gold dust

Dustin Runnels had a lot to live up to, his father Dusty Rhodes was a wrestling legend, yeah he wore stupid yellow pokadot tights and a stupid looking headband but never the less he was a legend. Goldust had to compete with this all his career and Vince gave him the chance to get away from his past and his fathers shadow, and lo and behold - Goldust was born. A homosexual man, a movie starlet, whatever he described himself as, and there were many things, his gimmick was new and interesting.

We first came across Goldust in a series of vignettes filmed in various places such as movie theatres, expressing himself in an unusual and camp fashion, no need to say just HOW scary these were. We live in a homophobic society, not one I or OWW even pretend to condone but we do, Goldust was unique in style, unique in appearance and unique in the ring.

The gimmick could have caused a lot of heat, not in the usual heel way either, but in a twisted way, Runnels himself loved it. He had a new and unique gimmick, one we had seen before in Adrian Adonis, but it was very dissimilar to the one Adonis played. Adonis played a camp gay man and Goldust purveyed a dangerous unusual drag queen with sinister intentions where as Adonis was out for fun but Goldust seemed to have another agenda.
When Goldust finally debuted on Raw his wrestling skills were obvious for all to see, it was a new and unique style, and Runnels made the gimmick work. When watching Goldust you get the feeling that if played by anyone else the gimmick wouldn't have worked and that is testament to the way Runnels was.

Unfortunately Vince lost it, he lost the gimmick, he and his writing staff decided to change him, make him insane and he became The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, needless to say it was not good. Runnels again saw a gimmick change, a born again Christian. When he and his manager, and real life spouse Terri, underwent divorce proceedings the WWF used this in the storylines and put Terri in a storyline with Val Venis as Lovers, we saw the return of Goldust to a huge ovation.

gorgeous george

Gorgeous George is truly the original showman of professional wrestling, and his flamboyant theatrics have unquestionably forever changed the "sport" of professional wrestling. During his heyday (which began in the late 1940's and lasted through to the early 1960's, a more famous or controversial entertainment figure could not be found. It has been said that during his prime, George was even more well known than the President. He influenced generations of future wrestlers -- from Buddy Rogers to Adrian Street, "Superstar" Billy Graham to Ric Flair, "Adorable" Adrian Adonis to Goldust...even Mohammed Ali, Little Richard, Liberace, and numerous other figures in both sports and entertainment. One is hard pressed to think of a more influential public figure, let alone a professional wrestler...


Gorgeous George was born George Wagner in Seward, Nebraska and began his wrestling career during his teens. He competed for over a decade simply as George Wagner, with very little success. Physically unimposing at just 5'9 and weighing only 215 pounds, Wagner was a plain, less than average wrestler. But that would change as the resourceful Wagner, who contemplated giving up on trying to make it as a wrestler, developed the gimmick that would forever change both him and the "sport."

He grew his hair out so it was long, could be curled and pinned back with gold-plated bobby pins, and dyed it platinum blond. He wore elegant robes, dubbed himself "The Human Orchid" and was always escorted by one of his male ring valets (Geoffrey or Thomas Ross) who would spray his his corner of the ring, as well as George's opponents, with disinfectant and perfume. He was the originator of using entrance music, and was always accompanied by his theme "Pomp And Circumstance"...which would again be used some 40 years later by Randy "Macho Man" Savage. Gorgeous George's ring entrances were legendary, and often took nearly as long as his matches. The effeminate grappler worked people into fits of laughter, curiosity, and outright rage with his pageantry and theatrics. The consummate villain, George would cheat at every possible opportunity, infuriating fans to the point of rioting on several occasions. So riveted were they by George's theatrics, fans would flock in droves to see him wrestle, and even more importantly, they tuned-in in record numbers to watch Gorgeous George on the brand-new medium of television.

While googling Portland Wrestling I found this link to local promoter Don Owen and wrestler Beauregarde notice the url is zenorecords, label of Greg Sage/Wipers. In the mid 1970's Greg and Beauregarde collaborated on a '45. (It's always bugged me that Cindy Lauper got credit for the marriage of rock and wrestling.)
Beauregarde's frequent partner was my hero Lonnie Mayne, who used to wear a T-shirt which read "Love Oregon Or Fight Me"
- steve 5-28-2006 7:02 pm [add a comment]

untouchable
- steve 6-16-2006 5:37 am [add a comment]

• The Claw
  - steve 6-16-2006 5:42 am [add a comment]




• when I was a kid The Claw's mask used to scare the hell out of me.
  - steve 6-16-2006 5:43 am [add a comment]