6. Goldust
In terms of throwing themselves into a gimmick that could potentially bomb, Dustin Runnels went full throttle with the Goldust gimmick when he was handed it back in 1995. The creepy, bizarre, and sexual nature of this new character shook up fans who were watching the World Wrestling Federation. At that time, the world was a very different place, and the sexually suggestive and often homosexual tone of the character was shocking to most.
This was a time where seeing such behavior wasn’t as commonplace as it is now, and many of Goldust’s opponents would run him down with slurs and terms that simply wouldn’t fly these days. Yet, when you peeled back the suggestive, shock factor of Goldust, there was something still eerie and ominous about the character. As a villain in his early days, Goldust would play all sorts of mind games with his foes, toying with them in a sick manner that was reminiscent of a cat playing with a doomed mouse.
In terms of wrestling gimmicks, Dustin Runnels as Goldust is one of the most successful of all-time, with the character still going strong in the WWE to this very day. Considering that he was often placed in the heavy shadow of his legendary father, “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, Dustin used Goldust to brilliantly step out on his own and become a true star in the wrestling world.
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