In the Territory Days, pro wrestling's success depended largely on being able to keep up kayfabe. In the 80s, WWE had a big part in infusing pro wrestling with a lot more flash and entertainment. With that flash and entertainment came an unspoken acknowledgment that the in-ring combat wasn't on the up and up.
By the 90s, kayfabe was on its last legs. On top of that, society overall was changing and becoming more rebellious. This opened the door for WWE to push their creative boundaries, which they fully did with the androgynous Goldust character. Throughout his time in WWE, Goldust had some unforgettable moments. Though, admittedly, some of them got a bit weird.
10 Breaking Up With Marlena
In the late 90s, WWE began infusing more realistic storylines into their product. Sometimes, they would even borrow elements from real life to get a story over. In 1997, the Goldust character was beginning to lose the initial shine he'd debuted with. After tons of pushback from conservative groups, WWE had to tone down the character.
To make Goldust more relatable, WWE took his real-life marital issues and put them on display for the audience. In hindsight, the Goldust and Marlena sit-down interview with Jim Ross was a bit uncomfortable. It would signal the end of Goldust's marriage and the beginning of a very weird time in his WWE career.
9 Freak On A Leash
After Goldust's personal life and marital problems were thrust into the WWE spotlight, it sent his life and career into a tailspin. At its inception, the Goldust character was supposed to use sexual stereotypes and overtones to make viewers uncomfortable. In 1998, Goldust set out to make viewers feel uncomfortable in a totally new way.
He'd link up with Luna Vachon and go off the deep end, creatively speaking. Goldust's character would morph into a freak, for lack of a better term. During this time, Luna would occasionally walk Goldust around on a leash, as if he was an animal. The run with Luna came at a very weird and dark time in Dustin Rhodes' life that he'd probably like to forget.
8 William Regal Cosplay
When most people think of the Goldust character, the first thing that comes to mind is sexuality and homophobic stereotypes. After that though, most fans probably associate Goldust with comedy. Despite his controversial start in WWE, Goldust would eventually become one of the best comedy acts in company history. Goldust's comedic brilliance has made its way onto WWE programming on several occasions.
On the 9/13/2010 episode of Monday Night Raw Goldust had one of the weirdest and most hilarious matches of his career when he and William Regal spun the Raw Roulette and landed on a Trading Places Match. The two would wrestle dressed as each other. The result of that match isn't important. The real winners that night were the audience and viewers at home.
7 Being Electrocuted
After the flamboyant, heat-seeking start to his WWE career, Goldust eventually showed off his incredible range as a performer, settling into a nice spot as mid-card comedic relief. The role saw Goldust rub shoulders with some of the Ruthless Aggression Era's biggest stars.
At one point, Goldust was in the crosshairs of Evolution. On the 2/3/2003 Raw, Goldust would be attacked by Randy Orton and Batista. They'd throw Goldust into an electrical circuit board, causing Goldust to be "electrocuted." It was a bit of a weird angle but it led to some of Goldust's best comedic work as he developed Tourette's syndrome due to the electrifying encounter.
6 Dressing Up As Baby New Year
In late 1997, Goldust started battling demons in his personal life. Regrettably, some of Goldust's personal issues started bleeding over into his on-screen character. Goldust, who had always been a flamboyant character would turn the character into more of an emotionally disturbed man. This led to several weird segments.
One particularly weird segment took place on the 12/29/1997 edition of Monday Night Raw. On that show, Goldust would come out dressed as Baby New Year and make the mistake of calling out "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. For his troubles, Goldust would get beat up by Austin and thrown in a port-a-potty labeled "Crapper 3:16."
5 Hitting On The Undertaker
The Undertaker's character never really lent itself to any sort of comedy or flamboyance. This is why his brief feud with Goldust in 1996 was a bit of a surprise for many fans. It's not that both men weren't great performers but their characters were seemingly on two different ends of the spectrum in terms of flamboyance.
Regardless, the two feuded. At one point in their feud, there was a bit of an uncomfortable moment when Goldust starts hitting on The Undertaker and using sexual innuendos. The references to "stiffness" and "rigor mortis" probably seemed fine at the time but in hindsight perhaps they were more of a miss and a bit excessive.
4 Being Stripped Down By Roddy Piper
When the Goldust character debuted in late 1995, he gave WWE a shot in the arm, creatively. By 1996, the androgynous gold enthusiast was one of WWE's bright future stars and a lightning rod for heat and controversy. As a result, Goldust found himself in a huge marquee match against "Rowdy" Roddy Piper at WrestleMania 12.
At that event, Goldust and Piper would face off in Hollywood Backlot Brawl. It would be a brutal affair that would start as a pre-taped match and end in the ring. Towards the end of the match, Piper began stripping Goldust's ring attire off to reveal that he was wearing lingerie underneath. Wearing lingerie was in line with the Goldust character but it was still a bit weird to see.
3 In Bed With Booker T
Throughout wrestling history, fans have seen a plethora of odd couple tag teams come through the business. Some of them weren't compatible while a few others thrived despite their differences. The odd couple pairing of Goldust and Booker T falls under the latter category. In 2002, Booker T was still relatively new in WWE and was trying to build a solid foundation in the promotion.
That year, Booker started being pursued by Goldust, who wanted them to become partners. Goldust's quest to win over Booker produced some great comedy segments. One funny segment that was also a bit weird took place at Judgement Day 2002 when Booker thought he was going to get lucky with a lady friend of his, only to turn on the lights and find Goldust was in bed with them. Funny? Sure. Weird? Definitely.
2 Kissing Ahmed Johnson
When Goldust hit the scene in WWE in late 1995, he brought tons of controversy with him. The character was unlike anything that WWE had greenlit in the past. Simply put, he made many viewers uncomfortable. Despite that, Goldust enjoyed a strong early push which saw him capture the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
At King Of The Ring 1996, Goldust and Ahmed Johnson were set to clash over the Intercontinental Title. Before that though, on the 5/27/1996 Monday Night Raw, Goldust would plant an awkward kiss on Johnson while attempting to "resuscitate" him. The kiss received a lot of pushback from conservative groups which eventually led to the Goldust character being toned down significantly.
1 Sable 2.0
Today, the pro wrestling landscape is a lot kinder to women than it was in previous eras. During The Attitude Era specifically, female performers were often no more than eye candy. Anyone questioning that notion needs to look no further than the company's top female star at the time, Sable. She had the model looks but wasn't a trained wrestler. That's exactly what the promotion was looking for at the time, though.
Sable's peak in WWE coincided with Goldust's most bizarre period. During a feud with Marc Mero and Sable, in what was perhaps Goldust's weirdest stunt, he decided to cosplay as Sable. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly Goldust's greatest moment. The only thing that might've been weirder than this would've been if Goldust had gone through with the long-rumored breast enhancements he had been contemplating.