ring character to pick up the character of ‘Goldust’ because of Vince Mcmahon. Vince pitched ideas that seemed scandalous to Dustin. Vince wanted him to play the role of a freaky androgynous wrestler.
In an interview with Thunder Rosa on Taco Vlog Dustin said:
“Had no idea what any of the things he [Vince McMahon] was telling me meant, like being androgynous and things like that, until I hung up the phone and would look in the dictionary and figured out. What did I just sign up for, right?” Rhodes continued. “But after all that, I said, ‘You know what? Let’s give it a try.’
The original concept of Goldust was different. Vince wanted Goldust to be completely effeminate with a wig and pink blush. Dustin was okay with the wig but not with the blush. He admired guys like Sting wearing face paint in WCW and decided to paint his face. Vince instructed him to keep it as uncanny as possible and so we got to see Dustin’s face painted in Gold while his eyes, lips, and ears were painted black.
Evolution
After his debut as ‘Goldust’, Dustin went ahead to win the IC championship a few months later. Dustin recalled how he loved working with Savio Vega, the man who helped Goldust evolve.
“Savio Vega was such a good worker, man,” Rhodes recalled. “And I give him a lot of credit for bringing Goldust out. He kept wanting for weeks and a couple of months for me to just do these things that I wasn’t comfortable with. And I finally broke down in Madison Square Garden – a huge Puerto Rican community.
He’s there, I’m the Intercontinental Champion, we go in, and I finally tell him, ‘OK, fine. Let’s do it.’ And it was so simple but I built it up in my head to be so, ‘I’m against that. I can’t do that, that’s not me.’ Whatever. I was scared, right?
The two superstars were scheduled to compete in a singles match. During the match, Goldust pulled tricks that annoyed the fans. He had the fans throwing obscenities at him. In pro wrestling, if fans hate you, you’re doing a good job as a heel. Goldust pulled moves that were indecent to watch and it got a rise out of the fans.
This led to the evolution of Alter Ego of Dustin Rhodes. Dustin never wanted to act handsy but embracing the role of Goldust made him a true professional.
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