Virgil Runnels III (born April 11, 1966 in Austin, Texas; often called Dustin Runnels) is a professional wrestler who has competed in the WWE and WCW. He is best-known for his WWE character of Goldust, a sexually ambiguous movie star. He also wrestled in WCW as Dustin Rhodes. His father Virgil Runnels, Jr., who wrestled as Dusty Rhodes, was one of the best-known wrestlers of the 1970s and 1980s.

Career

Early career

Virgil "Dustin" Runnels III was the co-captain of the East Mecklenburg High School Charlotte, NC varsity wrestling team in the 1987-88 school year. He also played varsity football during that same time.

Runnels started wrestling as Dustin Rhodes in 1988 in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). He debuted in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in late 1988. He formed a tag team with Kendall Windham called the "Texas Broncos." They feuded briefly with Al Perez and Larry Zbyszko.

In March 1989, Dustin was back in FCW. He teamed with Mike Graham and feuded with Black Bart. He also feuded with Kendall Windham over the FCW Title.

In July 1989, he went to the CWA, where he continued to feud with Bart. He left for the WWF in January 1990. He continued to feud with Bart on the undercard and eventually teamed with his father, Dusty Rhodes, to feud with Ted DiBiase and Virgil.

World Championship Wrestling

In February 1991, he went to WCW, where he feuded with Larry Zbysko at mid-card level. In April, Alexandra York offered him to join her York Foundation heel stable, but he turned her down. This started a feud with Foundation member Terrence Taylor that lasted several months. York was in reality his first wife, Terri.

In late 1991, he feuded with Television Champ "Stunning" Steve Austin over the title before forming a tag team with real life best friend Barry Windham. Windham was injured by Arn Anderson and Larry Zbysko, "The Enforcers", so Dustin got a new partner, Ricky Steamboat, and they won the tag team titles from them. For the next seven months (through June 1992), he feuded with Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance of Anderson, Zbysko, Austin, Rick Rude and Bobby Eaton. He was in the "War Games" against the Dangerous Alliance with Steamboat, Windham, Sting and Nikita Koloff as his partners.

October 1992 saw him reform his team with Windham to win the Tag Team Titles. In November, Windham turned on him and started a brief feud.

In January 1993, he won the United States Title and also began a feud with Rick Rude that would run through August. In October, he started feuding with Paul Orndorff and Steve Austin over the title, losing it to Austin in December.

In March 1994, he became involved in a feud with Bunkhouse Buck and Col. Rob Parker. Parker eventually brought in Terry Funk and Arn Anderson to feud with Dustin. Dustin brought in his father, Dusty, to help him. This feud lasted until December when Parker brought in Blacktop Bully to feud with Dustin. Dustin and the Bully both were fired in March 1995 when they both "bladed" (cut themselves to look busted open) at the Uncensored PPV after they were told not to.

World Wrestling Federation

In July 1995, Runnels debuted in the WWF as Goldust. He played mind games with opponents to make them think he was a homosexual. He started a feud with Razor Ramon and won the Intercontinental Title when he surprised everybody by bringing his real life wife, Terri, in as Marlena.

His time as champion included feuds with Roddy Piper, Savio Vega, The Ultimate Warrior and Ahmed Johnson, who finally won the title from Runnels.

In August 1996, he briefly had mind control over Mankind and feuded with The Undertaker. His attention soon turned to Marc Mero and his wife Sable. Goldust and Marlena attempted to get Sable to join their team but Mero won the feud and kept her by his side.

In December 1996, Goldust and Marlena turned face and feuded with HHH and Chyna.

In May 1997, Goldust revealed his identity as Dustin Runnels, son of Dusty Rhodes. He started painting his face half as Goldust, and left the other side as Dustin. He began a feud with Brian Pillman in August 1997 which saw Pillman steal Marlena from him. When Pillman died in October, Marlena came back to Dustin. In November, Dustin dumped Marlena and got a new valet, Luna Vachon. He started dressing up as different people, being Shaftdust etc. He feuded with Mero and Sable again with Luna.

In May 1998, he split with Luna and burned his Goldust suit on TV and feuded with Val Venis. In October, he brought Goldust back and feuded with Jeff Jarrett over the attentions of Debra. Early 1999 saw him feud with Al Snow briefly after stealing Head, feud with Bluedust and then join him to feud with Ken Shamrock, acquire Ryan Shamrock as a valet to bicker with Bluedust, win the Intercontinental Title again and lose it two weeks later. During this period, mysterious taped vingettes appeared on Raw, supposedly from hidden cameras, showing wrestlers backstage flirting with valets, gossiping about other wrestlers, and other actions the victims certainly didn't want seeing the light of day. Labeled GTV, if the angle had been allowed to play out, it would have been revealed that Goldust was the "G" in "GTV", secretly filming people supposedly being another part of his mania.

Back to WCW

Runnels took some time off, patched up his differences with his father and rejoined WCW in several vignettes (in August 1999) as a strange, white face painted dream villain, Seven. When he actually debuted in the ring, he took the Seven suit off and cut a promo on stupid gimmicks. He became Dustin Rhodes again and feuded with Jeff Jarrett.

He feuded with Terry Funk in early 2000 after turning on him and was given time off due to differences with Vince Russo. He came back in February 2001 to help his dad feud with Ric Flair and Jeff Jarrett. When Vince McMahon bought WCW a month later, he did not acquire Dustin's contract.

In July 2001, he went to work for his father's new promotion, Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling.

World Wrestling Entertainment

In January 2002, he returned as a heel again to the WWF as Goldust and won the Hardcore Title several times. He formed a team with Booker T known together as BlackGold and did comic backstage vignettes. He tried to join the nWo in July after Booker joined them but they didn't want him. He rejoined Booker when Booker was kicked out of the nWo. During that time they both turned face. He had several feuds with other wrestlers while Booker was his partner after this. Among them were Lance Storm & Christian, Christian & Chris Jericho and Lance Storm & William Regal. In January 2003, he split with Booker and was largely taken off TV. It was during this period that a new gimmick for Goldust was introduced; he was jumped backstage by Evolution members Randy Orton and Batista in a worked assault, and accidentally hurled into a electrical junction box. The resulting shock gave Goldust a form of Tourette Syndrome, causing him to stutter and yell random insults at people, and also preventing him from censoring himself; An example being Goldust running into a pretty girl backstage, and being unable to stop himself from commenting out loud about her body. He made occasional appearances before leaving in January 2004.

Zero One and TNA

Runnels went to Japan to work for Zero One as Dusty Rhodes Jr. (he had been billed as such in All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1990), and then debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, under the name Dustin Rhodes, along with his father, Dusty Rhodes, who was TNA's Director of Authority. He has feuded with Raven and Kid Kash.

On April 24, 2005, Runnels was arrested and detained by Orange County, Florida authorities following a domestic dispute with his girfriend at a hotel. He was later bonded and subsequently released, but the negative publicity generated by the incident, coupled with his father's subsequent (unrelated) departure from TNA, seemed to spell an end to his time with the promotion.

Return to WWE

On October 31, 2005, Runnels donned the Goldust costume again and made a shocking return to the WWE on RAW, along with Vader. Initially he was supposed to protect Jonathan Coachman from the likes of Steve Austin, but instead it was Batista he had to deal with. Despite Vader and Goldust's assistance, Batista defeated Coachman at Taboo Tuesday. Goldust has yet to reappear on RAW since his return October 31st. There has been no mention of him or Vader on the show or on WWE.com. It is uncertain right now what the future holds for Goldust.

In wrestling

Nicknames

• "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes
• "Lonestar" Dustin Rhodes

Previous managers

• Terri Runnels
• Luna Vachon
• Ryan Shamrock
• Blue Meanie
• Johnny Glitter
• Dusty Rhodes

Quote

• "And you will never forget the name of... Goldust!"

Finishing and signature moves

• Curtain Call (Suplex slam, lifting inverted DDT or shoulder neckbreaker)
• Shattered Dreams / The Golden Globes / Dust Buster (Cornered running kick to opponent's groin)
• Shock Treatment / Director's Cut (Powerslam pin)
• The Oscar (Mat slam)
• Bulldog
• Inverted atomic drop
• Butt Butt (Hip attack)
• Bronco buster (with pelvic thrusts)
• Catapult backbreaker

Championships and accomplishments

• World Wrestling Entertainment

• 3-time WWF Intercontinental Champion
• 1-time WWE World Tag-Team Champion (with Booker T)
• 9-time WWF Hardcore Champion

• World Championship Wrestling

• 2-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion
• 2-time WCW World Tag Team Champion (once with Barry Windham, once with Ricky Steamboat)
• 1-time WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Champion (with Big Josh and Tom Zenk)

• National Wrestling Alliance

• 1-time NWA World Tag Team Champion (with Barry Windham)

• Florida Championship Wrestling

• 1-time FCW Heavyweight Champion
• 1-time FCW Tag Team Champion (with Mike Graham)

• Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling

• 1-time TCW Heavyweight Champion

• American Combat Wrestling

• 1-time ACW Heavyweight Champion

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 126 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003. He was also ranked # 87 of the best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Barry Windham.
• Runnels won the 1991 PWI Most Improved Wrestler of the Year Award as Dustin Rhodes.