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Ravishing Rick Rude: could he have achieved more/ been relevant in the


JakeRobertsParoleOfficer

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i have been watching Rude recenyly & the guy had it all

 

the look

the promos

the working ability

 

it seems like WWE dropped the ball with him. He dragged Warrior to his best matches & i think would have been ideal foil vs Savage (if he'd stayed face) when Savage was world champion.

 

i know he was injured & was looking to comeback (aged 40) when he passed but do you think he could have been relevant in the attitude era? & wat would you have done with him (changes etc)?

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He achieved everything he was supposed to I'd say. Had a good run in the WWF and main evented in a company which didnt have bigger stars than him. They tried to give him a run with Hogan and he didn't do well. I'd say his ceiling was the upper midcard. I think he more than lived up to his potential. Great character who people appreciated. I dont know what else he could have done. The only thing he could have done more was to do his planned comeback in the WWF in the mid-90s and he's probably best off out of that mess. It wasn't a place to be a top heel in 95/96 WWF.

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The only thing he could have done more was to do his planned comeback in the WWF in the mid-90s and he's probably best off out of that mess. It wasn't a place to be a top heel in 95/96 WWF.

 

Interesting, I'd never heard about him thinking of returning to the ring then. I know he was supposedly training for one when he died in 99 though.

Rude has a status akin to Edge or Chris Jericho for me. Definately an upper midcard act but don't think I could have bought him as a legitimate main eventer in the WWF. Mind you, he didn't seem out of place in what was pretty much a main event role in WCW.

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Rude was backstage at WrestleMania 12. There's an WWF.com/AOL interview with him knocking about online somewhere. Seemed like he was definitely coming back to work with Shawn Michaels (which would have been a great feud). Its weird, I always thought those injuries in the mid-90s were crippling, but they were pretty much insurance scams. Look at Animal and Hennig. They were on their arse and couldnt take a bump and they just showed right back up on TV doing matches almost as soon as the policy was cancelled. Rude spent most of the 90s wondering around asking for someone to pay his policy off. Scott Hall says on his Torch Talk that Rude wanted Bischoff to pay off his Lloyds policy so he could start wrestling again. I remember on Nitro when Rick Rude turned up looking very 1998. He seemed to modernise his look. He had this shaved back and sides look with a big tashe. And he suddenly got all jacked up. Hall said it was Rude's way of showing Bischoff he was ready to step back in the ring again.

 

If Rude was going to do anything (contrary to what I just said!) probably a feud with Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam 96 would have been good.

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Always thought he should have achieved more than he did in WCW. He was good enough to have been the World Champion and the real top heel there first a good while. WCW was a bit TNA like back then, signing guys who you'd think would have been huge stars but the sunk down to their level rather than improving WCW. DaveY Boy and Jake Roberts were similar.

 

Never heard of him coming back in 1995. He would have added loads to a really depleted roster back then. Would have enjoyed him working with Diesel, HBK, Bret and Taker.

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Rude in WWF couldnt have got alot higher than he did, I suppose being a Heel the best you could hope for was a run with hogan that he never really got, But he did get a good run with warrior and beat him for the belt (all be it cheating). The level of heel in the company at the time was very high too. 

 

WCW rude also did very well he was given the then NWA belt before the falling out and the split to WCW belt he had beaten sting a few times, had he not in injured i think he would have held the WCW title at some point.

 

With all that in mind i would have like to think he would have had another good run in the attitude era, Looking at Val who was almost a copy of rude with the volume turned up there is no doubt that rude could have filled that space and his in ring work would have been better. Would he have reached the top? Probably not but he would have had a good run

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Always thought he should have achieved more than he did in WCW. He was good enough to have been the World Champion and the real top heel there first a good while. WCW was a bit TNA like back then, signing guys who you'd think would have been huge stars but the sunk down to their level rather than improving WCW. DaveY Boy and Jake Roberts were similar.

 

Never heard of him coming back in 1995. He would have added loads to a really depleted roster back then. Would have enjoyed him working with Diesel, HBK, Bret and Taker.

 

Think that’s a little bit unfair on WCW.  He was strongly pushed from his debut at Havoc 91, won the US Title and feuded with Sting and Steamboat in strong programmes.  He was also (probably) the main player in the Dangerous Alliance, which was dominating TV and PPV (until Watts came in).  He reached the final of the G1 in 1992, falling to Chono in the finals (also for the NWA Title).  What really scuppered him was the back injury he suffered at the end of 92.  He was never the same when he came back.  You never know what would have happened, but it is not beyond the veil of possibility to think that he might have been WCW (or NWA) World Champion had the back injury not occurred.

 

As for Roberts and Davey Boy.  Roberts was a victum of his own lifestyle and Watts.  Davey was pushed strongly too.  He had the world title programme with Vader and headlined a very successful UK tour too.  Again, it was more to do with DBS lifestyle choices as to why his WCW run was not the success it should have been.

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