Goldust

Explore about the Famous Wrestler Goldust, who was born in United States on April 11, 1969. Analyze Goldust’s net worth, age, bio, birthday, dating, height-weight, wiki. Investigate who is Goldust dating now? Look into this article to know how old is Goldust?

Goldust Biography

Born Dustin Rhodes, he became an extremely popular wrestler in the WWE. His numerous championships include multiple WWF Hardcore Titles and Intercontinental Championships.

He made his wrestling debut in 1988, before being signed to the WWF in 1990.

His signature moves include the clothesline, DDT and bionic elbow.

He had a daughter, Dakota, with Terri Runnels, whom he was married to from 1993-1999. He was briefly married Milena Martelloni from 2002-2003. In June 2012, he married third wife Ta-rel Marie Roche. He is the son of former wrestler Dusty Rhodes.

He was tag-team partners with Booker T.

Runnels is the son of Virgil Runnels, better known as “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes (1945–2015). His half-brother is fellow wrestler Cody Rhodes. He has a sister, Kristin Runnels Ditto, who is a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader.

Dustin Patrick Runnels (born April 11, 1969) is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring names Dustin Rhodes and Goldust. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the name Dustin Rhodes, in which he is a coach and a wrestler. He is best known for his multiple tenures with WWE from 1995 to 2019 as the enigmatic, flamboyant, sexually ambiguous character Goldust. The son of WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes and the half-brother of fellow wrestler Cody Rhodes, he is also known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

In December 1988, Runnels debuted in World Championship Wrestling. Rhodes teamed with Kendall Windham in an undercard tag team called The Texas Broncos that saw success against The Cruel Connection and The Commandos. Their first defeat came against The Original Midnight Express at a house show on December 10, 1988 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dustin’s first singles match came two days later at a television taping in Atlanta, Georgia when he defeated Trent Knight. Rhodes’ initial WCW run lasted only a few months, as he exited the company two months after his father. After suffering a loss to Butch Reed during a dark match for an NWA Main Event taping in The Omni on February 12, 1989, Rhodes closed out his initial WCW run with a win over Trent Knight in Walterboro, South Carolina on February 24.

Runnels made his professional wrestling debut on September 13, 1988 as “Dustin Rhodes”, defeating Bob Cook in a match for the Tampa-based Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) promotion. The promotion was renamed the Professional Wrestling Federation in February 1989 after Runnels’ father, Dusty Rhodes, began wrestling there. Runnels captured the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship from Al Perez on May 23, 1989, holding it for a month.

In March 1989, he toured Japan for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in its annual Champion Carnival, under the name Dusty Rhodes Jr. He returned to AJPW for a ten and a twenty-day tour in the spring and summer of 1990. Runnels began wrestling in United States Wrestling Association (USWA) in July 1989. There he feuded mainly with Tony Anthony for Anthony’s CWA Heavyweight Championship but never won the belt. He left the USWA in the spring of 1990.

Runnels debuted as a fan favorite in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in late 1990, wrestling as Dustin Rhodes. His first match in the WWF (now WWE) was against Paul Diamond on September 21, 1990. In December 1990, Rhodes defeated Ted DiBiase in a televised ten-minute challenge match. On January 19, 1991, at the Royal Rumble, Rhodes and his father Dusty lost to Ted DiBiase and Virgil in a tag team bout, and both left immediately after.

In February 1991, Runnels joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW), wrestling as “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes. He feuded with Larry Zbyszko until April 1991, when he refused to join Alexandra York’s York Foundation, thus beginning a feud with Foundation member Terrence Taylor.

On a taped edition of WCW Saturday Night on September 2, 1992, Rhodes teamed with Windham to defeat Steve Williams and Terry Gordy for the unified WCW World Tag Team Championship and NWA World Tag Team Championship (their NWA title reign is not recognized by NWA); the match would air on October 3. They held the belts for about two months before losing them to Steamboat and Shane Douglas in a memorable match on the November 18 edition of Clash of the Champions XXI. Windham turned on Rhodes after the match when Rhodes refused to pin Steamboat after an accidental low blow.

In late 1991, Rhodes formed a tag-team with Barry Windham and began pursuing WCW Tag Team champions The Enforcers (Arn Anderson and Zbyszko). The pair received a title shot at Clash of the Champions XVII, but Windham was injured prior to the event. A returning Ricky Steamboat was chosen to partner Rhodes, and the makeshift duo won the WCW World Tag Team Championship. They lost the belts on January 16, 1992, to Arn Anderson and fellow Dangerous Alliance member Bobby Eaton.

In January 1993, Rhodes reached the final of a tournament to decide the number one contender for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. The champion Rick Rude was stripped of his title that same month, meaning the tournament final would be for the title. Rhodes faced his old partner Ricky Steamboat to win his first United States Heavyweight title. He successfully defended the title the following month at SuperBrawl III against Maxx Payne. Rude returned that April and quickly challenged Rhodes. Their first encounter resulted in a controversial double pin, with Rude initially being awarded the title. The championship was held up two weeks later. After a 30-minute Iron Man Match ended in a 1–1 draw at Beach Blast on July 18, a best-of-three series was set between the two on Saturday Night; Rhodes lost the first match on August 28, but defeated Rude twice on September 4 and 11 to claim his second United States Heavyweight Championship.

In March 1994, Rhodes started feuding with Bunkhouse Buck and Col. Robert Parker. After Parker introduced Arn Anderson and Terry Funk as adversaries for Runnels, Runnels responded by bringing his father, a former enemy of Funk, back into the ring to team with him again against Parker’s Stud Stable. In December 1994, Parker introduced another opponent for Rhodes, The Blacktop Bully. In March 1995, Rhodes and The Blacktop Bully both bladed during a King of the Road match at the 1995 Uncensored pay-per-view after being instructed to by one another, which was against corporate policy at the time in WCW. They were subsequently fired as a result, along with fellow talent Paul Roma.

Goldust won his debut match on October 22, 1995, against Marty Jannetty at the In Your House 4 pay-per-view. He defeated the departing Bam Bam Bigelow in Bigelow’s last WWF match at the Survivor Series. He then feuded with Razor Ramon, whom he stalked and sent messages to throughout late 1995. The feud culminated at the Royal Rumble on January 21, 1996, where Goldust defeated Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship due to interference from the 1–2–3 Kid. This match also marked the debut of Goldust’s valet, Marlena, portrayed by his then wife Terri. With her seductive, coolly unconcerned and mysterious character, Marlena complemented Goldust. Her gimmick consisted of sitting at ringside in a director’s chair during Goldust’s matches, advising him while smoking large brown cigars. A rematch between Goldust and Ramon at WrestleMania XII was canceled after Ramon was suspended, with Goldust instead fighting Roddy Piper in a Hollywood Backlot Brawl. At the end of the fight, Piper stripped Goldust of his ring attire to reveal him wearing women’s lingerie; Runnels revealed in 2018 (while making jokes at his own butt) that it was his idea just three days before WrestleMania XII to wear a slip and thong underneath his ring attire and to have Piper strip him down, getting the approval from McMahon.

In August 1995, Runnels returned to the WWF, wrestling as a then villain Goldust, nicknamed “the bizarre one” because of his somewhat spooky, mysterious and sexually suggestive mannerisms and presence. Using in-ring psychology to his advantage, Goldust often used lewd and flirtatious mind games to anger, confuse, and distract his opponents. He utilized such tactics as groping and excessive affection towards his opponent in the midst of delivering his onslaught. To that end, one of Goldust’s trademarks is his exaggerated, suggestively breathy inhalation whilst caressing his own body; this all ends in him exhaling through a vicious biting sound at his adversary, intended to startle. The character was portrayed as a drag queen obsessed with films and everything gold, which is a parody of the Oscars statuette. Under the gimmick, Runnels wears a predominately gold jumpsuit (with tidbits of other colors, such as white and black); black and gold face paint; and during entrances and promos, a glittery gold robe and a platinum blonde wig over his short platinum blonde hair. Years later, Runnels stated that Vince McMahon called him and offered him the gimmick and mentioned “androgynous” several times; Runnels, wanting a separate identity from his father at the time, promptly accepted without knowing what the word “androgynous” meant, then promptly looked it up in the dictionary after getting off the phone with McMahon and shocked to see what it meant said to himself “What did I get myself in to?” Runnels himself admitted that the first few months of the gimmick were uncomfortable for him as it didn’t match his personality at all, but decided to work with what was given to him and “run with it”.

In December 1996 Goldust entered a feud with Hunter Hearst Helmsley, when Helmsley began flirting with Goldust’s valet: Marlena. This feud lead to the debut of Chyna as Helmsley’s new bodyguard, who would manhandle Marlena and cause sympathy for Marlena & Goldust. This marked the first time Goldust changed into a fan favorite rather than the villainous character he was prior.

Goldust defended his Intercontinental Championship in bouts against Savio Vega and The Ultimate Warrior before losing to Ahmed Johnson at King of the Ring on June 23, 1996. In August 1996, Goldust briefly gained control over Mankind and feuded with The Undertaker. His attention soon turned to Marc Mero and his then wife Sable. Goldust and Marlena attempted to get Sable to join their team, but Mero won the feud and kept her by his side. He also had a Ladder match with Shawn Michaels at internet pay-per-view (iPPV) Xperience for the WWF Championship but lost the match.

In May 1997, Goldust revealed his identity as Dustin Runnels, the son of Dusty Rhodes. In the summer and fall of that year, he joined other wrestlers in their conflict with The Hart Foundation, feuding in particular with Brian Pillman, to whom he lost the services of Marlena for thirty days. Just before the thirty days were up, Pillman died of heart disease hours before the Badd Blood event on October 5, 1997. In November 1997, Goldust split with Marlena and refused to cooperate with his Survivor Series teammates, which once again turned him into a heel. This led to a feud with Vader in December 1997 and the appearance of The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust (a reference to Prince), managed by Luna Vachon. He began mimicking celebrities and fellow wrestlers with characters such as “Chynadust”, “Dust Lovedust”, “Dustydust”, “Hunterdust”, “Flashdust”, “Marilyn Mansondust”, “Sabledust”, and “Vaderdust” in early 1998.

By June 1998, Goldust feuded with Val Venis, who had been involved with Terri during their separation. Now going by his real name, Dustin Runnels began speaking out (mostly in taped vignettes) on the increasingly edgy WWF product and promoting alternatives to watching the show such as reading the Bible. These vignettes were sponsored by the fictional group, “Evangelists Against Television, Movies and Entertainment”, the acronym for which reads “EATME” – a thinly veiled joke on the WWF’s part. Runnels declared himself a born again Christian, alluding to “his” return, and walking through the crowd with signs reading “he’s coming back!”. While the return of Christ was clearly implied, Runnels was in fact referencing the return of the Goldust gimmick, which he reprised in October 1998 against Val Venis and then in November 1998, he began feuding with Jeff Jarrett over the attention of his manager, Debra.

Runnels was previously married to Terri Runnels. They have a daughter, Dakota Avery, who was born in 1994. The couple divorced after six years of marriage on October 18, 1999. Runnels also has a step son, who is transgender.

Runnels returned to World Championship Wrestling on the November 8, 1999 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, filming several vignettes for a fantastical, face-painted character named Seven. These vignettes contained ominous footage of Rhodes in full makeup standing outside a child’s bedroom window. The gimmick was reported to have been based on “The Strangers” from the 1998 film noir Dark City. The character was dropped after Turner Standards and Practices expressed concern that this gimmick could be misinterpreted as a child abductor. Upon returning to WCW television, Rhodes removed his costume and delivered a worked shoot in which he mocked unrealistic gimmicks as well as his time as Goldust in the WWF. After turning heel upon his return, Runnels began wrestling as “The American Nightmare” Dustin Rhodes, with his nickname a reference to his father’s nickname, “The American Dream”.

In early 1999, Goldust feuded with Al Snow, upon stealing Head, Snow’s mascot, and The Blue Meanie, who had recently renamed himself “Bluedust” and adopted many of Goldust’s mannerisms. After Goldust defeated Meanie at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, Meanie became Goldust’s apprentice. After Ryan Shamrock became Goldust’s valet, Meanie and Shamrock began vying for Goldust’s attention. In the same time period, Goldust won the Intercontinental Championship again from Road Dogg and then lost it to The Godfather two weeks later. He would team up with Blue Meanie having a few matches against the Hardy Boyz until Goldust left the company in May 1999.

Rhodes feuded with Jeff Jarrett before feuding with Terry Funk. He was (kayfabe) fired by Vince Russo at Spring Stampede in April 2000 for failing to prevent Terry Funk from winning the vacant Hardcore Championship, against Norman Smiley.

In July 2001, Runnels, while still under contract to AOL Time Warner, began wrestling for his father’s newly created Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling promotion, winning the promotion’s Heavyweight Championship.

He returned to WCW television in January 2001, assisting his father in his feud with Jarrett and, eventually, Ric Flair. He wrestled on the very last WCW pay-per-view, Greed on March 18, 2001. In March 2001, WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation, with the WWF neglecting to acquire Runnels’ contract.

In-between his various stints with WWE and TNA, Runnels competed on the independent circuit, first appearing for his father’s promotion, Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling. Competing as Dustin Rhodes, he captured the TCW Heavyweight Championship from Scotty Riggs on January 26, but vacated the title immediately afterwards after it was confirmed that he would be returning to WWE. Following his return to the WWE at the 2002 Royal Rumble, he made two more appearances with TCW, the first in a six-man tag team match with his father Dusty and Ron Studd against Riggs, Fake Goldust, and Jason Sugarmann, and the second in a singles victory over Steve Corino.

In December 2001, Runnels accepted a buyout from his AOL Time Warner contract and was re-signed by the World Wrestling Federation to a two-year deal. Promos immediately began airing on WWF television advertising the return of Goldust. On January 20, 2002, he officially returned by taking part in the Royal Rumble, reprising his Goldust character. Shortly after returning, promos began airing for a few weeks of Goldust saying that there was a certain wrestler whose “star was shining brighter” than he would like. He eventually revealed the person he was talking about was Rob Van Dam by attacking him on Raw, turning heel in the process. Van Dam defeated him in a singles match at No Way Out. After the loss, he moved on to the hardcore division, where he won the Hardcore Championship on nine occasions.

Following his release from WWE in December 2003, Runnels returned to the independent circuit while concurrently competing in his first stint with TNA. He first appeared for the Japanese promotion WORLD-1, as Dusty Rhodes Jr., working three dates in early April, all singles matches and all victories. In July, Runnels returned to the United States and appeared for Full Impact Pro, tag teaming with Barry Windham and defeating the Cuban Assassin and Ryze.

Following his release from WWE in December 2003, Runnels returned to the independent circuit while concurrently competing in his first stint with TNA. He first appeared for the Japanese promotion WORLD-1, as Dusty Rhodes Jr., working three dates in early April, all singles matches and all victories. In July, Runnels returned to the United States and appeared for Full Impact Pro, tag teaming with Barry Windham and defeating the Cuban Assassin and Ryze.

When the World Wrestling Federation was renamed World Wrestling Entertainment and the roster was divided into two brands, Raw and SmackDown!, Goldust was assigned to the Raw brand, where he formed a tag team with Booker T. The duo engaged in numerous comedic vignettes, on one occasion hosting a segment titled Booker T and Goldust at the Movies and delivering reviews of The Scorpion King, a film starring The Rock. In May 2002, Booker joined the New World Order (nWo), with Goldust’s request to join the faction rejected. In June 2002, Booker was ejected from the nWo by Shawn Michaels, sparking a feud between the nWo and Booker and Goldust. Booker and Goldust went on to compete in the tag team division, winning the World Tag Team Championship at Armageddon before being forced to split up on the February 3, 2003, episode of Raw by Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff for failing to win back the World Tag Team Title.

On February 4, 2004, he debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as “The Lone Star” Dustin Rhodes, unsuccessfully challenging Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. On February 18, Runnels and El Leon defeated Kevin Northcutt and Legend in a tag team bout. In December 2004, he returned to TNA, once again wrestling as Dustin Rhodes. on the January 7, 2005, episode of Impact, Rhodes and Jeff Hardy defeated Kash and Dallas. On the January 14 episode of Impact, Rhodes defeated Chris Candido. At Final Resolution, Rhodes defeated Kid Kash. on the February 11 episode of Impact Wrestling, Rhodes and America’s Most Wanted defeated Kid Kash, Dallas and Raven in a six-man tag team match. at Against All Odds, Rhodes lost to Raven but got payback at Destination X when he defeated Raven in a bullrope match. He then entered a feud with Bobby Roode and at Lockdown, Rhodes defeated Roode in a 2 out of 3 falls Prince of Darkness cage match. His TNA contract expired in April 2005 and he chose not to renew it, leaving TNA.

Runnels did not appear on the independent circuit for the rest of 2004 and much of 2005, until the first WrestleReunion, teaming with his father and Mike Graham against Abdullah the Butcher, Kevin Sullivan, and CM Punk. After his departure from TNA, he made a few appearances with Dusty for CCW against Phi Delta Slam. Runnels also competed on the Tribute to Starrcade show on November 19 in a match against Terry Funk, which ended in a No-Contest.

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