WWE Region, Memphis Subregion, Second Round: (4) Ricky Steamboat vs. (13) Rick Rude

[klunderbunker]

This is a second round match in the WWE Region, Memphis Subregion. It is a standard one on one match held under WWE Rules. It will be held at the Fed Ex Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. Assume one week has passed since the first round match.

#4. Ricky Steamboat

Vs.

#13. Rick Rude

​

Polls will be open for three days following a one day period for discussion. Voting will be based on who you feel is the greater of the two competitors. Post your reasons for why your pick should win below. Remember that this is non-spam and the most votes in the poll win. Any ties will be broken by the amount of posts of support for each candidate, with one vote per poster.

Also remember that this is a non-spam forum. If you post a response without giving a reason for your selection, it will be penalized for spam and deleted.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Maybe the best match of the tourney so far for wrestling purists. Ricky Steamboat upended Ric Flair in some of the greatest matches of all time. Steamboat also beat Randy Savage in one of great Wrestlemania matches of all time. Point is when it comes to big matches, Steamboat wins... a lot.

Rick Rude's no slouch. Beating Sting and Ultimate Warrior during their heyday's no laughing matter and Rude did just that. Not to mention Rude was a legit tough guy who won arm wrestling contests, which proves he'd have the strength advantage.

Ultimately, I'd give this to Steamboat, because Steamboat pulls out wins when there's no hope... and Rude has a very cocky side that would cause him to let his guard down enough to lose this match.

Steamboat wins... in a very hard fought match.

 

[Tastycles]

If we were all doing Sam circa 2009's vote based on ring attire method, Rude would undoubtedly win - those tights with Warrior's face on the arse were magnificent. Both of these people were world Champions of sorts, although Rude's WCW International reigns are dubious. Where Steamboat had the edge in ring skills, Rude had much more character and some of his heel promos are amongst the best.

For me, Rude had more of the total package of being a wrestler, and therefore deserves this on balance.

 

[PsychoBlack]

These guys had extremely similar careers in terms of accomplishments and place on the card. Ricky Steamboat tends to get overrated a bit because he had some great matches with two of the best ever and possessing a ridiculously disgusting arm drag that still makes my shoulder hurt every time I see it. I'll wait off a bit on this match because I don't really know who to go with here seeing how both of them were great in their respective rights.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

I'd expect the majority of people to vote for Steamboat in this one because of the respective careers of the two men. But for me Rude was more of a total package than Steamboat was and he worked a great programme out of The Ultimate Warrior, worth something in itself.

Steamboat could work a long match and work with a lot of guys, he's not useless at all and really if I'm being honest was a good face, because to be a good face in wrestling you don't even need to talk, and sometimes it helps if you don't. He good a lot of good matches out of a lot of good guys and was really a top solid worker of all time. Rude was definitely no slouch in the ring, and as we all know his career was cut shorter than it should have been.

This is the first one where I think I will wait and see who can convince me. I like Rude more, but Steamboat has done more and might be just as good. I'm really not sure.

 

[HBsam31]

I had just commented that I am torn on Piper/Edge, and then I came to this match and am torn again. Steamboat on the surface would have seemed to accomplish more having wins over Flair and Savage, but Rude has wins over Warrior and Sting. I agree with the people that said Rude is more of a total package than Steamboat. As with Piper/Edge I am going to wait and read the arguments some more and then decide.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It's difficult to say here. Both guys are pretty well balanced out.

Steamboat is the faster of the two. Rude has the strength advantage.

Steamboat is the better technical wrestler. Rude is probably the better brawler

In terms of charisma & mic skills, Rude takes it with no problem. These two areas were always shortcomings with Steamboat.

These two actually did feud in WCW back in the early 90s when Rude captured the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. As I recall, they had several really good matches in which they meshed very well together. Ultimately though, Steamboat was never able to capture the title and Rude went onto hold the title for 378 days.

Both men scored big wins over big names during their times. Steamboat's two biggest probably being Randy Savage & Ric Flair for the IC & NWA WHC while Rude went over Sting, Ric Flair & Hiroshi Hase to win the WCW US & WCW International WHC.

The match could go either way and I wouldn't complain no matter which went forward. Personally though, I'm going with Rude. I always enjoyed Rude's antics and the guy kept me entertained consistently.

 

[Papa Pillman]

These are two incredibly evenly matched opponents.

In early '88 in WWF they met a few times, without either scoring a pinfall. Steamboat had a DQ win and they had some double-DQ's and time limit draws.

Then later in WCW in '92, Steamboat lost his US title to Rude, but as far as I remember The Dragon never got a rematch. The only match I know they had while Rude was champ came in a non-title 30-minute Iron Man at Beach Blast '92, with Steamboat picking up a fall in the final minute to win 4-3.

That Iron Man match win against Rude in their final 1-on-1 encounter, combined with the fact that a very solid argument can be made that Steamboat wrestled in the greatest Wrestlemania undercard match and the greatest IC title match(WM III), as well as the greatest ever WCW match(any of the three in the '89 Flair series depending on your taste), is enough to sway me to vote Steamboat.

 

[Brewski]

Like everyone said before this is a great match that I would love to see. For me though Rude takes it in a close one. Just better wrestling and strength from him. I'll admit personal preference does play a role here, but even without that I still think I would pick Rude. On top of that I think Rude does better in a tournament of this kind. Ravishing Rick takes this one.

 

[8thwotwATG]

I had a difficult time deciding who to take in this match. Both guys were great inside the ropes, Steamboat with better technical skill, Rude the better brawler. I did take into account that Steamboat spent more time chasing the World's Championship than Rude did, but this always seemed to me to be the most effective way to book Steamboat. Rude always seemed to me to excel as the heel that held the midcard title, and kept it by less than honorable means. Rude was ALWAYS entertaining on the mic, and at times was a veritable heat magnet; able to infuriate fans with every movememt, and every word he spoke. Both guys could sell very well, and Rude always stood out to me as a bump machine, taking nasty ones regularly during the course of any given match. In the end I ended up going with Rude, for the reason of his particular brand of midcard heel being booked to go over the perennial babyface that was always chasing, but never quite getting his hands on the brass ring on a regular basis. Rude squeaks out a victory after an entertaining matchup that sees Heenan interfere by tripping up Steamboat from the outside, allowing Rude to score a tainted pin, complete with a handful of tights in true heel fashion. Rude moves on, just barely.

 

[The Brain]

They were in the same promotion at the same time during their primes. They've wrestled each other many times and have about an even record against each other. Rude seemed to be the bigger star during their matches so I'm going with him. I'm not going to put up much of an argument because it really could go either way.

 

[deem]

Damn was hoping someone had put up a persuasive argument either way, but it hasn't happened yet. These two guys are genuinely great, have equal careers and it's really hard to split, as everyone else said.

I only have two big arguments to put forward I think.

1) Rick Rude has been absolutely dominant in his matches against Steamboat over their career - 7 wins for Steamer, 37 wins for Rude with 13 draws. That's a whitewash.

2) Whoever wins this faces Piper or Edge, who will be working heel as they both were in their prime. Steamboat makes a lot more sense to go over based on that, since this is very definitely face vs heel.

So even the two small things I can split them on balance.

I think Steamboat has marginally more relevance at the main event, but that's a wild guess. His work against Flair is certainly more memorable than Rude's brief year stint in the main event in 1993-1994 WCW.

Either can win and I'd be happy. in a vacuum I'd say Rude has the edge one v one due to his stellar record against the Dragon, but I think booking Steamboat to go over ready for the face Vs heel in the next round makes more sense. Plus I marginally prefer Ricky. Whatever, this is truly balanced so you can't go wrong with either choice, I'm taking Steamboat.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Like many others, I have struggled here but I keep coming back to the same thought - if both guys were in the WWe today, Rude would be booked the stronger due to having the better character and, as such, I feel that he would be given the edge here.