Drop Toehold

Classic WCW Moments - Dustin Rhodes (formerly Goldust) debuts as Seven on Monday Nitro

WCW spent weeks building up the introduction of this new character with several vignettes and announcements that “Darkness” would soon be upon Nitro.  Rhoades has a great entrance, grabs a mic, and completely trashes the character and WCW in general.

The Vicne Russo era was full of worked shoots along with several different instances of breaking kayfabe.  Along with a storyline where Buff Bagwell refusing to job to anyone, you get a storyline where the wrestler nixes his gimmick live in an attempt to be himself.  Dustin would go on and wrestle in WCW until it’s demise in 2001, and would be stuck in mid-card/jobber hell during that time.

My favorite part is the end where Dustin yells, “You will never, ever forget the name…”, and people scream, “GOLD-DUST!!“  Maybe the “Powers That Be” had a point with Dustin being stale and uninteresting, as we would see Rhoades returning back to Goldust in the WWE and become another gimmick-laced, facepainted character later on in TNA called Black Reign.