Dustin Patrick Runnels (born Virgil Riley Runnels III on April 11, 1969) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Dustin Rhodes and is a former AEW TNT Champion. He also appears in AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a member of the Sons of Texas stable. In ROH, Rhodes is a former ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion and ROH World Tag Team Champion.
He is best known for wrestling in the World Wrestling Federation/WWE from 1995 to 2019 (on and off), under the ring name Goldust. A second generation wrestler, he is the son of WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes and the half-brother of Cody Rhodes. He is also known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Between WWE, WCW, ROH, and AEW, Runnels has won 26 championships. In WCW, he was a two-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, a one-time WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Champion, and a two-time WCW World Tag Team Champion. In the WWF/WWE, he was a three-time WWF Intercontinental Champion, nine-time WWE Hardcore Champion, one-time World Tag Team Champion, and two-time WWE Tag Team Champion. He won his first AEW championship, the TNT Championship, in July 2025 at All In, after having been one of the first talents since the company's inception in 2019.
Runnels has also appeared in the sixth most Royal Rumble matches, at 13. Runnels headlined multiple pay-per-view events for WWE (then WWF) and WCW during the 1990s.
Early life Runnels is the son of Virgil Runnels, better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes (1945–2015), and his first wife Sandra. His parents divorced when he was 6 years old. Growing up he spent a majority of his time in Austin, Texas with his mother and would visit his father during vacations in Florida. During his junior and senior years of high school Runnels moved in with his father in Charlotte, North Carolina. Runnels played football in high school, and wanted to compete in college however after not having the grades to do so his father then introduced him to the wrestling business.
His half-brother is fellow wrestler Cody Rhodes. He has a sister named Kristin Runnels Ditto, who is a former Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, and a half-sister named Teil Gergel.
Professional wrestling career Championship Wrestling from Florida (1988) 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. In September, he would defeat Rex King and Scotty the Body (the future Raven) in house show matches. He was defeated by Jim Backlund in a "Loser Leaves Town" match on November 30, 1988.
Jim Crockett Promotion (1988–1989) In December 1988, Runnels debuted in Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). Rhodes teamed with Kendall Windham in an undercard tag team called the Texas Broncos who 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. Rhodes' first singles match came two days later at a television taping in Atlanta, Georgia when he defeated Trent Knight. Rhodes' 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 run with a win over Trent Knight in Walterboro, South Carolina on February 24, 1989.
Professional Wrestling Federation (1989) After departing the NWA, Rhodes rejoined the CWF, which had been renamed the Professional Wrestling Federation in March 1989 after Runnels' father, Dusty Rhodes, began wrestling there. He made his return on March 4, 1989, in Titusville, Florida, defeating Commando Boone via disqualification. Seven days later he achieved the biggest win of his career at this point, defeating Terry Funk via disqualification in Tampa.
On May 9, 1989 he captured his first ever championship, teaming with Mike Graham to defeat Southern Force (Bobby Jaggers and Black Bart) to win the PWF Tag Team Championship. Fourteen days later, Runnels captured the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship from Al Perez on May 23, 1989, holding it for a month and successfully defending it against the Big Steel Man and The Terminator. He was defeated for the NWA Florida Championship on June 27 by former Texas Bronco partner Kendall Windham in Tampa, Florida.
All Japan Pro Wrestling and United States Wrestling Association (1989–1990) In March 1989, Runnels toured Japan for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in its annual Champion Carnival, under the name "Dusty Rhodes Jr.". He returned to AJPW for further tours in the spring and summer of 1990. Runnels began wrestling in the 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 title. On October 2, 1989 he entered a tournament to crown the USWA Southern Heavyweight Champion, where he defeated Mike Davis, Chris Champion, and Kevin Dillinger in successive rounds before losing to Tony Anthony in the finals. He left the USWA in the spring of 1990.
World Wrestling Federation (1990–1991) In the spring of 1990, the World Wrestling Federation embarked on a wave of signings of young talent, bringing in Pat Tanaka, Paul Diamond, and Shane Douglas. Dustin Rhodes was added to that list, as he made his debut for the WWF in a dark match on April 24 in San Antonio, Texas at a Wrestling Challenge television taping, defeating Black Bart. He began full time competition for the company that summer, competing at first exclusively on the house show circuit. He made his debut on July 15, 1990 at an event in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was defeated by Haku. As the summer progressed, Dustin would dominate opening card performers like Bob Bradley, The Brooklyn Brawler and Buddy Rose but in turn would be defeated by Haku, Hercules, Paul Roma, and Akeem.
Runnels made his television debut in September. Wrestling as "Dustin Rhodes", his first match was against Paul Diamond on WWF on MSG Network on September 21, 1990. On the October 22 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, he was shown in the crowd, watching his father take on Randy Savage. During the match, Ted Dibiase and Virgil - who were feuding at the time with Dusty, attacked the younger Rhodes leading his father to abandon the match to make the save. Dustin would then challenge Dibiase to a match, with the heel saying that he could not last ten minutes in the ring with him. On the November 3, 1990 episode of Superstars, Rhodes defeated Ted DiBiase in a televised ten-minute challenge match.
On the same night at a house show in August, Georgia, father and son teamed for the first time and defeated Dibiase and Virgil. On the December 8 episode of Superstars, Dibiase attempted to acquire the services of Dustin. Rhodes rejected the offer and was attacked by Dibiase and Virgil, leading to another father and son matchup against the two. This time it would be on PPV, with Dustin making his PPV debut. 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.
World Championship Wrestling (1991–1995) Teaming with Barry Windham (1991–1992) In February 1991, Runnels made his return to Jim Crockett Promotions - since renamed World Championship Wrestling - wrestling as "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes. His return match came on February 4, where he defeated Rip Rogers on the February 16 episode of World Championship Wrestling. 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.
In late 1991, Rhodes formed a tag-team with Barry Windham and began pursuing WCW World Tag Team Champions the Enforcers (Zbyszko and Arn Anderson). The pair received a title shot at Clash of the Champions XVII, but Windham was (kayfabe) injured prior to the event by the champions when they slammed a car door on his wrist. A returning Ricky Steamboat was chosen to partner Rhodes, and the makeshift duo won the WCW World Tag Team Championship. They lost the title on January 16, 1992, to Arn Anderson and fellow Dangerous Alliance member Bobby Eaton.
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 around two months before losing them to Steamboat and Shane Douglas 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.
United States Heavyweight Champion (1993–1995) 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 WCW 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.
At Fall Brawl, Rhodes teamed with Sting, Davey Boy Smith and The Shockmaster to defeat Big Van Vader, Sid Vicious and Harlem Heat in a WarGames match. Rhodes lost the title to Steve Austin in a two out of three falls match at Starrcade '93: 10th Anniversary, after losing two falls.
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, Blacktop Bully. At the Uncensored pay-per-view on March 19, 1995, Rhodes lost to Blacktop Bully in the only King of the Road match in the company's history. The match, which was filmed several days earlier, resulted in both Rhodes and Blacktop Bully being fired from the company, as the two had bladed during the match after being instructed to by one another, which was against corporate policy at the time in WCW.
Return to WWF (1995–1999) Debut of Goldust (1995–1997)
World Wrestling Federation chairman Vince McMahon called Runnels and offered him the gimmick of "Goldust" McMahon mentioned "androgynous" several times in pitching the character; 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 did not match his personality at all, but decided to work with what was given to him and "run with it".WWE Photo Shoot: Goldust