A Truly Ravishing Career

On April 20th 1999 we lost one of the biggest legends in pro wrestling in Richard Rood aka Rick Rude. Rude truly had an amazing career and is still remembered to this day as one of the greatest of all time. So in honour of his passing 14 years on I'm going to look at the career of one of my all time favourite wrestlers.
Rude was born December 7th 1958 in St. Peter, Minnesota he went on to attend Robbinsdale High School that saw other wrestlers like Tom Zenk, Nikita Koloff, Road Warrior Animal, Mr. Perfect and Barry Darsow attend. Minnesota really did produce some of the biggest names in wrestling history. Rude would be trained by Eddie Sharkey who trained some of the names mentioned above as well as many others including independent wrestler Arik Cannon and by train I mean was watched by Sharkey as by all accounts all he did was watch guys practice and would never get physical with them. That showed in a handful of guys he trained but to be fair no one was truly horrible in my view. Rude would begin wrestling in 1982 as a babyface jobber called Rick Rood. He would work in the NWA mid-Atlantic company, Georgia Championship wrestling and Memphis. He would evolve into a winning wrestling when he debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling. Like many guys at the time Rude would bounce from company to company in hopes of learning more and to find the right fit for himself it was the perfect time & place for someone to learn about the business. Speaking of which a good side story here early in his career Rude would wrestle against the original Midnight Express, Rude was tagged in and tied up with Dennis Condrey the 2 walked around the ring for 2-3 minutes until they broke up and Rude tagged out what happened was Dennis explained what he wanted Rude to do and he had to constantly re-explain it because Rude never understood it. A far cry from the talent he'd become.
In 1984 Rude would return to Memphis this time officially called "Ravishing" Rick Rude a arrogant heel managed by Jimmy Hart. Rude would win his first championship ending Jerry Lawler's 38th reign as Southern heavyweight champion on June 11th the title wouldn't stay on him long as Tommy Rich would win the title on July 16th. In October of 1984 the Southern tag titles became vacant when then champions Tommy Rich & Dutch Mantell split up, the titles would be decided in a tournament won by Rude & King Kong Bundy (defeating the Fabulous Ones). Once again the title reign didn't last long  the duo won the titles on the 8th and lost them on the 22nd to the Fabulous Ones.

In December Rude would move over to Championship Wrestling from Florida where he would be managed by the recently passed away Percy Pringle. On January 1985 just a month into his return he won the NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight title defeating Paz Whatley and this title reign was a little more successful as he held it to April 10th where he lost it to Brian Blair. But he wouldn't go long without a title as the team he was in with Jesse Barr would win the NWA Florida United States Tag team titles beating Jay & Mark Youngblood. They would feud with Wahoo McDaniels & Billy Jack Haynes, who by the way is completely out of his every loving mind. They would lose the titles to that duo on July 9th. Again it wouldn't be long until Rude would have a championship again. Hercules Hernandez had to vacate the Southern heavyweight title after a backstage argument with then booker Wahoo McDaniels, on July 21st Rude would beat Mike Graham in the finals of a tournament to regain the title. He would hold it until October 2nd where he would lose the titles to McDaniels, I wonder if McDaniels gets the complaints that Triple H or Dusty got for this?

In late 1985 Rude would move to World Class Championship Wrestling aka the Von Erich's company and he would take Percy with him and like many heels he would immediately feud with a Von Erich's (in this Kevin) and also Chris Adam (a main babyface within the promotion). On November 4th 1985 he defeated Iceman King Parson, who you probably won't know of unless you followed WCCW, for the NWA American Heavyweight title. While Rude held the belt the company officially left the NWA and was renamed World Class Wrestling Association in the process the title became known as the WCWA World heavyweight title making Rude a World champion. Well in a way like many companies who split from the big names at the time it was hard to accept such guys as the main champion, Rude was really seen as the number 2 at best behind the NWA World champion so to claim him as the best in the world was a stretch. This would be one of Rude's first long title reigns as he would hold the title until July 4th 1986 where he lost it to Chris Adams. Rude also had a short reign of WCWA TV champion defeating Lance Von Erich (the fake Von Erich) on May 5th 1986 and lost it to Brusier Brody on May 17th. After losing the World title Rude fired Pringle and was briefly managed by his sister Raven. For a short time he would team with the Dingo Warrior but the Warrior turned on him becoming a face (epic foreshadowing).
In September of that year Rude would return to the NWA Mid-Atlantic, which was the biggest NWA company and arguably one of the biggest companies at the time. He would team with Manny Fernandez being called the Awesome Twosome (pretty horrible name) and was managed by Paul Jones. The 2 would defeat the Rock 'n Roll Express for the NWA World tag titles on December 6th, the two teams would feud until April of 1987 where Rude would leave for the WWF. The tag titles would become vacant as the company used footage of a house show match between the teams and claimed Rude was injured.
Rude debuted in the WWF becoming part of the Heenan Family, he first feuded with Paul Orndorff because Heenan kicked him out to pick up Rude. It was in WWF that Rude perfected his gimmick, he would include his now famous intro where he would disrobe and insult the fans. He would also introduce his airbrushed tights which is something I love to this day, he would seemingly have special tights for every big match he had something that many others have copied. One of Rude's most infamous feuds was with Jake Roberts which started when Rude hit on Jake's wife Cheryl, not knowing it was Jake's wife. Rude would go as far as to have Cheryl airbrushed on his tights leading to Jake attacking and striping them off. The 2 would get to wrestle at Wrestlemania 4 in the title tournament, the 2 went the time limit in a pretty bad match. At Summerslam 1988 Rude wrestled the Junkyard Dog in a match where he would have JYD painted on his tights but during the match JYD pulled the tights down to show a second pair with Cheryl on this lead to Jake attacking causing the DQ. The feud ending at Survivor Series 1988 where Jake beats Rude after a DDT.
Rude moved on to a familiar face in the now called Ultimate Warrior (formerly Dingo), Warrior was the Intercontinental champion at the time. The feud started with a pose down at Royal Rumble 1989 when Rude attacked with a metal bar after losing. At Wrestlemania 5 Rude, with help from Bobby Heenan, won the title from the Warrior. He lost it back to Warrior at Summerslam that year. Both matches were some of Warriors best and we're just great matches overall. Rude blamed the lost to Roddy Piper who mooned him near the end and the 2 feuded for a very short time. Rude had seemed to drop a far bit as by the next Wrestlemania he was in a brief 4 minute match against Jimmy Snuka, which he won. At the same show the Warrior became WWF champion and the 2 began feuding again, they would meet in a fantastic cage match at Summerslam 1990 where Rude would lose. By October of that year Rude left the company after they teased a program with the Big Bossman. Now the story here is that Rude was having legal trouble with the WWF, the company had advertised Rude on shows but he wasn't on them and wasn't paid for them, he felt he should have been and you can see why.
Rude would do some indies and a tour of All Japan before going to WCW in October 1991. He debuted at Halloween Havoc as the Halloween Phantom but he revealed himself on the same show, this lead to the formation of the Dangerous Alliance lead by Paul E. Dangerously. A bit of an odd selection of guys were part of that group but it goes down as one of the best groups in wrestling history. On November 19th (under a month after debuting) he defeated Sting for the WCW United States championship. The 2 feuded and he would move on to Ricky Steamboat, the matches between Rude & Ricky are known as some of the best in wrestling history (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f1tTtti5E0). Rude held the title for over a year before having to give up the title due to injury. During his title reign he would challenge then World champion Ron Simmons but he failed to win the title. Rude would come back from injury and feud with Dustin Rhodes, the guy who won the title but he didn't regain the title. During this time Rude would go solo for the first time in years as he had improved massively as a talker. At the time WCW had a relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling and Rude became one of only 2 foreigners to get to the finals of the G1 Climax tournament losing to Masahiro Chono for the vacant NWA World title (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a71nDazSKi4)
On August 28th 1993 on a segment of Ric Flair's "Flair for the Gold" Rude made his new goal be known as he set his sights on the NWA World title. Rude defeated Flair for the title at Fall Brawl 1993 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu0fzf9sqa0) in a so-so match. WCW then lost the right to the NWA World title so the title was renamed the WCW International title. Rude lost the title to Hiroshi Hase on March 19th 1994 in Tokyo, Japan. He won it back 8 days later but would lose it to Sting on April 17th and regain it on May 1st making him a 3 time champion. However in that match he suffered a back injury that would end his in ring career.
Rude had a Lloyds of London insurance deal which he claimed on after his injury but like many wrestlers he didn't stay away from the business. He would work with ECW in 1997 working a feud with Shane Douglas while doing Colour with Joey Styles a role he was truly awful in, I love you Rick but that was just bad and you could tell he didn't care one bit about being there. He would return to WWE as the insurance policy for Degeneration X, he did nothing but stand by their side and interfere when he had to. Now according to Bret Hart Rude left the WWE after the Montreal Screw job stating that Rude watched the backstage fall out and had called Eric Bischoff about it. Rude was not signed to a contract at the time for WWE so this allowed him to talk and make a deal with WCW. This lead to an infamous moment in the Monday night wars where Rude would appear on both Raw and Nitro on the same night (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChfWHf2w95o). He was on the pre-taped Raw and the live Nitro where he cut a promo cutting down the WWE. Rude began managing Curt Hennig and the 2 jumped from NWO to NWO until Rude would just disappear from TV, he was rumoured to be training for a comeback in 1999. Sadly like I mentioned from the top it would be April 20th of 1999 where Rude would pass away due to a overdose of mixed medications, he left behind his wife and 3 children.
When Rude got into wrestling there was a big focus on bodies and having "the" body for wrestling, Rude had the body and is know for having one of the better bodies in history but he was so much more than that. Rude got it all he had the body, he could talk, he could grab the crowd and could wrestle a great match. He could even pull out good matches from some guys you thought couldn't go like Warrior. Rude has become one of the most copied wrestlers in history from the robe removal, the airbrushed tights, his hips taunt or just his overall aura many have tried to copy him I think the best was Larry Sweeney who was just the ultimate throwback.
When it comes to Rude's career I feel that it was a case of he never got what he deserved. Yes he is seen as a multiple time World champion but if you look at those belts no one treats them as actual World titles. Rude was a big star, one of the greatest ever and he deserved to have a true World title run in my view. It seems the story of his career was a guy who never got what he deserved. My personal memories of Rude are mostly about his airbrushed tights, it just grabbed me so much that he went so far out of his way to put that extra importance into his matches I would love to see the archive of his wardrobe and all the tights he left behind. Now you may think it's silly to be so grabbed by tights but that lead me to focus on Rude and see his overall greatness. It's stunning to me that it's been 14 years since he passed it doesn't feel it at all and that may be because we lose far to many wrestlers far too often and Rude could come off as just another dead wrestler but he surpassed so much as is seen as a true legend in the eyes of fans. One of the best wrestlers in the ring, on the mic and overall. How could you not love Rick Rude?