Austin Region, Chicago Subregion, First Round: (11) Rick Rude vs. (22) Sheamus

[Khalifa]

Put Sheamus in Rudes position back in the day and he probably gets fired. Sheamus isn't on the level Rude was even if it was a mid card level. Put Rude in sheamus's position and he would be doing a lot more than what Sheamus has done, will do and be remember for. I can't believe Sheamus is on this list let alone 'easily beats' Rude. How is that the case? Sheamus has got some impressive victories and has been a world champion but if Rude was in an era were there was 2 world title belts do you guys honestly think he wouldn't be atleast a one time wwe champion.

As someone pointed out earlier I can't actually remember Sheamus winning a clean match against someone who is above him in the WWE. All have been gimmick matches or someone has interrupted the opponent. Since there has been one belt Sheamus has been champion once, from a result of a cash in (the whole thing was stupid, even him winning the MITB) and then lost it pretty much as soon as he had to defend it and is now the leader of a team who literally everyone thinks "what the hell are they doing".

I haven't watched as many Rude matches as so should have but from what I have seen he is far more entertaining to watch than Sheamus could ever be. Rudes resume doesn't speak for what he actually was.

 

[nightmare]

Let's be honest with ourselves. Sheamus is a dedicated workhorse, but if HHH was not who he is & he never took a liking to the guy, would Sheamus have gotten half the accolades he got? I think if you take that behind the scenes backing out of it then he would be a notch or two lower on the radar. Sure he has had his moments & I bet Vince loved the idea of an Irish champ, but come on. The guy would not have gotten as much attention if not for HHH being in Vince's ear a bit.

Sheamus would surely have a job & probably gotten one run at the top, but he is nothing more than a mid card guy. At least Rude was a solid mid card guy at a time when it was a big deal. Add in his success from all the places he worked & you have a reason to vote him over Sheamus.

 

[Tastycles]

Christ, can you imagine how boring this match would be?

These two are fairly similar talents in my eyes. Yeah, Sheamus has probably held better titles, but I think in a two title heavy injury hit domain, Rude would have and arguably did do the same. Rude is overrated, but I think he was a pro at being a heel and getting the crowd invested in his feuds - this is why we all think he's good. If you had only watched the matches and not the promos, I doubt we'd be having this conversation.

Sheamus beat Cena and has made a decent career for himself since. Rude beat Warrior and similar things happened. For me it comes down to the fact that these two are two of the most boring in ring performers in history, and Rude is more interesting on the mic. In terms of overall talent, I think they are similar, I just like Rude marginally more.

 

[NSL]

Rude's tights are more memorable than anything Sheamus has done.

It's amazing how true this is. Sheamus burst onto the scene, and the talk was immediately about how white he was. I don't remember ever once hearing about how great he was in the ring. I think he's a solid power guy, but there's just no substance to him. If we're going to compare heel v heel here, and we have to, then the edge is more in Rude's favor than the current 17-12 vote would imply.

 

[Harthan]

Sheamus is something a guilty pleasure for me. It isn't very cool to be into Sheamus, but really, I like him quite a lot. I think in this contest you could chalk up more excellent matches to Sheamus than Rude, which seems odd, but I think you started going through their contests you'd find more ****+ matches in Sheamus's favor than Rude's.

On perhaps more relevant points, there's something to be said, in my opinion, for holding a world title whose status is never in doubt. Rude has won several times over various organizations world titles, but I feel like you have to do at least some work to truly justify any of them, and that's just not true for Sheamus. Sheamus can chalk up wins against as many if not more of the top contemporaries of his day as Rude can. Sheamus can boast winning the Royal Rumble then walking into WrestleMania and beating the champion in 18 seconds. Sheamus can also at this point boast more longevity in the ring than Rude.

Rude and Sheamus both will go down in the end for me as mainstay upper midcard guys who both took down the biggest and best every now and again. I think Sheamus's championship pedigree is superior, his roster of defeated stars is a little bit longer, and I think he might just even be flat out the better wrestler.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

Christ, can you imagine how boring this match would be?

The match wouldn't be good - the build up would be good, but the match wouldn't deliver.

In so many ways, Rude was an innovator of many forms of heel psychology. He also has the rare distinction of having pinned The Ultimate Warrior when Warrior was white hot, and that's worth more to me than John Cena falling through a table or a Money in the Bank cash in.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

And just because Sheamus is Triple H's workout buddy doesn't change the fact that Sheamus would be booked over Rude and has accomplished more than Rude in his career.

I disagree, it does change that. Had it not been for Triple H, Sheamus would've been capped at Rusev territory, big foreign heel who has occasional main event runs but stays in the midcard forever. If Wade Barrett had been Triple H's workout buddy, we'd be having this same conversation about him instead of Sheamus, who debuted just a few months before Wade.

I won't argue that Sheamus isn't talented, because he definitely is. The guy is a workhorse, and he's solid on the mic when working with the right material. But he's not the first guy who was buddy-buddy with a top official and excelled far more than he ever deserved. If this were the mid-90's where Triple H didn't have as much sway, Sheamus would be a midcarder while Rick Rude was pinning Sting and Ric Flair for the International World title.

I'd say Rick Rude wins this hands down.

 

[The Brain]

If Sheamus was in the WWF in 1987-1990 there's no way he would have been world champion. He would have been a good challenger against Hogan or Warrior on SNME but he definitely would not have been champ. If Rick Rude was in WWE in this decade he would be a multi time champion like Sheamus, or maybe instead of Sheamus. I think Rude was a bigger deal during his few years in WCW than Sheamus has been in WWE. For the most part Sheamus's world title reigns are not better than Rude's WCW title reigns or even his WWF IC reign. Good first round match here but Rude's just better.