1: Goldust’s intentional ambiguity about his character
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It was in May 1997 that the WWE character called Goldust revealed to the world his identity as second generation wrestler, Dustin Runnels. For a year and a half before that, he had been consistently portraying an enigmatic, bizarre, and sexually ambiguous heel whose mannerisms and fetish outfits never failed to draw responses from an irate, heated crowd. Though never explicitly called homosexual throughout his long tenure, Goldust achieved notoriety for his flirtatious and titillating in-ring behaviour. Chiefly used to distract and unsettle opponents, Goldust’s antics included mind games through delirious stalking, groping, cuddling, suggestively crawling over an immobilised opponent to hover around their mouth, and in one instance with Ahmed Johnson, settling for a kiss.
In an interview with Kayfabe Wrestling Radio in July, 2012, Runnels iterated how Vince McMahon had used the term “androgynous” while discussing the character for the first time. The period was 1995 and WWE was slowly slipping into a turf war with rival promotion WCW. The conception of a character as controversial as Goldust was only proper in such a case where the company sought to spike its television ratings. Having fallen out with his father Dusty Rhodes who was working in WCW then,Runnels had just had a child with Marlena (Terri Runnels) and was looking for a job. Perhaps with a gimmick as brazen as this, the WWE sought to take a dig at Dusty and correspondingly, WCW.
There have been instances when Goldust has denied any charge of stock homoerotic behaviour. Besides the introduction of Marlena as his valet/lover, the probability of it being a psychological ploy also discounts such claims. Once a movie and gold guzzling drag artist, Goldust has, especially since the late 2000s, shrunk into a residue of his previously salacious self. Despite his over the top mannerisms, his contribution to the company’s success is unparalleled. An incomparable ring worker, dedicated to his craft and daring in his endeavours, Goldust was perhaps one of the truest embodiments of the impudence which WWE of the late 90s sought to impart into itself.
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