10 Things About Goldust's Career That Makes No Sense
Ava Bailey Dustin Rhodes gave his all to the Goldust character and every other chapter of his legendary career. The lengthy run has seen Dustin now perform in five different decades after performing for AEW in the 2020s. Fans have loved the work of Rhodes from his strong in-ring performances to the overall character work that hit the mark.
RELATED: Every Version Of Dustin Rhodes, Ranked From Worst To Best
WWE, WCW, TNA, AEW, and a few other promotions have been home to performances by Dustin. There have been certain elements of his career either on-screen or behind the scenes that lead to confusion. Wrestling can often lack common sense or logic in the wrong scenarios. Find out more about the times that led to us scratching our heads with things about Goldust’s career that made little to no sense.
10 The Blue Meanie Becoming His Mascot
WWE started to sign more talents from ECW as the Attitude Era led to greater success in the Monday Night Wars. The Blue Meanie was one of the more unusual signings since he wasn’t viewed as a major star or good in-ring worker.
RELATED: 10 Backstage Stories About Goldust We Can't Believe
Goldust’s character was the main reason for Meanie’s presence with the former ECW talent becoming his mascot. The name Bluedust was given to Meanie in a storyline that did nothing for either wrestler at the time and provided little logic altogether.
9 Tag Team Run With QT Marshall
AEW has given Dustin Rhodes a chance to show his skills again in a major promotion. Dustin requested his release shortly before AEW started running events to get the chance to work with his brother Cody Rhodes again.
The long-term angle for Dustin was getting placed in a tag team with Cody’s friend QT Marshall. There was little thought put into their team, but they did have some strong matches. QT eventually splitting away to do his own thing was never explained until an eventual heel turn on Cody and his Nightmare Family faction.
8 WCW Firing Him For Bleeding In Taped Match
One of the strangest match concepts in WCW history featured Dustin Rhodes and The Blacktop Bully having a King of the Road match. Both wrestlers fought in a caged-off trailer on a truck with WCW filming it days in advance of a PPV.
Dustin and Blacktop each bladed to add blood to the violent match, but that was against the company’s rules at the time. WCW fired both performers despite having more than enough time to film it again or edit out moments they didn’t want.
7 Feud With Booker T Being Dropped
WWE found huge success with the odd couple tag team of Booker T and Goldust. The duo had instant chemistry that allowed them to thrive in the hilarious backstage segments or filmed comedic bits that got over with the audience.
There was a mysterious angle a year after the team ended with Booker getting warning messages from someone who was once close to him. Goldust was obviously the person in question, but he was released without WWE ever paying it off as they dropped the angle afterwards.
6 Helping Jonathan Coachman Vs Batista
The strange match between Jonathan Coachman and Batista at Taboo Tuesday 2005 saw Batista replacing Steve Austin. That wasn’t the only thing about the match or angle to make little overall sense.
Coachman received the outside interference of Goldust and Vader attacking Batista. Neither man was under WWE contract nor did they have an established presence in the angle. Coachman having two random names from the past help him didn’t help their careers at the time.
5 The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust Character Change
WWE has been known for having issues of ruining a good thing with their characters and gimmicks. Goldust worked even if the act wasn’t moving him further up the card. The gimmick could have existed for the rest of the Attitude Era with Terri Runnels at his side.
RELATED: Rhodes Family: 5 Reasons Cody Is The Better Brother (& 5 Why It's Dustin)
A big twist would see Goldust turning his back on Terri to start a heel run as The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust. Luna Vachon became the new love interest of Goldust as he started delivering pointless parodies of other wrestlers like Triple H, Chyna, Dude Love, and even his dad Dusty Rhodes. The idea went nowhere, and he was forced to go back to Goldust.
4 Marriage With Aksana
The original concept of NXT featured Goldust becoming a trainer in the third season of all female wrestlers. Names like AJ Lee, Kaitlyn, and Naomi found long-term success, but Aksana was the woman paired with Goldust.
The two entered a romantic storyline with little overall logic involved. Aksana tried to get heel heat when breaking up with Goldust, but the angle went nowhere. Few fans even remember the marriage segment that featured Cody and Dusty appearing on NXT to attend.
3 Teasing Big Announcement With No Reveal
The final WWE run of Goldust was a disappointment after his tag teams with Cody Rhodes and R-Truth each ended. Fans were unsure about what was next when Goldust turned on R-Truth to start his heel run of the time.
Goldust cut promos claiming the “Golden Age” was back and had huge teases for a big reveal of his “newest masterpiece” at SummerSlam 2018. There was no presence of Goldust at the event and the angle was never mentioned again. Online speculation indicates that Mandy Rose was meant to get paired with Goldust before WWE changed their minds at the last minute.
2 Seven Gimmick Fakeout
The return of Dustin Rhodes to WCW in 1999 was to see Vince Russo giving him a big push. There were weeks of vignettes featuring a mysterious character named Seven with his body painted white while dressed in all black.
Dustin was meant to portray a darker character, but WCW’s standards and practices axed Russo’s idea. The vignettes featured Seven outside of the window of children, leading to the company not wanting the implications of him being a child abductor. WCW had Dustin re-debut by removing the hat and cutting a worked shoot promo claiming he would be himself to utter confusion from the viewers.
1 Roddy Piper Facing Him At WrestleMania 12
Many fans would name Goldust’s best match as the Hollywood Backlot Brawl against "Rowdy" Roddy Piper at WrestleMania 12. Piper was never meant to be in this match as WWE set up the stipulation for Goldust and Razor Ramon.
A suspension for Scott Hall removed him from the match, especially since he was planning to jump ship to WCW months later. WWE went with Piper getting added at the last minute without a strong build, but they delivered a spectacle in what was the original cinematic match.
