Remembering the Midcard - "Ravishing" Rick Rude

[D-Man]

A few weeks ago, I happened to be channel surfing when I came across MSG's WWE Classics on the MSG network. Now, this television show has been televised in the past, but I thought it was finished. Now, I'm glad that it has returned. The program showcases house events, nationally televised events, and even PPV's that have occurred throughout the years at Madison Square Garden. This television program has shown matches such as Dusty Rhodes versus "Superstar" Billy Graham for the WWWF championship in 1978, Hulk Hogan versus the Iron Sheik on the day that Hulkamania was born in 1984, and even multiple matches from Summerslam 1988.

Watching this program got me thinking about the old gimmicks and jobbers from back in the day that went little to nowhere in the WWE, WCW, and even ECW. Even though they may or may not have sucked, they should still be remembered. So, I decided to start a new thread that I would try to create on a weekly basis that will pay tribute to the lower to upper mid-card. Whether you loved them, hated them, or barely remembered them, I'd like for everyone to contribute and give some feedback on these guys. Feel free to make fun of them, praise them, or just state some memories that you have about them.

I figured that we should start things off on a positive note with none other than "Ravishing" Rick Rude.

In the decades full of over the top gimmicks, superheroes, and ridiculous characters created by Vince McMahon and Co, Rick Rude was a diamond in the rough. He was a tremedous worker that had charisma, a chiseled physique, great mic skills, good work ethic, and professionalism. He was probably the first superstar to get in the ring with the likes of the Ultimate Warrior and actually make him look good. Back when the Warrior was still green in the WWF, this was a very difficult task for any professional wrestler, but Rude was up to the task.

His persona was so well done and he got such a great reaction from the fans. Whenever he would come out and grab the mic, the people loved to hate him and boo him, even when he called us all "fat, out of shape, sweathogs" as he stripped off his robe to reveal his impressive physique and airbrushed tights. Then, he would make a woman's dream come true as he invited her into the ring for a little makeout-fest.

In my mind, Rick Rude's most memorable moments were his feuds with Jake “The Snake” Roberts and with the Ultimate Warrior (which resulted in his first Intercontinental Championship win at Wrestlemania V), the fact that he was manager by Bobby Heenan, his mini-feud with the Big Bossman after constantly insulting his mother on television tapings, and his run with Degeneration X as their “insurance policy”. But, Rude made his mark in wrestling history when he appeared on WWF Monday Night Raw and WCW Nitro in the same night, as well as ECW in the same week!

Unfortunately, Rude’s life was cut short after he died of heart failure in 1999 as a result of steroid abuse.

So, does anyone have any thoughts, memories, or comments on the career of Rick Rude? The floor is yours

 

[jmt225]

Oh man how I absolutely HATED Rick Rude when I was a child! Part of me STILL hates that motherfucker! But you know what? That just shows the man was doing his job right.

Ever since his death, I've been able to come fully appreciate the man's body of work. He was an absolutely terrific performer and one of the greatest heels of all time in my book. The man could make any babyface look good. It all started with his promos at the beginning of each match. I mean, by the time that fucking microphone was out of his hand, it didn't matter who was coming out that curtain, I and everyone else just wanted to see that bastard get his ass beat down. It could've been The Ultimate Warrior, The Big Boss Man, Jake Roberts, Ko Ko Beware... it didn't matter. Rude made you hate him from the start, which made his opponent instantly over with the fans. He was that great.

And another thing that was truly great about him was that he could pull off both roles of "coward" and "ruthless" to perfection and have both be completely, 100% believable. Not many heels in the history of the business were able to pull that off, but Rick Rude was definitely one of them.

As much as I hated this guy growing up, he still entertained the living hell out of me each time he performed (whether I knew it or not), and to this day... I can sit down and watch a Rick Rude match and be thoroughly entertained. And even still, today being a fan of his, I still love watching this guy get his ass handed to him. The dude just made it so easy to hate his fucking guys, even though you can't but love him today looking back at it. What a great performer he truly was.

 

[8five]

One of my all time favorites as a kid, the first heel i can remember rooting for. Some of his matches with Sting back in the day were phenomenal. I remember being legitamately upset when he had to forfeit an NWA title because of a neck injury he suffered in japan. He truly was a great upper mid card talent who never got the run with the belt i feel he truly deserved. The cage match with warrior at summerslam is in my opinion warrior's best match which really shows how he was capable of elevating other talent

 

[PayneKiller79]

I was first introduced to Rude via The Dangerous Alliance in WCW. I always thought that he was an amazing athlete. He had it in the ring, and on the mic. The way he got the fans to either hate him (the men) or love him (the women) was truly something. It's truly a shame that his career was cut short due to injury. It's a wonder how different his career would have gone had he been able to go back to the WWE(F). I really do hope that they release a DVD of his career as it is a career worthy of having a DVD. If Pillman and Hennig can have phenomenal DVD's dedicated to them, Rude definitely deserves this honour as well. His matches with Roberts, Warrior, Sting, Steamboat, Flair were gems. Even his stint in ECW would be great to relive. All in all Rude is a true talent and will be missed and let's start counting down the days until we see is time in the spotlight again.

 

[matt_hud]

My first memories of Rick Rude go back well before WCW or WWF... It goes way back to the USWA in memphis... I remember him fueding with my favorite wrestler at that time Austin Idol over who was the real heartthrob and the affection of Babydoll... I hated Ric Rude with a passion, but like a post previous stated that ment Rick was doing his job... Also several people are talking about how he made the Warrior look good, just a little trivia for all you Rick Rude fans Rick wrestled in 1985 in a little known promotion (sarcasm) called WCWA formerly known as the home of the Von Erichs World Class Championship Wrestling while there he formed a solid team with Dingo Warrior who later turned on Rick to become a face... So Rick knew Warriors strengths and weaknesses to assist in making Warrior look so damm good... As we all know Dingo become Ultimate in the WWF...

Anyway I love this idea of tribute post to former wrestlers good, bad, ugly or even barly remembered...

God Bless you Rick Rude and may you Rest In Peace

 

[RATED R CHAMPION]

MEN, EXCELLENT THREAD, I WISH YOU CONTINUE EVERY WEEK, NOW GOING TO RAVISHING, HE WAS OUTSTANDING, AMAZING AS A HEEL, VERY GOOD IN RING WORKER AND HAD THE CHARISMA TOO.

I'VE BEEN WATCHING "THE HISTORY OF THE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP" DVD SET, (WHICH I ENCOURAGE ALL OF YOU TO BUY) AND THERE IS A MATCH OF RUDE, AGAINST ULTIMATE WARRIOR AND IT WAS SUMMERSLAM 1989 IC TITLE MATCH, ALTHOUGH HE LOST THERE, HE DID AN AMAZING PERFORMANCE AND DID HIS FLAMBOYANT DANCE! WHICH I LOVE!

I NEVER SAW RUDE LIVE, BECAUSE I WAS NOT BORN YET BUT I HAVE WATCHED A COUPLE OF HIS MATCHES AND PROMOS AND ENTRANCES, AND HE'S GREAT, HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN WWF CHAMPION? WHY NOT? SIMPLE THE PIECE OF TRASH OF HULK HOGAN, I DONT CARE IF ANY OF YOU LOVED HOGAN OR NOT, HE'S USELESS AND HORRIBLE IN RING WORKER, SO BORING, BUT HAD THE CHARISMA AND STUPID CHARACTER VINCE WANTED SO HE ALMOST ALWAYS WAS THE CHAMP BUT IF NOT FOR HULK, RICK RUDE AND MANY OTHER WAY BETTER WRESTLERS THAN HIM WOULD HAVE BEEN WWF CHAMPIONS!

RAVISHING RICK RUDE, A VERY GOOD DUDE!

 

[THTRobtaylor]

In no way can you call Rude a mid-carder... He main evented a Summerslam and won the NWA World Title 3 times... He was WCW's most bankable wrestler in Japan other than Vader too...

Rude was, like DiBiase a main event heel used incorrectly, many have stated that Hogan was the main cause of him leaving WWE for refusing a proposed job... if true I hope Hogan realises what opportunity passed him by...

 

[happyjack]

Ravishing Ric Rude was one of the most underrated wrestlers, but always one of my favorites. He was the total package. He never got his run with the wwf/e title. if he was in a different era he would have been champ for sure. One of the greatest.

 

[The Brain]

Oh man how I absolutely HATED Rick Rude when I was a child! Part of me STILL hates that motherfucker! But you know what? That just shows the man was doing his job right.

Ever since his death, I've been able to come fully appreciate the man's body of work. He was an absolutely terrific performer and one of the greatest heels of all time in my book. The man could make any babyface look good. It all started with his promos at the beginning of each match. I mean, by the time that fucking microphone was out of his hand, it didn't matter who was coming out that curtain, I and everyone else just wanted to see that bastard get his ass beat down. It could've been The Ultimate Warrior, The Big Boss Man, Jake Roberts, Ko Ko Beware... it didn't matter. Rude made you hate him from the start, which made his opponent instantly over with the fans. He was that great.

And another thing that was truly great about him was that he could pull off both roles of "coward" and "ruthless" to perfection and have both be completely, 100% believable. Not many heels in the history of the business were able to pull that off, but Rick Rude was definitely one of them.

As much as I hated this guy growing up, he still entertained the living hell out of me each time he performed (whether I knew it or not), and to this day... I can sit down and watch a Rick Rude match and be thoroughly entertained. And even still, today being a fan of his, I still love watching this guy get his ass handed to him. The dude just made it so easy to hate his fucking guys, even though you can't but love him today looking back at it. What a great performer he truly was.

You said it all. He truly was an amazing talent. I hated him so much when I was a kid. Now it makes me appreciate what a great job he really did. I remembering hoping he would return to the WWF in 1994 when Hogan showed up in WCW. I was really hoping for a Bret Hart vs. Rick Rude main event feud over the title. That would have been classic. Rude would have made a great WWF champion in the mid 90's. It's too bad his career was cut short due to injury. I know he had success in WCW, but I've always been a WWF guy. I wish I could have had more than the three years he was with WWF.

 

[Doomsday Device]

When it came to selling for your opponent, mic skills, humor, looks, charisma, cool ring attire, this guy was a modern pioneer. He was almost ahead of his time, he would have fit perfectly in the Attitude era, even in todays world. This guy had it all.

Too bad this guy never got to take a bite out of the WWE Championship. Back in those days if you werent Hogan, Warrior or Macho you didnt have much of a chance.

If he would have stayed with WWE in the early 90's, I believe he could have gotten his break at the main title.

I believe he left because of money issues, I may be wrong.

Something about Warrior making alot more than him and he didnt find that fair.

 

[Double Eh]

Oh man, I can't begin to get into how much of a fan of The Ravishing One. I started watching wrestling regularly right around the time of wrestlemania 5. And I was a weird wrestling fan back then. I always enjoyed the heels much more than the babyfaces. And Rude was on my list of favorites back in the early years of my wrestling addiction.

I just loved that he could make an entire arena boo him out of the building just by walking into the ring and putting a mic in his hand. That was what made me love his work so much. It is alot of power to be able to make thousands of people scream at you. He could insult an entire arena, and to a child like I was i couldn't believe he could say those things and people would still listen to him and not throw things at him. He was the absolute epitome of a great heel. And honestly in my mind, there are very few out there who can compare in that category. It is an absolute shame that he was never WWF World Champion, him and The Million Dollar Man, both robbed.

As good as his programs with Jake, and Warrior were, my favorite moments with Rude were in WCW. Which I don't say much, cause generally if someone has been a top guy in both WCW and WWF I will almost always approove of their time up north more than down south. But his fued with Sting, or should I say fueds, were just so good for me. Because as much as I like the heels, Sting was one of the few faces out there who I really loved watching. And when Luger was revealed as the person sending gifts to Sting, and then he attacked Sting's knee right before his US Title defense against Rude, I was so upset. I couldn't believe that Rude used Sting's knee against him and won the strap. That was entertainment to me. I marked out so bad for that. For that moment I liked Rude a little bit less because he beat my one hero. But in retrospect, it was so good. Watch that match again if you can find it. It played out so well. Also his reign as US champion was awesome. Also his fued with Ric Flair over the NWA Title was exceptional to me.

God I feel like a little school girl here gushing over Rick Rude. But how can you not? I love this thread, and hope for more like it. How bout how fucking awesome Arn Anderson was?

 

[FlairFan2003]

The thing about Rude's character is that it was almost the same in the NWA when he came to WWF in late 1987, early 1988. ALthough I think the "ravishing" nickname may have been a McMahon creation (not sure on that), he was already playing the same basic character, name and all, in World Class before he came to the NWA, which was before he came to the WWF. His World Tag Team Title run with Manny Fernandez was my first exposure to him, and the very good matches they had against The Rock & Roll Express.

The fact that McMahon didn't feel he needed to completely re-package Rude with a different look, name, or gimmick is quite a compliment. Other than Flair, who kept their identity in tact when they switched to WWF besides Rude ? Even The Road Warriors had to drop that name and be only known as The Legion Of Doom, Tully Blanchard & Arn Anderson became The Brainbusters. Rude was one of the only the ones who really didnlt have to change anything when he arrived. Only Flair, the only wrestler McMahon admitted on TV had a full fledged wrestling career prior to WWF (refering to him as an "international champion" around the world) had a better entrance. No Red Roosters, Million Dollar gimmicks, no "Widowmaker", no yellow polka dot tights and ridiculous plummer videos. Vince re-packaged almost everyone he stole from the other promotions. Rude was one of a select few he didn't re-brand.

I've heard different stories about Rude being upset he didn't get a title run in the old WWF, but realistically unless Hogan was going on a long sabbatical who was gonna get a title run ? Savage only got one because Hogan was leaving, same with Warrior. Slaughter and Taker's runs were jokes, short term just to advance story. Flair's run was to build up a Hogan/Flair WM that didn't take place for different reasons, although Rude was gone by then anyway.

 

[Doomsday Device]

FlairFan brings a good point. I hated with a passion when Vince would purchase a good wrestler who already had the momentum and starpower from a previous organization, and re-package and recycle this person with a silly name or gimmick, to perhaps make this wrestler like he's brand new for the kiddie fans.

Not to go out of subject, but I never saw Rude as a midcard, that word didnt even come to my mind linked to Rude until I saw this thread. The guy was a main eventer, just unfortunately he did cement his spot there.

I can undertsand Rude leaving WWF in 1990 perhaps out of protest, but if he would not have taken himself out of the game he might have had a shot at the belt. If he would have stayed at least 2 more years in the Federation. Look, Warrior left, then Hogan, and finally Savage, and Im sure if Rude has been patient and continued to work hard he was one of the first in line for the main belt. But I guess Rude didnt see it that way.

 

[slothdookie]

FlairFan brings a good point. I hated with a passion when Vince would purchase a good wrestler who already had the momentum and starpower from a previous organization, and re-package and recycle this person with a silly name or gimmick, to perhaps make this wrestler like he's brand new for the kiddie fans.

Like "Texas Tornado" Kerry VonErich. I was a huge WCWA fan back in day day. When VonErich came in the WWF it was like they just threw him out there.
Rude was one of my favorite wrestlers of all time.
"Hit the music"