Imagine for a moment...if you will, growing up as the son of a legend like The American Dream Dusty Rhodes.
Dusty was one of the most beloved faces to ever grace a squared circle in any company, at anytime, anywhere on the planet. He was a trend-setter, and innovator and a dreamer in every sense of the term.
Dusty left a mark on the industry that will last an eternity and as a fan, I will never forget his contributions to the business. Professional wrestling is better today, as a result of his efforts.
When your father is someone of that stature, greatness is your destiny and of course, professional wrestling is likely to be in your future.
It was only a matter of time before both Cody and Dustin had to decide if they would indeed follow in theory father's footsteps and thankfully, they made the choice to do just that.
The year was 1988 and a 19 years young Dustin Runnels steps into a ring for the first time as a professional wrestler, facing Bob Cook in Tampa, at the now defunct Championship Wrestling from Florida.
Just a couple of months after his debut, Dustin would make his way to Turner Broadcasting's World Championship Wrestling, commonly known as WCW and from there, his career would takeoff.
Dustin would go on to see the world, wrestling all over the country and abroad. He would not only wrestle for WCW, but he would also find success in Japan as well. Also, prior to the birth of the Goldust character, he would sign with WWF as "Dustin Rhodes, but only for a short time before heading back to WCW for a five year stint.
In 1995, at the WCW Uncensored pay-per-view, Dustin would compete in a match against "The Blacktop Bully," who was actually Barry Darsow, or "Smash" from Demolition. During the match, both men would blade one another, which is a practice that was banned by WCW officials and heavily frowned upon at the time.
Ultimately, Dustin and Darsow would both be terminated by the company for the incident.
After being out of work for several months, Dustin would get a phone call from Bruce Pritchard. Bruce told Dustin that Vince had a character in mind that he wanted to run by him, to see if maybe he would be interested in trying out.
The character was described as "androgynous." Dustin explained during an interview recently, that he had no clue what androgynous meant. The only thing going through his mind, was the fact that he had been out of work for six months, so without much thought...Dustin would accept.
On October 22, 1995, the world would get their first taste of "The Bizarre One," Goldust. In his debut match as the character, Goldust would defeat Marty Jannetty at the In Your House 4 pay-per-view. Needless to say, that debut was the start of something that would change his life.
Goldust would go on to shock everyone by defeating Razor Ramon at the 1995 Royal Rumble, where he captured the Intercontinental Championship for the first time. This was also the debut of his valet, Marlena.
From that point, Goldust had plenty of quality feuds, against several top-tier talents, including "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Ahmed Johnson and the Ultimate Warrior, just to name a few.
Goldust would come and go, taking the occasional break from the machine known as WWE, all the way up to what we see today. Even at 47 years old, Goldust is a back with WWE, for what is likely his swan song, so to speak.
Nearing 50 years old, even The Bizarre One isn't immune to father time.
Looking back at his career, even if you take out "Dustin Rhodes," Se7en, Black Reign and all the other gimmicks and just consider the Goldust persona alone, you have to acknowledge what he has accomplished. We are talking about a character that could've easily been an ultimate failure.
Seriously, this type of taboo gimmick would've potentially killed the careers of anyone else who would have taken on such a task. Goldust is something that should have never worked. You were supposed to roll your eyes and turn the chance else when you a man wearing a wig and makeup.
You were never supposed to support or better yet, accept this as a part of professional wrestling. What were you thinking?!? I guess the jokes on the person who predicted failure, because not only did we accept Goldust...we embraced him.
Goldust worked, not because of some sort of super-push from Vince, because there never was such a thing. Don't get me wrong, Goldie did carry the Intercontinental title not once, but three times. However, Goldust was never a main-event star.
But, he was one of those who was destined to be great, with or without the accolades of a "top guy." This is an instance in which there was no title necessary to define who he was, or how far he would go. Goldust was one of the few personas who made it without headlining top pay-per-view events.
As I said, we are probably near the end of this Golden experience. What a privilege it has been to watch Dustin take this thing from a "bizarre" idea...to a household name. He's competed with the greats and scratched the bottom with the underdogs, but when it was all said and done, over 20 years ago, Dustin Runnels took chicken crap...and turned it into chicken salad.
So, now let's answer the big question. When this ride comes to an end, when he puts the gold face-paint away for the final time and finally decides this thing has ran it's course...is Goldust worthy of being inducted into WWE's Hall of Fame?
Seriously? Of course he is.
Thank you, Goldust.
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