What I would like to have right now.........

Hello all

Tonight will be the big TNA Pay Per View (and the only reason why I call it a big pay per view is because Hulk Hogan was doing a big media tour about it. Otherwise, I would not have known that it was anything other than their October pay per view), Bound for Glory. At this ppv the whole world is expecting Bobby Roode to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Speaking of a Roode who is going to become the next big star in the wrestling world, makes me think of another guy with a similar name, but no they are not related, Ravishing Rick Rude. We all remember Rick Rude’s gimmick, where he would talk bad about every man in the audience, and pull a woman out of the crowd, and kiss her, but let’s take a look back at his career.

Rude was born in Minnesota. He actually attended high school with a few other pro wrestlers including Tom Zenk, Nikita Koloff, and Curt Henning (Mr. Perfect). He began wrestling professionally in 1983. He started off as a jobber (a guy who is put in matches, and they are expected to lose). He worked at a lot of small promotions back then until he joined the National Wrestling Alliance. After joining the NWA, he got to compete in tag team against the Road Warriors, and started to make a name for himself. Then he moved Memphis to join the Continental Wrestling Association. In Memphis, Rude met Jimmy Hart and began to become the person we all grew to love to hate. He was over confident and arrogant, and changed his name to “Ravishing Rick Rude”. Rude would wrestle back and forth between the NWA and other small promotions before 1987, when he joined the WWE.

In WWE, Rude started out being managed by his old friend Jimmy Hart, until he got matched up with the manager to the stars in the 80s in WWE, Bobby “the Brain” Heenan. With Heenan beside his side Rude started the old gimmick I spoke about earlier, when he would kiss a woman in the audience. He did this until one night; he kissed the wife of the wrong man, Jack “the snake” Roberts. This started a small feud that did not last too long, but it got Rude’s name out there as a star.

If you have read my blog’s you know that anytime the WWE wanted to reward someone for being the best wrestler in the company back in the 80s and 90s, they rewarded them with the Intercontinental Championship. At the Royal Rumble of 1989, Rick Rude had a pose down with the then IC champ the Ultimate Warrior. The pose down ended when Rude attacked Warrior with a pipe, but their feud was just beginning. Rude and Warrior met for the IC title at WrestleMania 5 with Rude winning the title. Back then there were not as many pay per views, so Rude would hold the title for a few months, till the next ppv. During Summerslam 89, Warrior did regain the title. Rude would try to get the title back, unsuccessfully. Warrior would hold that title, until Mania of 90, when he won the WWE title. So of course since Rude was the only man to ever beat Warrior for the IC title, he thought he would be the only man to beat Warrior for the WWE title. Sadly he was unsuccessful. Shortly after that Rude left WWE, and went to WCW.

Back in WCW (remember it was NWA, until Ted Turner bought the main territory, and changed the name to compete with WWE) Rude came out like a ball of lightening. At the Clash of the Champions, he defeats Sting to win the WCW US Heavyweight Championship. He was a very good US champion holding that title longer than anyone else in WCW’s history. In WCW he was managed by Paul E. Dangerously (Paul Heyman). Dangerously and Rude went on to form a faction called the “Dangerous Alliance”, which consisted of Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton Larry Zbyszko, and Stunning Steve Austin. This was the dominant group in the company in 1990, winning and/or the Tag Team, TV and US titles for WCW. During his time as the head of the Dangerous Alliance, Rude began a long standing feud with Ricky “the dragon” Steamboat over the US title. The two fought tooth and nail for almost a year over the belt, with Rude narrowly escaping every time. Rude would go on to keep the title until he had to give it up, due to an injury. After returning from injury, he tried to win the title back, but he was unsuccessful.

When Ric Flair left WCW in the early 90s, he left as the champion. Since he put a deposit down on the belt and did not receive his deposit back, he took the belt with him. So WCW created a new belt and crowned a new champion. After much litigation WCW got the old belt back, but they called it the NWA championship, since they had a working relationship with them.
Since Rude could not regain the US title, he set his sights on the NWA World title. In September of 93 Rick Rude defeated Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight title. Unfortunately for Rude, that same month WCW and NWA severed ties, so Rude is not recognized as an NWA champion, rather as a WCW International World Heavyweight Champion (a championship created so they could get the old NWA belt as the WCW championship belt).
With WCW making a name for themselves as a big time wrestling company, they worked out a deal with a company in Japan (New Japan Pro Wrestling) to have some of their wrestlers compete there. And since they had some of their wrestlers, they used the International title to further promote both the belt, and their wrestlers. Rude would defend that title there, with some of the matches being shown on WCW television, but since they had a World champion, they didn’t have much use for the other. After holding that title for a few months, losing, and winning it back all in Japan, Rude came back to the states and lost the title to Sting. During their rematch, Rude attempted a suicide dive from the ring to the outside of the ring, and hurt his back so bad that he had to retire.

Rude stayed in the business for a few years after that. Working with all of the big companies in the 90s (WWE, WCW, ECW) at one point. He played a big part in WWE helping as an enforcer for the original D-generation X. Then he went to WCW and became a member of the NWO. There were even some rumors that he was training full time to make a comeback. But unfortunately on April 20 1999 Rude suffered heart failure and passed away.

Rude left behind a great legacy as one of the old wrestlers that we as fans will always look up to. He has been sorely missed in the past decade. May he rest in peace.