Back in the day before the internet was good for anything (they say its existed for years but come on…) when someone showed up in wrestling you didn’t have any warning. They just appeared and either you said “Hey, I just saw this guy on ESPN” like I did with 123 Kidd or you remembered them from WCW, USWA, or whatever. No spoilers. No twitter updates about it. Hell, the dirt sheets came out every few months so by the time someone debuted it was old news.
So when Goldust showed up with his vignettes I didn’t know what to think. I had seen flamboyant wrestlers. I had seen strange wrestlers. I had seen creepy wrestlers. But at this point in my poor childhood I had never seen someone combine all three of them. Not since Goldust has anyone made a vignette that made me go “What the hell is this guy about?!” He made me feel uncomfortable. Yeah. That’s the best way to put it. Goldust made me feel uncomfortable.
When he made his Raw debut against Savio Vega who was just on episode 177 of Tha O Show he didn’t even use his finisher. He worked Savio’s arm most of the match and use it in a pin that could not be kicked out of. When I was younger I thought it was a kinda lame way to debut but as a grown ass man it makes perfect sense.
His feud with Razor Ramon at The Rotal Rumble was so cool. Watch Goldust in the corner before the match starts! Sending telegrams to the ring for Razor. Drawing a heart on his chest with Razor written in the middle When they finally hooked up that match was awesome for the commentary alone.
I cant believe that all these years later he still wrestles. People like to talk about who is overrated and who is underrated. Goldust is underrated. This guy has gone through so many different changes to his look, he left for WCW and became a new character, he popped up in TNA as someone else, and seamlessly appeared back in WWE looking to be in better shape than he has in years. Goldust can make me laugh, make children cry, or make parents do a whole lot of explaining later on.
Though I grew up liking far more technically sound wrestler, Goldust will always hold a special place for his all out strangeness. Click here to watch his match against Savio, here to watch some of his vignettes, and here for his match versus Razor Ramon.
In the words of my late brother.
"Thats fucking Dustin Rhodes?!"
6 comments: on "Tha Classics Part 2"
Great article man... Totally agree on the Goldust vignettes. I put those in the same level as those of the Undertakers early days, and Jake Roberts.
And i literally just popped when i read your mention of seeing 123 Kid on ESPN. I thought i was the only one who watched that crap... I say crap because they would never show chair shots but instead pan the crowd for their reaction and the few times they didn't show the crowd instead they put a large X on the screen so you couldn't see it... if my memory serves me correctly, back then 123 went by the name of the Lightning Kid.
I started getting into wrestling around Wrestlemania V when I was 10 or 11, and I recall there being re-runs of World Class that were running on ESPN that were a year or 2 old, which was pretty mind-blowing, because all of a sudden, guys like Cactus Jack and Stunning Steve Austin, who I had just watched after school on Friday were popping up in NWA/WCW that weekend. I was also catching earlier glimpses of guys I already knew, like the Freebirds, The Ultimate (Dingo) Warrior, and Rick Rude. Others, like Lightning Kid, Percy Pringle, and Kerry Von Erich would follow. Seven days a week of wrestling, split between 3 or 4 feds, was AWESOME as a kid. Hell, it'd be awesome NOW!
Another good article. And as a Goldust fan, it makes it even better. I think Goldust could be repushed now, but I doubt that happening.
when Goldust brought little goldust to raw b4 i got scared lol
As much of a belt mark I am at times, I dont mind if I dont see Goldust with another belt. I'm just glad he isn't falling apart and is still a strange bastard.
P.A, thanks for the comment. I do believe he was known as Lightning Kidd back then and he was just this skinny ass dude that was clean shaven and got his ass whipped every week when he was on Superstars and whatnot.
PlanB (I always shorten your name because I'm an ass), my brother was a huge fan of Austin back then but I didnt take a shine to him until he was a Hollywood Blond. I was a HUGE Kevin Von Eric fan because the Iron Claw was the only move I could do with my freakish hands. Fuck. I wanna watch these matches!
Anonymous, I think Goldust messed with all of us at some point. Thank you all for the comments!
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