The son of the legendary wrestler/booker Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes can be seen by fans these days on All Elite Wrestling. Before that, however, he made his biggest impression on fans in WWE. There, as the face-painted Goldust, Rhodes has enjoyed numerous stints in the company, functioning as androgynous heel, absurd comic relief, and even an underdog babyface alongside his tag team partner and real-life brother Cody Rhodes.
Debuting in 1988, Rhodes spent much of the first 13 years of his career bouncing between WWE and World Championship Wrestling. Because the former eventually won the Monday Night War, Rhodes’ WCW run tends to be overshadowed by his time in WWE. As a result, there are lots of things fans may have forgotten about “The Natural” from his time where the big boys play.
10 The Texas Broncos
After cutting his teeth in the original Florida Championship Wrestling (not to be confused with WWE developmental version), Dustin Rhodes debuted in WCW in the fall of 1988. There, he functioned as a tag team specialist, teaming with another second generation talent in Kendall Windham — son of Blackjack Mulligan and brother of Four Horsemen member Barry Windham — as the Texas Broncos. The Bronco’s run would be brief, lasting until only early 1989 and yielding no title shots.
9 Feud With The York Foundation
February of 1989 saw Dustin Rhodes following his father Dusty over to WWE, but the younger Rhodes would return to WCW in early 1991 as “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes. One of his first major feuds would be with The York Foundation, a stable of former babyfaces turned heels in business suits, all managed by Alexandra York, better known as Rhodes’ future wife Terri Runnels. After rejecting a recruitment offer from York, Rhodes got into a feud with the Foundation’s Terry Taylor (renamed “Terrance Taylor”), leading to a singles match where he defeated Taylor.
8 Six-Man Tag Team Champion
One forgotten aspect of Dustin Rhodes’ WCW career involves one of the promotion’s forgotten belts: the WCW Six-Man Tag Team Championship. Established in February 1991, the title would only last until November, suffering from a lack of teams to compete for it.
It was on a late August episode of WCW Worldwide where Dustin Rhodes teamed with The Z-Man and Big Josh (a.k.a. Matt Borne, the original Doink) to defeat The Fabulous Freebirds, kicking off a 64-day reign that would end at the hands of Dustin’s rivals, The York Foundation.
7 Tag Team Champion With Ricky Steamboat
Forming a tag team with Kendall Windham’s brother Barry, Dustin Rhodes would score a tag team title shot at The Enforcers, Arn Anderson and Larry Zbyszko, but a unfortunate injury would leave Rhodes without a partner. When it came time for the big match at Clash of the Champions 17, a surprise replacement would be revealed in the form of a returning Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. What followed would be an acclaimed match that would end with Rhodes and Steamboat as tag team champions.
6 Tagging With Barry Windham
After dropping the tag belts to Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton at a house show, Rhodes would resume teaming with Barry Windham, with more success to follow as the duo beat “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and Terry Gordy for the Tag Team Championship on an episode of WCW Saturday Night. Their run would last 58 days before they lost the belts to Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas at Clash of the Champions 21 in November of 1992. Following the match, the duo would break up, as Windham would turn heel on Rhodes.
5 War Games Matches
Because the most famous War Games matches in WCW involved the Four Horsemen of the nWo, it’s easy for fans to forget that Dustin Rhodes took part in three consecutive iterations of the match. WrestleWar 1992 saw Rhodes taking on the Dangerous Alliance and in Fall Brawl 1994 he teamed with his Dad and the Nasty Boys against the Stud Stable, but the match between those two is the strangest and most forgotten. At Fall Brawl 1993, to take on Sid Vicious, Big Van Vader, and Harlem Heat, Rhodes teamed with not only Sting and Davey Boy Smith, but also randomly The Shockmaster in a poorly received affair.
4 Fired Over King Of The Road Match
WCW’s 1995 pay-per-view Uncensored delivered a bizarre gimmick in the King of the Road match, a pre-taped affair where Dustin Rhodes and Blacktop Bully brawled in the back of a moving truck. Blacktop Bully would come the victor in the match, but ultimately both men would lose.
In spite of WCW’s “no blood” rule, both men bladed during the course of the match, which resulted in Bully and Rhodes both getting fired from WCW. From there, Rhodes would sign to WWE, where he’d debut as Goldust.
3 The American Nightmare
Fans may be aware of Dustin Rhodes’ abortive WCW character, Seven. Hyped as a spooky, sinister force in vignettes ahead of Rhodes’ 1999 WCW return, the gimmick reportedly caught some flack with the TV network because Seven came off as a child predator. Rhodes dropped the gimmick the moment he debuted in a work shoot, but what he took in its place is certainly of modern interest. From there, Rhodes became “The American Nightmare,” a nickname that his brother Cody would later adopt.
2 Match Against Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan and Dusty Rhodes have worked in the same pro wrestling company on multiple occasions, but the two stars have only ever met in the ring one time ever. It happened on the 3/22/2000 episode of WCW Thunder, the result of Rhodes challenging Hogan earlier in the episode. Their clash would initially end in DQ after Rhodes hit Hogan with a cowbell, but the referee restarted the match, forcing Rhodes to compete or face a fine. Upon returning to the ring, Dustin Rhodes would immediately eat a big boot and a leg drop from the Hulkster for a pinfall loss.
1 Feud With Jeff Jarrett
Dustin Rhodes’ biggest rival during the final years of WCW would be Jeff Jarrett thanks to Rhodes’ costing Jarrett the match in a tournament final for the vacant WCW World Title. A Bunkhouse Brawl would ensue at Starrcade ‘99, with Jarrett defeating Rhodes. By 2001, their rivalry would incorporate Dusty Rhodes and Ric Flair, with the Rhodes’ beating Flair and Jarrett in a tag team match on WCW’s final pay-per-view, Greed. The following week, Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner defeated Dustin Rhodes in a handicap match main event on the final episode of WCW Thunder.