H Jenkins on January 20, 2021
Goldust made the pro wrestling world pay attention to him in a big way. His androgynous flamboyant character captivated audiences. It also apparently caused some people to write angry letters.
During Off the SKript, Vince Russo told a story about how Goldust’s gimmick came to an end. Vince McMahon suddenly made the decision to stop the gimmick after complaints were sent in to the USA Network.
“Bro, one day Vince [Vince McMahon] calls me in and is like, ‘[Throat-slitting gesture] It’s over, it’s done.’ I mean, there was no [argument] because it was affecting business. Bro, what do you do? We go from that guy to Dustin Rhodes? What could you possibly do?”
“I felt so freaking bad for Dustin, man. That was business, bro. It was USA, it was sponsors. We started getting a lot of calls and they just cut it loose, man. That was it.”
The Goldust character didn’t go away forever. Dustin Rhodes portrayed that character until he left WWE.
There was certainly a time when Goldust was upsetting people with his outlandish antics. He broke ground during that time while causing a bit of controversy in the process.
January 20, 2021 11:56 pm
Disqus Comments Loading...
