In a match which favours neither, it comes down to who is the better wrestler. Look at the two titles they're both holding - Rude holding the admittedly more prestigious-than-now IC title and his painted IC title. Jericho is holding the World Titles of the two biggest wrestling companies in North America. Easy choice.
Um, actually, you're a bit wrong there, sir. To say the IC Title was the most established belt Rude held is only a half truth. He was, as well, WCW International Heavyweight Champion. In case you don't recognize it, that's the belt that Chris Jericho happens to lose the same month he wins it. That's the exact same Big Gold Belt that was WCW's World Title, and is now the World Heavyweight Championship in WCW. So to say that Rick Rude was never a world champion, as
some of you have said in this poll, is clearly wrong. Rick Rude won a title that was very similar to the World Heavyweight Championship that is held in WCW today. Except, you know, WCW eventually merged those belts, just like the WWE should do with their belts.
But I digress. The point being, Rude and Jericho actually attained the same status in their respective companies. Jericho has been, and always will be, the guy that is never deserving of the WWE Title. Even in his one reign with the main belt, he was a horrendous flop. Granted, he wasn't nearly as bad as people will think, but he was still pretty damn bad. Do you ever find it funny that Jericho has Three World Heavyweight Championship victories and Two WCW World Heavyweight Championships, both which typically run second fiddle to the WWE Title, but has only had the WWE Title
once? It's because while he's a great wrestler, he isn't the face of the company.
You can say the same thing about Rude, except you should probably include that Rude was meaner, more vicious, smarter, and most importantly in this match, stronger than Chris Jericho. Plenty of this is going to depend of the neck strength of both men. And while Jericho looks like he weight trains with the Pillsbury Doughboy, Rude was absolutely stacked in his training regimen. He may very well have been, pound for pound, the strongest man in wrestling. Bar none. And that is going to play a role in this match.
Oh yeah, and Rude gathered a thousand times the heel heat Chris Jericho ever did.
Chris Jericho is the clear victor here. Jericho is roughly the same age right now that Rude was when he died, and he has achieved far more than Rude ever did.
Again, not exactly true. Both of these men have proven themselves to be second tier superstars of their companies. So they're pretty much interchangeable.
Rick Rude was a wrestler based around his great look,
No. No. No.
My God, do you do anything besides follow what the picture says of the guy? Rude was actually an outstanding amateur wrestler coming out of college. He was far more than a power guy, he was actually the guy that got Warrior over as a wrestler in the late eighties. McMahon trusted Rude to carry Warrior out there like a toddler, because Rude was that damn good in the ring. Sure, he didn't do the flippy flip like you may like, but he was still a fantastic ground based wrestler. I'm not sure where you get this idea of a wrestler based off his look. His
gimmick was based off a look, but not him as a wrestler.
and when you look back all this look helped achieve was to make other wrestlers look good once they beat him. People call Jericho a jobber to the stars, but I think Rude is just as guilty of this, if not more, than Jericho.
You just contradicted yourself.
Earlier, you just said Jericho had done more in the business. Now, you say they both pretty much were the same status in wrestling. You need to pick whether it's one or the other.
Jericho would take this match way you look at it, he is the more intelligent wrestler, and has more experience in special stipulation matches.
Actually, Rude was always a really intelligent wrestler himself. I'd say they are equal in intelligence, and this whole "experience in special stipulation matches" means diddley squat, considering that Jericho has little experience in this match. For that matter, I don't think he's even been in a strap match before in his career. So that whole "experience" is really a myth, frankly.
Jericho's match to lose here.
Ah, someone gets it, Jericho to lose here.
Yes, I get what you're saying. Simple twist of the words, you know?
Jericho is a very intelligent competitor, and isn't manhandled very often. Rude was a showboat, so he is very susceptible to being caught with a quick finisher like the Codebreaker, and would be tougher to evade the Walls of Jericho or the Liontamer.
Except, Twist,
these finishers are null and void in a dog collar match. Simply put, Jericho can't get close enough to be able to execute these moves on Rude. And the Walls have no use in this match, seeing as how you can only win by pinfall.
Jericho enters a lot of matches as the underdog, yet he comes out on top a lot, especially in gimmicky matches.
But he's not the underdog, Twist. Rude is. And the same can be said for Rude. See: Match against the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania V. Or his match against Ric Flair for the WCW International Heavyweight Title. Rude is actually the underdog, and in this gimmick match, should get the win
