Goldust became one of the most sexually charged and controversial characters WWE ever unleashed, but Dustin Rhodes wasn’t exactly sprinting toward Vince McMahon’s full vision when the gimmick first landed in his lap. Rhodes now admits there was a point where Vince wanted Goldust pushed further than he was comfortable going — and Dustin flat-out wasn’t ready to cross that line.
While speaking with Inside The Ropes, Rhodes opened up about those awkward early months of Goldust, when the makeup, bodysuit and bizarre presentation were there, but the character still wasn’t clicking. Dustin was young, still learning the business and trying to figure out whether Vince had handed him a career-making opportunity or another joke at the Rhodes family’s expense.
Dustin admitted that thought absolutely crossed his mind after watching what WWE had done with Dusty Rhodes and the infamous polka dots. Still, instead of fighting the gimmick from day one, he decided to jump in and see where it went.
“I was so young in the business then still, you know, very green still to a sense and, but still really hungry. So I didn’t look at, okay, Vince did this to my dad, this is what he’s doing to me. I question it just a little bit, but I went full into it, man. I mean, you come in our business, in our industry, or you were raised in a wrestling family like Cody and myself, that is in our blood. It’s what we do. It’s what we love. It’s our passion.”
Going all-in didn’t mean Dustin suddenly understood Goldust. He admitted that for months he basically had no idea what he was doing once the bell rang, and learning how to play such an over-the-top character while also becoming a heel made things even harder.
“And so, I made it my passion to make this Goldust character. Finally, after years and years and years of loved, and it took a long time. For the first six months I had no clue of what I was doing out there with the Goldust character and trying to be a heel. So I had two things right there against me that I had to learn.”
Then came the real problem. Vince wasn’t looking for Dustin to simply wear gold paint and act strange. According to Rhodes, McMahon wanted the character to go much deeper into its androgynous presentation, and Dustin wasn’t comfortable taking things that far at first.
“I had to learn how to be a heel. And I’d only been a babyface in WCW. And I had to learn this character, which I did not want to go over the line and be the total androgynous like Vince wanted. So, it took a while for me to get there, you know, because—and I wasn’t getting the crowd reactions for the first six, seven months. I’m learning how to be a heel, but the character’s not coming around.”
That hesitation makes even more sense when looking back at how the character was pitched. Rhodes previously revealed that Vince McMahon was the driving force behind the Goldust concept and specifically wanted the character to be androgynous, something Dustin didn’t even fully understand when he first heard the idea.
Dustin was also dealing with plenty of family drama at the time. He has previously discussed his falling out with Dusty Rhodes around the Goldust era, meaning he was trying to establish himself outside his father’s shadow while WWE was asking him to become something completely unlike anything wrestling fans had seen from him before.
Of course, Dustin eventually stopped holding back, and that’s when Goldust turned into the freakishly uncomfortable heat magnet WWE wanted from the start. The touching, mind games and sexual tension became part of the character’s DNA, but Rhodes’ latest comments make it clear that getting there involved a lot more hesitation than fans ever saw on television.
Goldust eventually became a WWE icon because Dustin Rhodes was willing to go places most wrestlers wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole. The wild part is that the very thing that made the gimmick unforgettable was also the thing Dustin initially wanted absolutely no part of.
What do you think about Dustin Rhodes admitting he resisted Vince McMahon’s full vision for Goldust? Would the character have ever become as memorable if Dustin never pushed himself past that comfort zone? Leave your feedback in the comments below.
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