Wrestling INC: Did you get married to Dustin while in WCW or afterwards?
Runnels: After! We married in July of 1993.
Wrestling INC: After leaving WCW, did you think you'd be in the business again?
Runnels: I didn't know because I wasn't concerned [about wrestling] at that time. There were things I wanted to do with the Alexandra York character, but in the big scheme of everything it wasn't a big deal to me.
Wrestling INC: When Dustin got signed by the WWE and the Goldust character was presented, were you always supposed to be a part of the act? You came in a few months after his debut.
Runnels: Not at all. I was happy being a mom. One day I was laying in our tanning bed and my sister, who collected Barbie dolls, had gotten a Bob Mackie Sun Goddess Barbie, and I began to think about what the WWE had and didn't have for females. They had Sherri Martel and Tammy Sytch. Sherri was loud and harsh then there's this sexy cheerleader in Sunny. I thought there hasn't been an elegant, classy lady in a while. I thought the pairing of a character that came out in old Hollywood glamour would pair in well with Dustin's Goldust character. I called Dustin with the idea and he says call Vince [McMahon], and I said, "no, you tell him." I called and spoke with Pat Paterson. He thanked me for the idea and said we won't be using it at this time and to have a good day. I blew it off and focused on the mom stuff that had to be done that day.
It was December, around Christmas, when Dustin called me while I was with my grandparents. He said, " pack your bags, they want to do your idea." I came up with the name Marlena because Dustin's character was kind of sexually ambiguous—he had that character that wasn't necessarily all male and certainly not all female. There was this old school Hollywood actress Marlena Dietrich, who pushed the envelope with the way she dressed and the things she did, and I thought it was a perfect name for my character. I lobbied for her to carry and smoke a cigar—which in my private life I love to do. For the first month, Vince wouldn't let me light the cigars and then it was Pat Patterson who helped me lobby to light the thing and smoke it on air.
It was December, around Christmas, when Dustin called me while I was with my grandparents. He said, " pack your bags, they want to do your idea." I came up with the name Marlena because Dustin's character was kind of sexually ambiguous—he had that character that wasn't necessarily all male and certainly not all female. There was this old school Hollywood actress Marlena Dietrich, who pushed the envelope with the way she dressed and the things she did, and I thought it was a perfect name for my character. I lobbied for her to carry and smoke a cigar—which in my private life I love to do. For the first month, Vince wouldn't let me light the cigars and then it was Pat Patterson who helped me lobby to light the thing and smoke it on air.
Wrestling INC: Was Vince McMahon not allowing you to do it because he hates smoking or was there an arena code?
Runnels: Here's what's crazy. Vince has been on the cover of Cigar Aficionado, but at the time he said 'you can light it damn it, but not until right before you walkout from the gorilla position.' He never said he hated cigar smoke, but for whatever reason he didn't want it lit until right before I walked out.
Wrestling INC: What were your thoughts when Dustin was pitched the Goldust idea?
Runnels: I scratched my head because he's this big, tobacco chewing Texan who is now going to be what! I know there's an artistic side to Dustin and I was proud of how he sunk his teeth into the character and ran with it. Not a lot of the guys have the cojones to do that and I was impressed.
Wrestling INC: It was crazy. Nothing like that had been done on such a level.
Runnels: It got heat with the boys and people didn't want to necessarily wrestle him, but they came around. Chyna was great about it and wanted to work with Dustin. All the boys had massive respect for Dustin pulling it off the way he did.
Read more at http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/0708/577830/terri-runnels-talks-owen-memories/#hjkOsBWfYXm11Ge2.99
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