Current ‘Raw’ Star Bringing Back Old Gimmick From Before The Attitude Era — How Far Will WWE Let Him Go?
One month ago, Goldust turned full heel on Monday Night Raw by attacking his tag team partner R-Truth, but no one realized just how far he would go. The heel turn was rather strange as he just turned 48 years old and hasn’t been a key player on the WWE Roster in a long time. Still, the company is devoting a good deal of time to Goldust as he appears to be returning to his pre-Attitude Era gimmick with the comeback of “The Golden Age.”
Throughout his almost 30-year career, Dustin Runnels/Rhodes has had a handful of gimmicks across numerous promotions such as WWE, WCW, TNA Impact Wrestling, AJPW, and others. He is most well known for donning the gold and black facepaint and wrestling in a skintight gold suit as Goldust.
When he attacked R-Truth, everyone just thought it was the end of their partnership and that both superstars wouldn’t be seen much more. Now, they’re both showing up in promos and vignettes each week on Raw and Goldust is being sold as a true heel.
This past week, Goldust said something very interesting in his vignette as recapped by Wrestling Inc. when he finished by saying, “The Golden Age…is back.”
Some people may not realize just how far back the Goldust character goes in wrestling history, but it started way back in 1995. Dustin Rhodes made his return to WWF and debuted a weird character who wore a long blonde wig to the ring and a gold satin robe draped in feathers.
Goldust would talk about making movies and being from Hollywood while being an overly sexual character that walked a fine line of what was acceptable on television. That character was in and out of WWE before, during, and after the Attitude Era, but a lot of things have changed.
SE Scoops has a great retrospective of Goldust’s first WWE run which featured him not only acting sexually, but doing so toward his male opponents. There is no doubt that he dabbled on the edge of shock TV and even more so when he was paired with Luna Vachon as “The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust.”
“Ignorance can be beautiful, but just like beauty, nothing lasts forever…unless you’re made of GOLD!” – @Goldust #RAW pic.twitter.com/EiLtxxcUfl
— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) June 13, 2017
Many years ago, WWE switched to PG, family-friendly programming where the majority of the Attitude Era was long gone. The cursing, pure sexuality, and blood were all taken out of storylines and programming to reach bigger audiences, but that included a very toned-down Goldust.
With as much time as WWE is giving to the Goldust vignettes to have him return to “The Golden Age,” it is hard to think he won’t be a bigger part of storylines from this point forward. Once he disposes of R-Truth, Goldust could end up in the Intercontinental Title picture on Monday Night Raw and create some brand new feuds that have never been seen before. With a return to his golden roots, it will be interesting to see how far the company is willing to let him go.
[Featured Image by WWE]
