"Nobody gave a sh*t" about 3-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, according to Bruce Prichard
WWE producer Bruce Prichard has weighed in with his thoughts on a former Intercontinental Champion and claims that no one cared about them outside of their character.
The former champion in question is current AEW star Dustin Rhodes, who is best known for his work in WWE as Goldust, who shocked and angered audiences during the "new generation" era of the company, before settling into more comedic roles as the years went by.
Dustin Rhodes is currently playing the character of "The Natural" in AEW these days, which is a lot closer to who he is in real life. But speaking on his Something to Wrestle podcast, Bruce Prichard claimed that outside of the Goldust character, Rhodes simply wasn't interesting.
“That Goldust character was so rich, flamboyant, and all-consuming. When you take it off of him, he becomes a normal guy. He wasn’t interesting, right off the bat, in my opinion. I thought Dustin had come so far in the character work he had done, that when you stripped all that away, all of a sudden, he was a regular guy. I don’t think people paid money to see a regular guy next door.” (H/T Wrestling Inc.)
On This Day in Wrestling History - ‘Goldust’ made his WWF debut beating Marty Jannetty 27 years ago today (10/22/95) @dustinrhodes
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Bruce went on to say that nobody cared about Dustin Rhodes as a person, and that when WWE stripped the Goldust character away from him over the years, he became increasingly boring.
“Nobody gave a s**t about Dustin Rhodes. They only gave a s**t about Goldust. We stripped him of that, and everything that the audience had an emotional attachment to. It’s hard to talk about because I f**king loved Dustin Rhodes, I thought he was one of the most talented talents I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. But when you take a flamboyant character like Goldust and strip it all away, and you make someone a boring husband, I’m not watching TV, and I’m not watching WWE to see a boring husband with a kid who goes on TV and says, ‘My daddy was mean to me. We didn’t get along.'" (H/T Wrestling Inc.)
Bruce Prichard may have accidentally prevented WWE from signing a top free agent
WWE has had their eye on a number of top talents as of late, with the likes of Dragon Lee and Chelsea Green being notable signings in 2023. But Bruce Prichard's frosty relationship with a huge name may have gotten in the way of WWE signing him.
The name in question is Nick Aldis, the former NWA and TNA World Heavyweight Champion who worked with Prichard during their time in TNA during the 2010s, but it seems that they don't see eye-to-eye.
Nick Aldis would an absolute great additon to the AEW or WWE rosters.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio earlier this year, this animosity has led to Aldis having a conversation with AEW's Christopher Daniels, although it's unclear if it was regarding a possible move to All Elite Wrestling.
Are you a fan of Nick Aldis? Let us know in the comments section down below!