Lately a lot of people have been writing articles about undiscovered or favorite wrestlers in promotions and I figured I would join in on the fun. However, for me, one of my favorite superstars is a little eccentric, a little bizarre. After all, he is the man in gold: Goldust.
I’ve been a fan of Goldust since I was a young kid because he was different, he was contraversial, and I think a weird part of me liked him because he was gold. You hear today that most heel wrestlers have an obsession with gold (meaning titles), well Goldust started the original obsession with gold.
I personally felt Goldust was his best when he was in his originally, drag queen, camp, hollyweird, golden age of hollywood state of mind. The comedy act with him doesn’t really work for me, but it does sell well. He could get into people’s heads like probably few wrestlers can, probably the only one who does mind games better would be the Undertaker.
I think things went bad for him when he ended up getting divorced from Terri who was playing Marlena and they hooked him up with Luna. Nothing against Luna, but she turned him into a freak, when he should have been left alone with his gimmick. It was good when they took her away from him but putting him with the Blue Meanie and Ryan Shamrock was a horrific decision that once again slowed down the great character that is Goldust.
Then came his tag team with Booker T after making a return at the Royal Rumble and earning back a contract in the WWE and having a brief Hardcore title feud with Maven. The gold weapons were classic, as I remember watching a Hardcore title match between the two on my TV when our reception to UPN was pretty staticy or the colors would look weird. I orginally thought I was seeing things when the weapons were gold but as more came out, it made sense and made me laugh.
The tag team with Booker T was a classic comedy/odd couple pairing that worked out well, even though I’m not a Booker T fan, I liked him here. I wish the two would have gotten more credit as a tag team but alas, not to be. Of course when they split, they once again turned Goldust into a joker after Evolution threw him into an electrical box.
I thought that had run its course but as we’ve seen on RAW recently, it still exists, which is sad.
However, back tracking, Goldust would be away for awhile until he made a return as part of the Cyber Sunday voting with Piper and Honky Tonk Man for an Intercontinental Championship match against Santino.
I was a little surprised to see how close that vote came, as I think it signaled to Vince that people like Goldust. After all, Piper and HTM were solid picks and fan favorites for sure, but to see the vote go 35-34-31, I think it caught a lot of attention.
Now, instead of taking these signs of fan interaction and fans wanting Goldust back and I’m going out on a limb and saying they want old Goldust back, Vince blows it off and gives us more comedy sketches. I did like the Christmas one he did as it was actually quite funny.
Now, here today, we see that Goldust is part of the ECW roster. Here is hoping that because it’s on Sci-Fi, we might get our old Goldust back, mind games and all, because you put him against any one of the more masculine guys like Christian, or Tommy Dreamer, or anyone else they bring into the fold and you’ve got promo gold and possibly match gold as well.
I could even see if he is truly on form and in good enough shape, a run, however brief as the ECW Champion because ECW is a devlopmental brand as I stated in a previous article and who knows, maybe for all the Shelton fans out there, you could see him get to the top in a Gold Standard vs Goldust feud. Anything is possible, right? I know it is me being an optimist but I still think under the right circumstances Goldust can be a star again.
I hope that by reading this article you understand why I am a “Hardcore Goldust Mark” and maybe gain a new found respect for the man in Gold.