[WNS Column] A Golden Hall of Fame

On February 1st, 1993 Monday night RAW paid homage to the late, great Andre the Giant by making him the 1st inductee of the WWE Hall of Fame. Since then many legends have been inducted from Hulk Hogan, Bret Hitman Hart & HBK Shawn Michaels to Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ric Flair & Ultimate Warrior.

There has been over 100 superstars inducted to the hall of fames prestigious ceremony which takes place on the eve of Wrestlemania. All year round the gossip columns & rumour mills explode with names of superstars who deserve their place in the Hall of Fame, from Demolition to Sting

One current superstar who has been in the wrestling business for over 20 years & has faced the best, beat the best, has won many championships, and at last Sundays Night of Champions he won more gold as he & his brother Stardust became the new WWE Tag Team Champions.

I’m talking about Dustin Runnels or better known as Goldust

Runnels made his WWE debut in 1990 and made his debut pay-per-view in the 1991 Royal Rumble where he and his father "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes faced Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase & Virgil. In 1992 he won his 1st title as he & Barry Windham became WCW World Tag Team Champions & in 1993 he also won his 1st singles title beating Ricky Steamboat to become the United States Champion. He’s had many feuds in WCW with legendary names such as Larry Zbyszko, Terry Taylor, Rick Rude and the "Stunning" Steve Austin come to mind.

In 1995 it was the birth of the bizarre one Goldust, which he won his debut match against Marty Jannetty at the In Your House 4 pay-per-view. Goldust who was also managed by Marlena, who was his then wife Terri, took the WWE by storm and faced many legends such as Razor Ramon, Rowdy Roddy Piper, HHH, Brian Pillman & Vader to name a few. The bizarre one also changed his persona to The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust which was managed by Luna Vachon.

He feuded with Jeff Jarrett, Al Snow, The Blue Meanie and Road Dogg & also won WWE Intercontinental Championship in 3 different spells. He’s had many spells in WWE notably coming back for Royal Rumbles and feuding with Rob Van Dam. He won the Hardcore title on 9 occasions & also teamed up with Booker T and winning the World Tag Team Championship at Armageddon in 2002

It was his return to the tag team division with his brother Cody & his new partner "Stardust" that has put Goldusts career back on the map, his matches and his moves are still up there with the best & you could see him in WWE for another few years yet. When you think he’s in the same age group as HHH, Big Show & Kane, he still got alot to offer, he has speed and his matches are still strong.

With Over 20 Championships in over 20 years in this cut throat industry, especially when you’re working for Vince McMahon for most of them, when we look back at his feuds from the Golden era, through the Attitude era to the present, surely his next "Cosmic Key" is a place in the WWE Hall of Fame.....

- David Stirling