Rick Rude Or Mr.Perfect?

[Cocky King of The World1]

Two of my favorite wrestlers of all time Rick Rude and Mr.Perfect

My question to you guys is simple. Who would have been the bigger star if Rude didn't retire , and perfect didn't have nagging injuries in his prime?

Rude you can say because he was making the U.S championship look like a world title , he was WCW international world champ 3 times, and you knew the guy was going to be a world champion down the line. He was WCW's top heel his time there, and was having an excellent fued with sting so that would have been money. Rude was an excellent talent, with great in-ring ability and great charisma. He was SIMPLY RAVISHING! and someone who was born to be a heel. A legitimate tough guy back stage.

Mr.Perfect had greatness written all over him, a fantastic wrestling talent, great in-ring technician, and the guy could talk his ass off!. Followed by his great vignettes , he went undefeated over a year and won the intercontinental title. Vince Mcmahon planned to give the perfect one a lengthy title reign as WWF champ. Back injuries, however held him from this feat. He still would put Bret Hart over in one of the finest wrestling matches I have ever seen at Summerslam. Theres no doubt in my mind he would have been one of the greatest WWF champs of all time he had everything to accomplish this. After all this he was still a class act and was one of the boys

So ill let you decide who do uthink would have been the bigger star ? Rude or Perfect?

 

[Loveless]

Rude. Better look, better mic work, about equal ring work. Mr Perfect just never looked like a main event worker, always the top mid-card guy in the same way Jericho is.

 

[daddyJ_t]

as much as i liked perfect, id have to say rude.he had the body, the look and the talent. i was a huge warrior fan, but he didnt have the greatest talent and rude made him look like goldin their fued. not to mention with one change of tights, he could start a new feud jus like that, ala jake roberts over cheryl. the man knew how to tell a good story and just like the op said, pardon the pun... a perfect heel. no one could draw heat like rude could. will everybody please shut up while i remove my robe. classic heat draw.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

both were incredible wrestlers and missed very much... i'm hard pressed to choose because they both had so much potential, but if i had to i'd say Rude. Like the earlier poster said, Rude managed to make Warrior look incredible, that is no easy feat. Also, Rude's feud with Jake was probably one of the best ever. But what really makes me choose rude over henning is the fact that Rude could have been a HUGE face as well as the perfect heel. We never really got to see him as a face, but we saw glimpses of it with the reactions he got in ECW and in WCW after leaving WWE bc of montreal. He had some of the biggest pops i've ever heard, hell even the halloween phantom got a pretty big pop. Rude could be huge on both extreme, heel or face. Henning was great and a hell of a performer but he was less versatile than rude in my opinion.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

Both were former World Champions (Hennig in the AWA, despite the fact that it was a promotion removed from its glory days, his run as champion in my opinion made him worthy for a WWF return in 1988, he had been with the WWF from 1980-1982 under his given name without the Mr. Perfect moniker, and Rude was a WCW International World Champion three times). Both of them had some pretty major runs and had some interesting feuds.

Rick Rude feuded with main eventers like Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, The Ultimate Warrior and in a rarely released but was available on home video match was a contest with Hulk Hogan. I also don't want to forget his rivalry with Jake Roberts either. Then we go over to WCW and examine his feuds there which I think were better for him as a wrestler considering his success rate by comparison to his WWF rivalries. He faced off against Sting, Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat and Dustin Rhodes. All those feuds had either a World or US title on the line and Rude can claim that he beat Ric Flair and Sting to be a World Champion.

Then you have Mr. Perfect who in the WWF had feuds with Ultimate Warrior, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Texas Tornado and his IC Title reign compared to Rude's I think was far superior considering that he was allowed to run with it longer. But when you look at Rude's run as the US Champion in WCW that balances things out. Rude's run as US Champion lasted over a year's time. The way WCW treated Rick Rude, I felt should have been the way WWF had, but that's just my opinion and doesn't hold weight here in this discussion, and despite what I just said, I have an overwhelming endearment for both performers.

Both of them drew heat greatly and they were top notch performers, great athletes no doubt about that and both legends. However, both were injury prone so that hindered both of their abilities to really be bigger than they were. But despite that they were so over to begin with even with how injury laden they had become later in their career.

It's hard for me to decide but to be honest, I think Mr. Perfect was the bigger of the two and I preferred him just slightly over Rude. While Rude's role as Hennig's bodyguard in the nWo was a very memorable one for me, Hennig was easier to transition into a non wrestling role a lot easier, he had dual hatted his responsibilities in kayfabe as a commentator on Superstars of Wrestling and a "consultant" for Ric Flair throughout his WWF title reigns.

Perfect was just a little more versatile and I think had he not been hurt so soon after he won the IC Title for the second time, he could have very easily been put into the World Title scene after he put Bret Hart over at SummerSlam 1991. However, Rick Rude was not someone to dismiss and he did indeed have a memorable run with the Big Gold Belt in WCW just by beating Ric Flair, that says it all.

But Hennig's various roles I think just creates something special that puts him in a class all his own.

 

[fb481777]

Man, Mr. Perfect and Ravishing Rick Rude were just 2 of the best in wrestling History by far!!!

While a close race, I'd have to go with Rick Rude (Possibly) - I mean, my dad and I used to just get a kick out of the whole "Hit My music - Shut up while I take off my rob" routine! hahahaha or how about...

"All you fat, out-of-shape, no good people take a good look!"

hahahahahahaha

Classic Greats!

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Rude was by far the better prospect as a main eventer... He had enough skill to make the bigger, less agile workers like Warrior and Hogan look great in the ring while being gold on the mic... Such a shame Hogan refused to work with him in 1990... Rude as Champ rather than Slaughter would have been so much better...

Perfect was just short of main event... apart from a mini-fued with Hogan he never really feuded with any main eventers... I would have loved to have seen it... but Rude had the pedigree and experience edge...and was more marketable as a heel champ...

 

[kingofviper3:16]

Iwuud have 2 say mr perfect just for the simple facts he had the overall charisma mic skills and in ring experience. While Rude did have charisma it was just the same old stuff eg. when he was trying to seduce roberts' wife. If i had to rate these 2 wwe legends on a scale from 1-10 i would say perfect 9- Rude 8.5 for the mic skills the in ring work everytime perfect was in the ring against a bigger opponent he would think ahead and attack their weak points where as Rude would just soften their necks up for the rude awakening. for their in ring work perfect 9.5 Rude 9.0 so as to your point who would have been the bigger star i would have to say perfect but it is close.

 

[gers09]

has to be perfect for me because he was simply perfect rude was great there's no doubt of that but Kurt was just better for me. i only really saw rude in WWE where he wasn't at his best his best work was probably in WCW and he did seam to have a great run as US champ but perfect was the best as IC champ we know the way it was in they days WWE champ was money maker and IC champ was the best in the ring and that was because of Mr Perfect

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

Rude was by far the better prospect as a main eventer... He had enough skill to make the bigger, less agile workers like Warrior and Hogan look great in the ring while being gold on the mic... Such a shame Hogan refused to work with him in 1990... Rude as Champ rather than Slaughter would have been so much better...

Perfect was just short of main event... apart from a mini-fued with Hogan he never really feuded with any main eventers... I would have loved to have seen it... but Rude had the pedigree and experience edge...and was more marketable as a heel champ...

I'm not sure how much weight there is to Hogan's refusal to work with him, they did have a few matches and granted it was not a historic feud in the same sense as Hogan's other encounters. There was still some memorable moments after all he did wrestle Perfect on a Saturday Night's Main Event which today would be akin to wrestling someone at a pay per view. I think the Ultimate Warrior and Hogan being pushed for WrestleMania VI was a bigger reason you did not see Hogan and Perfect have a longer storyline.

To say here refused working with Hennig is something that I must say is very unsubstantiated.

 

[The Eighties]

Two of my all time favourites, both of them were just amazing all round performers and I think both could and would have been the top heel in the WWE at some point had it not been for circumstances.

Hennig was just an incredible athlete, he could bump and sell like few others and his offense was also great to watch, in many ways he had the offense of a face. On the mic he was strong and cocky, but more humorous than Rude,

Rude's in ring style was beneficial to faces, he couldn't bump as well as Perfect but he did bump well, however it was his strong realistic offense that was both methodical and impactful that worked so well, it got the crowd baying for the face comeback which he then would ell like a star. On the mic he was similar to Hennig but meaner.

It's very close, but I think as a very top guy the extra edge Rude had would have made him the slightly bigger star.

Rick Rude feuded with main eventers like Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, The Ultimate Warrior and in a rarely released but was available on home video match was a contest with Hulk Hogan.

Wow I have never heard about this, what was it available on?

I'm not sure how much weight there is to Hogan's refusal to work with him, they did have a few matches and granted it was not a historic feud in the same sense as Hogan's other encounters. There was still some memorable moments after all he did wrestle Perfect on a Saturday Night's Main Event which today would be akin to wrestling someone at a pay per view. I think the Ultimate Warrior and Hogan being pushed for WrestleMania VI was a bigger reason you did not see Hogan and Perfect have a longer storyline.

To say here refused working with Hennig is something that I must say is very unsubstantiated.

He was talking about Hogan refusing to work a program with Rude, something Flair touches on in his book.

 

[Calderownz]

Personally, Mr. Perfect was just the better overall entertainer to me. Just in my personal opinion.

Rick Rude was a great worker, good talker and had an incredible look. Not taking anything away from this incredible superstar. However, I just felt Mr. perfect was a far more unique individual.

A lot of guys have had the ********, ladies man gimmick. Few have had the balls/talent to call themselves something like 'Perfect' and actually live up to the name.

He could kick your ass, as he was a legit badass and was also great in the ring. He also was able to make almost anyone look like a million bucks. he worked with some great wrestlers as well. (Not that Rude didn't.)

I just liked the attitude, the way he carried himself and they way he went about his entire role.

Just would have to go with Mr. Perfect.

Both are great.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

I'm not sure how much weight there is to Hogan's refusal to work with him, they did have a few matches and granted it was not a historic feud in the same sense as Hogan's other encounters. There was still some memorable moments after all he did wrestle Perfect on a Saturday Night's Main Event which today would be akin to wrestling someone at a pay per view. I think the Ultimate Warrior and Hogan being pushed for WrestleMania VI was a bigger reason you did not see Hogan and Perfect have a longer storyline.

To say he refused working with Hennig is something that I must say is very unsubstantiated.

THTRobtaylor I apologize for my absent mindness, I did not read through your original post correctly and a fellow user corrected me on my erring ways. I for some reason still thought you were talking about Curt Hennig and not Rude, sorry about that, lol!

I do indeed remember hearing something about Hogan refusing to work beyond their one match they had back in the late 80s. It is indeed a shame that they never feuded. I wish I knew more to this story, but I remember it has been touched on. Anyway good post and again my apologies for any disrespect.

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

Wow I have never heard about this, what was it available on?

He was talking about Hogan refusing to work a program with Rude, something Flair touches on in his book.

You were totally right man, I misread that post I was replying to, and I retracted my original statement as a result lol, thanks for pointing that out.

As far as that rarely seen Hogan and Rude match, it was on the Best Of the WWF Volume 20 and later re-released on the Hulk Hogan Unreleased Collector's Series DVD.

But yes I do remember reading that story about Hogan refusing to work with Rude in a feud, it was indeed in the Flair book and that was an awesome read. I am not sure how true that is, but you never know.

But yeah man hope that info helped ya out there, and thanks for the correction on my post!

 

[The Eighties]

You were totally right man, I misread that post I was replying to, and I retracted my original statement as a result lol, thanks for pointing that out.

As far as that rarely seen Hogan and Rude match, it was on the Best Of the WWF Volume 20 and later re-released on the Hulk Hogan Unreleased Collector's Series DVD.

But yes I do remember reading that story about Hogan refusing to work with Rude in a feud, it was indeed in the Flair book and that was an awesome read. I am not sure how true that is, but you never know.

But yeah man hope that info helped ya out there, and thanks for the correction on my post!

You're welcome and thank you for the info, I'm gonna have to pick that set up now to check it out.

Flair's book was a great read, oddly enough he didn't go into great detail of his program with Rude but he did say neither Vader or Rude wanted to work Hogan when he joined WCW in 94.

Also speaking of Rude, wasn't he set to go face and feud with Vader in 94 before he broke his back?

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

You're welcome and thank you for the info, I'm gonna have to pick that set up now to check it out.

Flair's book was a great read, oddly enough he didn't go into great detail of his program with Rude but he did say neither Vader or Rude wanted to work Hogan when he joined WCW in 94.

Also speaking of Rude, wasn't he set to go face and feud with Vader in 94 before he broke his back?

My pleasure to be of assistance in return boss man. Yeah man, I wish Flair spoke more of Rude in his book since they did have a feud over the WCW International Title. Which at the time was still the NWA Word Title, lol. From what I have heard and who knows, but Scott Steiner I think, can't remember for sure, but I believe it was him who said that Rude had legit heat with Flair, but who knows for sure. Either way such a thing did not affect how good the matches they had.

It's disappointing how there was no run with Hogan and Rude and the Vader Vs Hogan feud was one sided, could have been so much more to the development of that, if Hogan hadn't been booked so strongly against Vader. In my belief I think it was a little bit of Hogan's pull being a new star in the promotion and probably a bit of WCW not wanting to sell Vader the same way, considering that he did have that altercation with Orndorff which led to his dismissal. Had that not happened, maybe a Hogan and Vader feud could have been revisited, especially during the nWo era. Vader had been playing the part of face before and maybe it could have worked. But alas, we'll never know unfortunately. Same goes with Rude, whose back injury you mentioned also hindered what could have been with the Ravishing one.

And yes you are right, Rude's back injury caused the match with Vader to not happen. Instead Sting went on to wrestle Vader and claim the vacant Championship.

All in all that was a pretty good time in WCW's history even before Hogan showed up.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

This is an extremely close call in my opinion. I was a fan of both of them so I'm gonna have to break it down.

The Look: Advantage - Rick Rude I think that Rick Rude had the advantage here. Rude's overall look and appearance was very important to his heel persona and it was a credible persona. Rude had a great build that had an overall more natural look than the builds of contemporaries like Lex Luger & The Ultimate Warrior, even though Rude himself was heavily into using steroids. He had some size but it was the overall cut & symetry that made Rude stand out. Mr. Perfect was always in great physical condition but his look ultimately didn't have the same impact as Rude's, nor was it near as intregal of a part of his heel persona as Rude's.

In-Ring Ability: Advantage - Mr. Perfect When it comes to overall ability inside the ring, I think Mr. Perfect takes it. Hennig was someone that could work with just about anybody with any style and pull off a great match. Hennig had a great amateur wrestling background and could grapple on the mat with anybody he came across. I think he also had advantages of speed & agility over Rude. Some of Hennig's matches, especially some he had with Bret Hart, were damn near perfect and wrestling against someone of that level and holding his own really showed fans just how good he ultimately was.

Promo Skills: Advantage - Tie I think it's too close to call on who could deliver a better promo. I think that Rude was better at generating heat with the crowd overall whereas Hennig just seemed to be more comfortable and his promos didn't seem as repetitive as Rude's did at times. Rude's promos usually consisted of putting himself over by insulting the physical appearances of the audience in comparing them to his own. Hennig put himself over by constantly hyping his own abilities, both of which are tried and true ways for a heel to generate heat.

Accomplishments: Advantage - Tie Again, I think that this category is really too close to call. Both of them held some major championships in their time and, coincidentally, some of those title reigns had drawbacks to them for both of them. Rude has 3 reigns as WCW International World Heavyweight Champion. The first reign was a respectable 178 days whereas the other two lasted a total of 24 days. Rude's runs came during a time in which there was a lot of turmoil going on in WCW as the company was severing it's ties to the NWA in some pretty messy ways. The WCW IWHC is also partially connected to the controversy started when Ric Flair took the Big Gold Belt to the WWF a few years earlier as fans associated that title as being representing the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Curt Hennig was AWA World Heavyweight Champion for 373 days and, in my view, was the last good champion of the AWA. At the time, however, the AWA was being eaten alive by WCW and the WWF and the overall quality of the AWA product was steadily declining to the point that, about a hear after Hennig's reign ended, it was almost unrecognizable as the same great promotion Gagne began in 1960. Both Rude & Hennig also had respectable runs as tag team champions in Crockett Promotions & the AWA respectively and both had great mid-card title runs. Rude won the IC title from The Ultimate Warrior at WM 5 and held it for 148 days, feuding with The Ultimate Warrior afterward. Hennig had two runs with the title and many see him as arguably the greatest IC champ in history, holding it a total of 406 days. Both also had runs in WCW as the United States Heavyweight Champion. Rude's single reign lasted 378 days still is the 2nd longest run in the history of the title. Hennig held the title for 104 days in late 2007. When you look at their major accomplishments as a whole, it's just too close for me to give either guy a significant advantage.

Overall: Tie When looking at everything overall, I think I have to call it a tie between them. Either guy had some advantages over the other of course but they were just so close in so many different areas that it's hard for me to just pick one and say "this guy is the better wrestler".

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Using days that titles were held for isn't really a good measure imo, after all a one day title reign like Andre's or Kane's can be more impactful on a career than a year long one like Diesel's... Who they beat is a better measure...

Perfect beat Bockwinkel, which at the time was big news as he had had the belt for years... but Bockwinkel was when compared to the WWF/WCW champs of the time far below standard... it'd have been like beating a Ted DiBiase or Jake Roberts rather than a Hogan or Flair... Transplant it to today and it's more a Thwagger run than a Sheamus...

Rude beat the Ultimate Warrior, who to that point was unbeaten in the WWF for over a year... he went over all WCW's top faces on arrival including Sting... A face run wouldn't have worked for him... he was a heel... Perfect would have done better had he not flip flopped so much...

Hennig was often touted as the better worker, but they were dead even in my book... all those Minnesota guys came up together remember, went to the same schools, wrestled each other in High School... Hennig's only real edge was being the one whose dad was a wrestler... Rude's style was not as technical as Perfects but effective enough to work with guys of all sizes and abilities... Perfect was great with fellow technicals like Bret but not so with guys of lesser ability than himself like Beefcake and Kerry Von Erich...