Career Retrospective: Is Goldust Hall of Fame Worthy?

The faces of Goldust. 

Imagine for a moment...if you will, growing up as the son of a legend like The American Dream Dusty Rhodes.

Dusty was one of the most beloved faces to ever grace a squared circle in any company, at anytime, anywhere on the planet. He was a trend-setter, and innovator and a dreamer in every sense of the term.

Dusty left a mark on the industry that will last an eternity and as a fan, I will never forget his contributions to the business. Professional wrestling is better today, as a result of his efforts.

When your father is someone of that stature, greatness is your destiny and of course, professional wrestling is likely to be in your future.

It was only a matter of time before both Cody and Dustin had to decide if they would indeed follow in theory father's footsteps and thankfully, they made the choice to do just that. 

The year was 1988 and a 19 years young Dustin Runnels steps into a ring for the first time as a professional wrestler, facing Bob Cook in Tampa, at the now defunct Championship Wrestling from Florida.

Just a couple of months after his debut, Dustin would make his way to Turner Broadcasting's World Championship Wrestling, commonly known as WCW and from there, his career would takeoff.

Dustin would go on to see the world, wrestling all over the country and abroad. He would not only wrestle for WCW, but he would also find success in Japan as well. Also, prior to the birth of the Goldust character, he would sign with WWF as "Dustin Rhodes, but only for a short time before heading back to WCW for a five year stint.

In 1995, at the WCW Uncensored pay-per-view, Dustin would compete in a match against "The Blacktop Bully," who was actually Barry Darsow, or "Smash" from Demolition. During the match, both men would  blade one another, which is a practice that was banned by WCW officials and heavily frowned upon at the time.

Ultimately, Dustin and Darsow would both be terminated by the company for the incident.