He did a pretty good Tombstone Piledriver also & he sold one real good too. Pull up the 6 man match between Rude, Sid Vicious & Vader vs. Sting, British Bulldog & Dustin Rhodes. Rhodes reversed a Tombstone attempt from Rude & did the move on him. Rude sold it like he was dead weight.
I remember those training montages, Rude running on the beach, lots of intensity saying he can beat the Warrior..... That felt like a genuine shift to being a main eventer. One of the all-time greats.
Harts and Rockers wasn't marketable. Who cares about match quality? That does nothing for heat. They already had plenty of matches Crush couldn't possibly work in Demolition. Without Ax, it was dead. Ax was a top performer and Smash was good at best. Crush was always average. Ax and Smash was a great package and you didn't have that ego problem. Smash and Crush was barely better than a preliminary team with a fancy costume.
Rick was a phenomenal performer. Literally excelled at all. Absolute travesty both his career and life ended WAY too soon. In my top 10 performers ever in the business. #RIPRick.
I have to say, I never saw a SPECTACULAR match from Rude. However, he was one of the most steady, HARD workers of that period. He had legitimately evolved into a genuine mechanic, or workhorse. At very least, he probably should have figured regularly in the IC title picture--however, by 1990 he was hungry for better than that in the WWF, which was maybe one the reasons for him leaving.
@@NevrSilentI watched an old match with him and hacksaw the other day. He even made hacksaw look a million dollars and the crowd popped massive for little stops.
Rick Rude was one of the Greatest Ever I agree he should have been in the main event of WM 7 and going in as WWF Champion Hulk Hogan vs Rick Rude would have been awesome
Some wrestlers have stated that Hulk Hogan did not like working with Rick Rude mainly because Rude was a legitimate "bad ass" outside of the ring. If Rude "potatoed" you, then you couldn't give him a "receipt", because then you'd really make him angry. Barry Darsow said that Rick Rude beat up a number of guys in the locker room for one reason or another. I think that Hogan's huge ego couldn't handle being stretched by Rude, especially if he couldn't retaliate in kind. Given that Hulk Hogan was Vince McMahon's "golden goose", if he didn't want to work with you, then that affected your "push" in the company. Notwithstanding, Rick Rude is appropriately regarded as one of the greatest heels in the history of pro wrestling.
I like Rude; i think he deserved a chance to be World champ (in WWF), but if he didnt get a chance because he was a “legitimate ’bad ass’”, then the fault lays completely on him (Rude)!!
Hogan refused to work with Rude saying he wasn’t a safe worker. Hogan refused a run with Jake the snake too, as Jake was getting huge crowd reactions as a heel.
I don’t understand? Rude was in WCW in ‘92 - and he was in a higher spot in WCW than Michaels was in WWF. The “92 Michaels” spot also would’ve been a downgrade from where Rick had been on the card in 89-90 in WWF.
@@jons5658. Meaning the push. Michael was about to be push into the stratosphere. On way to becoming champ. I believe if Rude was offered that. He would of skipped WCW. Rude to me. Before Sting ended his career was the top heel in the sport. But with the WWF machine behind him. Rude would have been an even bigger star
@ Conrad: I hope you're being coy when you state that you don't understand the reason why there wasn't a Hogan-Rude matchup at WM 7. Essentially, Hogan wrestled Rude in a few house show matches at the Boston Gardens and at Vancouver in early '88. After wrestling Rude a couple of times, Hogan complained that Rude was too unpredictable and wrestled too wildly for a typical Hogan style match. Hogan called Rude a Tazmanian Devil and wanted nothing more to do with him after their scheduled house show matches. That's what he told Vince. Also, in the early fall of '90 after SS, Rude got fed up as we wanted to be the new WWF champion. Warrior told Rude that Rude didn't have what it took to be champion and Rude basically kicked Warrior's butt in the locker room. Vince, and maybe even Bruce himself put Rude in a program with the Big Bossman where Rude insulted Bossman's mother, and both men would lead their respective teams in Survivor Series 1990. But, Rude wanted out. He and Vince worked out a deal where Rude agreed that he wouldn't wrestle for the WWF's main competition (WCW) for a year. Rude kept his word. He left in October of '90 and appeared on WCW's Halloween Havoc in 1991, wrestling only in the indies and in Japan for about a year.
@@Wreevesjr sad thing is they wasted it on some random show. Which was just 20 near days before the Royal Rumble 1988. And sad thing is Hogan wasn't at the first Rumble.
@@philipbolin6776I’ve listened to enough of these interviews, and Conrad’s nothing but a professional mark, who scolds Prichard and Bischoff over everything he didn’t like on TV as a kid. And here they are, decades later, and he thinks he has them beat because all the little details and factors which led to making these decisions were lost in time.
Rick taking the " Atomic Drop "was always so funny and well done, for a kid in the 80's it made you believe it so much. And then you'd see a Terry Funk match and for a kid it just seemed so real and a natural progression of selling and Ass-Kickery ! 😱
Rick Rude was the best working heel the company has ever seen. He was the perfect guy to get face champions over. Such a shame they never gave him a run with the winged eagle, even if it was short run as a transitional champ.
Maybe Hogan/Rude at WrestleMania wasn't meant to be, but it could have been a hell of a match for Survivor Series, the Rumble, hell even Saturday Night's Main Event. You're telling me they couldn't have Hogan/Rude *one* time at SNME? 🤔
It should've happened at the 1988 Royal Rumble. They fought 2 weeks before that or something and sorta not really feuded.... Hogan didn't even compete at the First Rumble SuperCard
Bret Hart vs Rick Rude would have been a classic also I've been tryna look up to see if they had a match but I don't see anything also imagine a Macho Man-Piper Feud in the 80's
Rick Rude was one of the best heels. I think if Mr. Perfect turned babyface a match between the two would have been great. Both very talented strong wrestlers or performers imo. Plus they respected each other being best friends in real life so they would have sold for each other very well.
The messed up thing was they didn't build up rude enough to be as big a heel as earthquake. He got way more heat than rude did, which is why the match wasn't very good.
@@coresan9956 they built rude up with all this gym vignettes only to be dominated in the cage. I know warrior was big and coming off the ultimate challenge but it made no sense to me for rude to just be destroyed. It was dangerous allinace time anyway
@@jonstone6460 im saying they didn't build him up as far as getting massive heel heat like they did with earthquake. As a matter of fact he had more heat during their summer slam match the year before
So what? Roids don’t just magically make you shredded. If anything you have to dial in your nutrition, cardio, and strength training even more in order to reap the full benefits. otherwise why take it other than helping your body recover from the stress of wrestling.
Rick Rude and Curt Henning were two heels that should have had a run with the world title. They would have drawn tons of money for people to see them finally get beat. They could draw heat like no others.
Rick Rude deserved a World title reign or main event. To answer the question of where he was at Mania 7 he was gone from WWF by the fall of 1990 and would be in WCW in 91. Rude was awesome and I think would have been good. It was hokey but I still remember laughing at Slaughter's antics. Ultimate Puke, Immortal slime. It was cheap heat but as a kid my family got a kick out of it. As for Warrior after Rude who did he really work with? They built up to Savage but they had him working six-mans with LOD feuding with Demoltion. This is supposed to be the guy and you have him working with a kind of past their prime tag team. They could have had him with work with Dibiase, Martel, Warlord, Rude, Perfect etc. They just go to slaughter and then he is done. Imagine if Warrior-Savage was for the belt and retirement on the line. I think it would have done better as a main event then Hogan-Slaughter. Yeah Warrior wasn't drawing as well as Hogan. And would have to drop the belt eventually but always felt like they cut his legs off to me(and granted he was difficult to work with) Hell I always thought Earthquake deserved a bit more of heel push. Why not have him beat Warrior and finish the Hogan-Earthquake feud. But never had Hogan get a pin on Earthquake in any of their matches until Mania when he slays the beast. Just fantasy booking. Still watched it and enjoyed it as a kid bu t its fun to look back
@@jasond4658 No he didn't. He was International WCW Champion which wasn't the World Championship and he had 3 reigns with it. He never won the WCW World Title
Wow for over 20 years me and my brother have been saying it should of been Rude vs Hogan at WM 7. No disrespectful to SGT but that match was boring! And this is why Rude went to WCW and became a 3x World champ and a bigger star
I love the old stories and fantasy bookings. The 80s and 90s WWF was amazing entertainment. However, i always find Bruce to protect what happened, instead of speculating on how other angles, pushes etc would work. He frustratingly tows the company line instead of exploring other ideas.
As a kid Rude was the perfect foil. I LOVED WARRIOR but I remember Rudes matches more than anything. He got the word "sweat hogs" over, I still have never heard that word before or since
hard to shit on the WM7 card, because it was magical. hogan v. slaughter and warrior v. savage carried that card. jake roberts v. rick martel was a close 3rd for me. Also Taker's WM debut.
Ya I was sad to see Rude go from WWF in 90 and the whole thing about him getting fired for saying bad things about the Boss Man's mother was the most absurd storyline in wrestling history possibly. They should of kept him around but I'm sure the budget didn't allow it and he had already feuded with all the top names outside of Hogan in the company at that time so a fresh start in WCW was good for him. Unfortunately he got hurt and that was terrible.
Rick Rude was prolly the 1st heel I liked back in the day. Well and mr. Perfect with those vignettes they did to bring him in from the AWA, well and ted diBiase and Randy savage, wait, have I always liked the bad guys lol
I still remember Jesse Ventura saying in the Warrior title match " Rude could of been champion 5 times". I also wanted Rude to become champion, he beat Warrior all over that cage. I knew then that Rude wasn't going to win, cuz he was just steps away from winning and just wouldn't step out of the cage. Rude vs. Savage would of been my Wrestlemania main event. Hogan vs Slaughter could of still been done without the world title involved.
@@jasond4658 all great heels yes but the one thing that they all have in common is that they are babyfaces too rude and perfect are full time heels not once were they ever a babyfaces
16:40 is the greatest thing I've ever heard on wrestling TH-cam 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🤜🏽🤛🏽💯 thank you Bruce. FDM. Conrad Rude was not an attraction enough in 1990 to beat Warrior, Savage or Hogan ESPECIALLY at Mania, and he wasnt a proven nationally known wrestling and mainstream character like Slaughter either.
N V They were gonna have him go against Big Boss Man as the main feud when he was feuding with the Heenan family. He kept cussing on Superstars and he was suspended right after.
Everything I've ever heard about Rude leaving was a pay dispute over Summerslam 1990. Warrior, Hogan, and Earthquake got main event pay while Rude got paid like he was just on the card.
It's sad that Bruce has to cover up for his & everyone's booking failures & politicking during that era. When you look back at Hogan's 80's run there's a reason why he mainly worked with giants. It's amazing he agreed to a program with Curt Hennig (R.I.P.). No matter how much Rude (R.I.P.) would have bumped for him, Hogan knew he was extremely outclassed. No disrespect to Slaughter, but the Iraqi sympathizer angle was a horrible excuse for shock value. Hogan/Rude would have made more sense as WM draw. Warrior was already over when they were trying to make him a credible champion with Rude. Just another recycled feud that Rude should have won
If Bruce just said clearly early in this interview: "As we proceeded into the fall, it was starting to look like Warrior wasn't getting over as champ (which on my end would still have to insist was pretty early / abrupt--but maybe the guy was already being a complete pain in the ass, so it wasn't feeling worth it to keep trying to build him as the on top guy), so we wound up basically winging it through the fall trying to figure out how to lead into Wrestlemania." It was as simple as that. Before his departure, Rude was heading into a program w/ Bossman (who it seemed they were grooming as kind of a Jake the Snake position near top of the card). Rude wasn't at the top of the card again, but was figuring in w/ guys they were positioning for top of the card. He wasn't really losing his "spot" per se, but maybe he was feeling like: "Oh, great, is it my job now to help put over non-champ faces to elevate them to the top of the card? Am I getting buried in the process?" So he walks out. Little does he realize, if he had stuck around, he very well may have figured into the top of the card plans. That's pretty much the story in a nut-shell. WWF was re-shuffling its deck by Thanksgiving, because it had lost a couple of hands it expected to win, or when it did win hands, the pot wasn't as large as they thought it was going to be. Before Royal Rumble, as an outside viewer, I had been under the impression they were working toward a Warrior / Savage main event. But that may have never been the intent, or maybe it was--for awhile--but BY the Rumble they were already deciding "neither of these guys are reliable enough for us". So they go with the Real American vs. American Turncoat angle to stoke the Gulf War heat. 'Cos that's about as good as they can muster at that point.
Sgt Slaughter was picked to be Hogan's WrestleMania opponent because of his mainstream name value. He was a real life member of GI Joe. He was on the cartoon and movies. He had a GI Joe action figure. That made him the third most visible professional wrestler to the mainstream world in the 1980s after Hulk and Andre. He even had Presidents seek him out to salute him. Rick Rude had no mainstream name value outside the world of pro wrestling, period. Even though the Iraqi turncoat angle was awkward and not a good fit, Slaughter vs Hogan would draw more interest from non-wrestling viewers than Hogan vs What"s Him Name. People never factor what will sell the show to non-wrestling, mainstram viewers when second guessing past WWF decisions.
That's true. Though Slaughter could've worked with Dusty Rhodes at this time. And feuded with Hogan around summer/fall '91. After all they had a Survivor Series esk main event match at SummerSlam '91.
hogan and rude did battle in house shows. i saw them at the boston gardens. i couldnt say the date, but i recall the the whole laying down in the ring to arm wrestle as being something they were doing during house shows elsewhere.
As awesome as Rude was, as great of heel he was sometimes its forgotten from his start in WWE until a little after WM6 he was part comedy wrestler. Frankly you trim the comedy down a bit and dial up the serious he's probably in top spots. Not Rudes fault, but he wasn't treated seriously for most of his WWF run.
Rude was a legitimate tough guy, and Hogan was afraid to work with him because if Rude didn’t want to put Hogan over, there was nothing Hogan could physically do about it.
yea but that theory really made no sense because Rude was also viewed as being extremely professional, and wouldn't sacrifice that reputation as it would affect him working in WWF or anywhere else. Also, Hogan wasn't afraid of Rude at all. Whats there to be afraid of. If Rude kicked Hogan's ass for any reason, he is out of the company and likely out of the business. If you look at the majority of Rude's tenure in WWF, Hogan was doing what Hogan was usually doing: working with monsters (Kamala, OMG, Studd, Bundy, Andre, Bossman, Earthquake, Taker, Sid, even Zeus), and working with his friends in between the monsters (Dibiase, Hennig, Haku, Orndorff, Savage, Slaughter). Piper was really the only one that he honestly left a lot of money out on the table on. With Rude, it just didn't happen. I don't think there has to be a definitive reason why. Should have at least happened on a SNME or 2. They crossed I believe only 3 times. A recorded house show, match is out here on TH-cam, Rumble 90, and Survivor Series 87.
Rude would not have shot on Hogan unless he pissed him off and even then Rude was never known to shoot on people in the ring, he waited until after the match if he had an issue. After Ultimate Warrior stiffed him, he finished the match then confronted him in the locker room and bitch slapped him.
If rick rude stayed in the wwf, I suppose he would have faced the big boss man at the 91 royal rumble instead of the barbarian. I wonder what could have been afterwards.
Unfortunately, during the bulk of the time Rude was around, Hogan owned the main events, and Hulk though Rude was too skinny and it wouldn’t have been believable. Ironic, considering Rude would have wrecked Hogan in real life.
Hogan didn't want to because Hogan knew that if Rude wanted to he could shoot on him in the ring and win nothing to do with looks Hogan was scared of him
unfortunate son Rude was with WWF from 87-90. Warrior didn’t get the main event push til 90. Hogan could’ve worked a program with Rude but chose not to, for the same reason he wouldn’t work with Perfect and, several years later, Hart. He didn’t think Rude was big enough, physically, to be a threat to him.
D2K Prime I’ve read that Rude called hogan out and told him to meet him at his hotel room to show Hogan just how unworthy Rude is to face him. Hogan apparently wanted no part of it.
This PPV made me a wrestling fan. 10 year old boy seeing Hogan get his revenge on Slaughter. Macho and Liz getting back together...I gad no idea about the story with those two, but it was awesome.
Conrad is underselling Slaughter. His being heel was the perfect send-off and twist to a fabulous career. I also thought the whole Iraq thing was hilarious. It was funny to see Prichard dismiss Conrad. Rude wouldn't have worked. I don't think he was menacing enough to Hogan. I also feel Heenan had run his course, who was good fodder in WWF logic. I also don't think selling Hogan as married would have made much sense. Linda would have struggled to play some NES archetype needed for ace wrestler's wife Wrestlemania needed a story of indignation each year in that period: best friend turns, country traitor, financial corruption. Warrior-Hogan did the worst business in part because it broke from that formula. Fans didn't want a sports-oriented good guy match. Slaughter's story was desperate and outrageous enough to work. They also toured for 5 months. I don't see Rude with that kind of staying power and character flexibility. Great character but hard to do a long feud with him. I think that's why he often got lost in the shuffle.
@Justin Mayberry you obviously misunderstood what I wrote (naturally). It's not about bulk. Rude was always big enough by WWF standards (though he did have chicken legs). I think a lot of wrestling fans don't really understand how outsiders see things. You're kind of like a tainted jury, which is a call for mistrial. Rude tended to react to offense like a comedy wrestler. It was outrageous, overly emotive, self depreciating. I also think it made him look really sleazy, which added to his villain aura. Characters like that are good fodder for certain people, including the Ultimate Warrior, who did well with comedy heels. I don't think Hulk Hogan had good chemistry with people like that. Hogan did well with morbidly jealous backstabbers and guys who looked impervious to pain, so Hogan was essentially fighting from the bottom up. Incidentally, that was what made fans the most hot, chanting for him like Pentecostals speaking in tongues to bring back Lazarus from the dead. Rude wouldn't have been a good foil to that. He gave too much away. Warrior was a very different type of character: he did best when comedy types and pretenders to the throne tried to best him. His one real monster feud was against the Undertaker, and that did do good business. You could argue Andre but I don't think that feud convinced anyone. It was clear he couldn't move.
@@vampirascoffin870 I hope you realize I'm a woman with a very successful academic career. It's not just men who post here though I think there are a lot of men who think women can't analyze. I see it all the time with how I'm treated. Casually guys will see me as "doing homework" when I'm doing very hard theory. That doesn't bother me much since I like them but it does speak to societal sexism. Yet guys who do advanced calculus are seen as geniuses (I got A's in those 15 years ago). And women do the same too sometimes: "Oh wow, you must be pretty smart. I never would have guessed." Does pink blush really mean you're a dolt? Get a grip What you write is silly anyway because you would need a viable alternative. What was it? Mr Perfect was a box office failure against Hogan, and the worst drawing opponent Hogan ever had. (I'm sure his weak offense and absurd overselling had nothing to do with that.) DiBiase was close to retirement. So was Savage. Both had been in the main event scene already. Rude had the same vices Perfect had (overselling) though his offense was way more convincing. Earthquake was to be sacrificed to Hogan. So you're left with few options. You need someone new or who can be reintroduced, and you need someone who can passably come off as a threat. Who in the business was available and could have fulfilled that role? Even if it wasn't going to be Hogan fodder, you still needed serious bad guy headliners. I think Barry Windham could have done that had he been interested in being that high profile. He wasn't motivated enough. Slaughter had main event experience and proved he could deal with that pressure. Was the event a failure? Maybe. But it did the best numbers the company would do for two years, which includes Sid and Hogan, and Savage and Flair with Miss Elizabeth as pawn. It did significantly better than the 1992 Summerslam as a sell. In fact, the conclusion of Slaughter as Iraqi turncoat did the worst number from 1988-1991 but the very best number until 1998. Do you see a pattern? So you have an obvious recession where no matter what was going to be put forth, nothing was going to jolt the company creatively. Prichard is right: the fans were tired. But here's another angle to look at this. The 1991 Royal Rumble did better than Wrestlemania VII, but also EVERY SINGLE PPV until 1998... and who headlined? Sgt Slaughter and the Ultimate Warrior. And we KNOW that was the draw because the Royal Rumble of 1990 and 1989 did half as much, while the 1992 Royal Rumble, with even more at stake did as well as 1990's. So how do we deal with that puzzle? I'm not trying to be a bitch to you. I'm doing the same thing I do when I teach college grade history. Think. The answer is never that obvious I think you can have three schools of thought, none of which are more right than the other on the surface 1. WWF recession couldn't be mitigated. I think the first poster would then suggest "Why not try Rude?" That gets complicated because Rude wasn't established whereas Slaughter was. And in recession time, companies tend to hotshot more while the market had not contracted as much. And revenue matters. If Rude bombs, you would have lost money you couldn't spare. If he didn't, you didn't gain much more than a heel placeholder because Rude was never going to be the top draw no matter what (top draws don't come out of vacuums usually; there are many indications for years about their growth potential) 2. A more interesting school of thought is that the WWF bombed the Ultimate Warrior. I'm probably most sympathetic to that view. Why? People like Prichard say crowd reactions hinted that Warrior wasn't going to be the top draw. But my question was how could he be if he was stuck wrestling people like Perfect, who had mid-tier credibility, and Rude, whom no one thought could beat him? The logical thing would have been to feed the Earthquake to the Ultimate Warrior. Clearly there was very real interest in Slaughter and Warrior. I think their problem was too great for wrestling limitations. People want their winner. Either Warrior was on par with Hogan or he wasn't. Like with Savage, where the message was clear that he was second fiddle to Hogan, Warrior was booked under Hogan: weaker opponents, often stuck in six man matches, while Hogan returns and gets a fresh opponent. He also headlines the A shows. I think it's funny that Warrior outdrew Hogan against Slaughter. I also think it's funny that he and the Undertaker did the best numbers of 1991. But who remembers that? Which gets to the bigger point. To make Warrior their ace, they had to make Hogan second fiddle. And they weren't going to do that. In other words, Warrior was a placeholder, then got the gaslighting treatment the moment he demanded equal pay, as the company unceremoniously fired him, while mindfucking him to insanity And of course, they all acted like Warrior was at fault! In elementary school, all of the girls who watched wrestling preferred Warrior to Hogan. Same with my brother's friends. That's of course anecdotal. But it does suggest who was more popular is an open question. I feel like Warrior didn't have the political instincts Hogan had. When he didn't do the numbers Hogan was going to in his peak (and no one could have hoped to do that), they went back to Hogan each time rather than doubling down on Warrior. It didn't hurt that Hogan had better emotional intelligence and was BFF with McMahon, and his staff by extension. Warrior never could have usurped him from that position. Whatever the case, there's a lot of group think and once enough of the right people deemed Warrior toxic, the rest like lemmings repeated that myth Case in point. Jim Ross talked about Warrior's coming back in 1996, saying no one wanted him back. Really? Like who? The Undertaker drew money with him. Money talks. Bret Hart is jealous of anyone who makes him feel threatened. Michaels and Jannetty probably had little interaction with him. Bulldog was his road partner, though the 1992 fallout had both blaming one another. Owen Hart and Warrior had little interaction. In reality, aside from Bret Hart (in a very limited sense) and the Undertaker, there was no one who could make a reasonable objection as to why he shouldn't be there. It seems to me like ego and group think tainted the pool. And it's wrestling. Of course it did Now, I'm not suggesting Warrior should have come back. I think he was damaged goods as of 1991. His feelings were hurt and you can't cure paranoia. I also think lack of steroids made him look like a human and not a god for 1992. 3. Your last school of thought is that Warrior drew only because Slaughter generated curiosity and that the curiosity would be gone by Wrestlemania VII. Possible. I think the big negative to Slaughter is he wasn't the same performer anymore. He was near retirement, and it's obvious he wasn't trying to get hurt. In that regard, maybe Rude would have been a better choice. But I don't see how. I think the company was heading for a big recession no matter what. But I think they could have had more staying power with Warrior on top in 1992 until a heel turn. Problem is with how much merchandise both he and Hogan did, that was never going to happen. But jealousy would have been a great storyline
Agreed Rude was fantastic and made an amazing IC champion, but even as a 10-12 year year old, I felt he was too small to really threaten Hogan. I know Hulk had amazing feuds with Roddy, Mr. Wonderful and Savage and had great matches against Perfect and Bad News, but he was usually force fed monster heels.
I can 100% understand why Rude left the WWF. He deserved a main event opportunity, and worked to be part of that tier. When it a one and done, he knew he had to invest in himself elsewhere.
As much as i loved Hulk Hogan, i think Hogan was afraid that Rick Rude would really hurt him in the ring... And the WWF at the time, was gonna protect their biggest star.
Hulk arguably had a harder job: working with every monster they brought in. That's a big part of where his money was. Tearing down each perceived monster heel brought in to end Hulkamania. The list is easily 10 deep if not more. When he wasn't doing that, he was working with his friends and helping them get over. Paul Orndorff, Ted Dibiase, Randy Savage, and a few others. Rude was just the odd man out of this equation.
Rude gets beat by Warrior on Saturday Night's Maine Event then again at Summer Slam & Conrad thinks it makes sense to have Hogan/Rude at Mania 7? I was around then watching & that would not have felt like a WM main event. Rick was not on that level.
Not to mention, he suggests Rude go over Warrior at Rumble 91 and on to job to Hogan at WM7 lol. So then that's 3 matches with Warrior......plus the 2 in 89 for the IC strap. It would have just been Warrior/Rude overkill. And if Hogan squashes Rude in the first meeting......that kills all Warrior steam. Warrior is no longer viewed on the same tier as Hogan, from that point on.
Rude should have been world champion for wwf he would of done a better job then warrior as world champion one last thing mr.perfact should have been wwf world champion he was perfect
Well, the title wasn't passed around like condoms back then. Mr Perfect was the worst drawing opponent Hogan had of that era. Why would you put the title on Rude? I can think of many who would have been better in that role. It doesn't help that Rude was a hothead so it's hard to trust people in that position. Warrior didn't have the staying power management would have wanted. But he was a very special performer when he was popular. He drew a lot of money with the Undertaker. Warrior's problem was the steroid scandal. It didn't help that he had no one to feud with, which includes Perfect. I don't think Perfect was that good. He hits the right notes for those in the industry. But wow, I think his offense looked weak. I can't really explain why that was. He just didn't look menacing. I think Rude was much better. But I also think Rude risked being one dimensional as a character, which is why he would often get lost in the shuffle. You can only go after someone's wife so many times or get into pose downs. Did he ever have a reason to hate someone if it wasn't that? Chasing the title as a villain is a money bleeder I think you need to look at character development and performance. People look too much at the wrestling aspect. That doesn't and has never sold tickets
I do agree Rude should have been in more ppv main events, but you have to consider the time. There were only 4 ppvs a year, and one was the Rumble and the other Survivor Series. So if you're not counting multimen main events, there was only Wrestlemania and Summerslam. But still I think Rude should have gotten a ppv main event against Hogan.
The problem with a lot of comments like these is that it's looking at the way things now not back then. The belt didn't change like it does today. Mr Perfect maybe getting a run is one thing but even though I liked Rude I don't think that would have worked as well
Heel champions don't sell merchandise. "Politics" isn't the reason why. Rude and Perfect were heels. Neither Rude nor Perfect drew enough to warrant being a "heel" world heavyweight champion. Both guys were IC champions. The only person in the 1980s that would have worked as a heel-champion was Andre The Giant because of the cache' he had, and even HE understood that you put the belt on the top-draw of the company. That way *EVERYBODY* makes money. That's he jobbed to Hogan at Wrestlemania III. That's why he put the Ultimate Warrior over in squash-matches. I don't think Andre should have gone to that extreme, but that act showed you the confidence he had in the Warrior to draw money. If Perfect and Rude were babyfaces and they drew like the Warrior did, maybe they would have had a world-title reign. That's the reason the Ultimate Warrior was allowed to beat Hogan. The only reason Vince puts the world-title on a heel is because they either are drawing just as much as the top babyface (i.e The Rock in 1998,) or there is some real-life situation that Vince is trying to capitalize on (i.e. The Iron Sheik with the hostage-situation in Iran and Sgt. Slaughter with the Gulf War.) Yokozuna was the first-heel to be champion for any extended-period of time since the Superstar Billy Graham, and that had more to do with the fact that Yokozuna was a spectacle. He drew (for awhile at least) just based on his sheer-size and athletic ability. Once people got used to seeing him, then his weight started getting out of control, and he lost a lot of the athletic-ability he had, he was drawing as much but business overall was down so he could not be blamed.
D2K Prime yeah, that was the way things were done in the territory days (which includes 80's-early 90's WWF). You only used heel champs as a way to transition to a new babyface champ. You almost never had a good heel run as champ. Could Rude or Perfect have been used in Slaughter's spot, and put on a much better WM main event....sure. But, it would have never been anything more than a couple months to transition the belt back to Hogan.
as a kid i HATED rick rude (as an 8year old should) but looking back he was just amazing. He was pretty underrated and under utilized in WWF. At least he got the push he deserved in WCW
Earthquake should've crushed Hogan then taken the strap off Warrior at Survivor Series or Royal Rumble. Setting up Earthquake defending against Hogan at WM7.
He obviously hasn’t thought about this stuff in years and doesn’t remember any of this anymore. All his answers are just reiterating what Conrad says without any further clarification or expanding.
Rick Rude was great..he was the right opponent for Warrior in 89 but not in 90..problem was wwf had nobody else/new ready for the Ultimate Warrior after WM 6...
they also had backlash in 05 because they aired Undertaker getting attacked by Hassan's masked men and that same day was when London suffered a tragic bombing
I loved Rick Rude but him against Ultimate Warrior would never have drawn as a main event for Wrestlemania, especially as they had already had several matches before then. Ultimate Warrior didn't draw anywhere near as well as people thought he would as Champion, drawing figures were way down on Hogan and even Randy Savage in his year as Champion was drawing way better than Warrior ever did. A Champion not drawing against a guy who'd never really been treated as a main eventer wasn't gonna be best for business. As bad as the stuff with Sergeant Slaughter has aged, people were so much more into the storyline with the all American Hero Hulk Hogan inevitably beating the Iraqi sympathiser and viewing figures instantly went up as Hogan was back in the main Title picture in a storyline that 1991 America was gonna be fully behind. As silly as the booking might seem in hindsight, it was a better decision for business in the long run. Fun Fact of the day: Randy Savage and Sergeant Slaughter are the only 2 guys in the top 10 drawing Champs of all time, who aren't Hogan, Rock or Austin.
Even I as a young un knew that old man Slaughter was only wrestling Kogan because of 'angles'. It wouldnt have been so apparent if a guy like Rude had gone at Hull Kogan , he looked like he could stand toe to toe with him, and not be just a guy playing a character.
Rick Rude was vastly underrated as a talker and wrestler. He was one of my favorite wrestlers growing up. His pile-driver was the shit.
yeah, he done great piledrivers, remember clearly
I loved his neck breaker the rude awakening best neck breaker I’ve ever seen and nobody as used it as a finisher it’s shocking
Best heel of all time imo
He did a pretty good Tombstone Piledriver also & he sold one real good too. Pull up the 6 man match between Rude, Sid Vicious & Vader vs. Sting, British Bulldog & Dustin Rhodes. Rhodes reversed a Tombstone attempt from Rude & did the move on him. Rude sold it like he was dead weight.
I don't think he was underrated; I think it's more he was valued more in the way he was used.
I remember those training montages, Rude running on the beach, lots of intensity saying he can beat the Warrior..... That felt like a genuine shift to being a main eventer. One of the all-time greats.
Wrestlemania 7 had so many missed opportunities. Why no LOD vs Demolition? Why no Rockers vs Harts? These matches seemed so obvious at the time.
Very true
@Edgehead10075 only because the WWF handled the LOD/Demolition feud horribly, and booked Demolition even worse from mid 1990 on.
Harts and Rockers wasn't marketable. Who cares about match quality? That does nothing for heat. They already had plenty of matches
Crush couldn't possibly work in Demolition. Without Ax, it was dead. Ax was a top performer and Smash was good at best. Crush was always average. Ax and Smash was a great package and you didn't have that ego problem. Smash and Crush was barely better than a preliminary team with a fancy costume.
They had done Rockers vs hart Foundation on a lot of house shows
Every year wwe always misses an obvious Mania match tbh lol
Rick was a phenomenal performer. Literally excelled at all. Absolute travesty both his career and life ended WAY too soon. In my top 10 performers ever in the business.
#RIPRick.
I have to say, I never saw a SPECTACULAR match from Rude. However, he was one of the most steady, HARD workers of that period. He had legitimately evolved into a genuine mechanic, or workhorse. At very least, he probably should have figured regularly in the IC title picture--however, by 1990 he was hungry for better than that in the WWF, which was maybe one the reasons for him leaving.
definitely. i always admired him legendary definitely
jediknightgeo I totally agree.
@@NevrSilent shut up
@@NevrSilentI watched an old match with him and hacksaw the other day. He even made hacksaw look a million dollars and the crowd popped massive for little stops.
Rick Rude was one of the Greatest Ever
I agree he should have been in the main event of WM 7 and going in as WWF Champion
Hulk Hogan vs Rick Rude would have been awesome
Rick Rude wouldn't want to job to Hogan though. It would've ruined his momentum.
I agree
Hogan didn't want to work with Rude. Flair said he was afraid of him.
Leon Tan you’re basing it on someone else’s opinion? Get a life
Rick Rude wasn't "big" enough to wrestle Hogan, Hogan enjoyed wrestling with workers over 350 pnds with the exception of Randy Savage.
Some wrestlers have stated that Hulk Hogan did not like working with Rick Rude mainly because Rude was a legitimate "bad ass" outside of the ring. If Rude "potatoed" you, then you couldn't give him a "receipt", because then you'd really make him angry. Barry Darsow said that Rick Rude beat up a number of guys in the locker room for one reason or another. I think that Hogan's huge ego couldn't handle being stretched by Rude, especially if he couldn't retaliate in kind. Given that Hulk Hogan was Vince McMahon's "golden goose", if he didn't want to work with you, then that affected your "push" in the company. Notwithstanding, Rick Rude is appropriately regarded as one of the greatest heels in the history of pro wrestling.
Um hogan wrestled rude numerous times
I like Rude; i think he deserved a chance to be World champ (in WWF), but if he didnt get a chance because he was a “legitimate ’bad ass’”, then the fault lays completely on him (Rude)!!
@@chriszaa2309 not a televised program, stupid.
@Blvck Lvnd how about you do your research and see hogan has wrestled rude numerous times moron
@@brianlefevre5154 Survivor Series 87
It’s mind boggling that Warrior got the push he did and Rude never did, if they had chemistry in matches it’s because Rude carried him
Hogan refused to work with Rude saying he wasn’t a safe worker. Hogan refused a run with Jake the snake too, as Jake was getting huge crowd reactions as a heel.
@@Glasschin2.0 and Warrior was way more dangerous in the ring than Rude
@@jameshurtado5389 Rude actually beat Warrior up outside the ring.
@@Glasschin2.0 but the only person that ever claimed to see that was Ric Flair and he lies.
@@jameshurtado5389 Warrior was still safer in the ring than Owen..just sayin
I always thought Rude should of been put in the Shawn Michaels spot in 92
I don’t understand? Rude was in WCW in ‘92 - and he was in a higher spot in WCW than Michaels was in WWF. The “92 Michaels” spot also would’ve been a downgrade from where Rick had been on the card in 89-90 in WWF.
@@jons5658. Meaning the push. Michael was about to be push into the stratosphere. On way to becoming champ. I believe if Rude was offered that. He would of skipped WCW. Rude to me. Before Sting ended his career was the top heel in the sport. But with the WWF machine behind him. Rude would have been an even bigger star
mister may In ‘92 though? Michaels wasn’t pushed as a main eventer until ‘95-96.
Rude was ready for that “95-96 Michaels push” in 91-92! IMO.
It would take Michaels an extra 4 years to be world champ from 92.
@@mistermay7986 Rude left WWF because of the steroid trials.
@ Conrad: I hope you're being coy when you state that you don't understand the reason why there wasn't a Hogan-Rude matchup at WM 7. Essentially, Hogan wrestled Rude in a few house show matches at the Boston Gardens and at Vancouver in early '88. After wrestling Rude a couple of times, Hogan complained that Rude was too unpredictable and wrestled too wildly for a typical Hogan style match. Hogan called Rude a Tazmanian Devil and wanted nothing more to do with him after their scheduled house show matches. That's what he told Vince.
Also, in the early fall of '90 after SS, Rude got fed up as we wanted to be the new WWF champion. Warrior told Rude that Rude didn't have what it took to be champion and Rude basically kicked Warrior's butt in the locker room. Vince, and maybe even Bruce himself put Rude in a program with the Big Bossman where Rude insulted Bossman's mother, and both men would lead their respective teams in Survivor Series 1990. But, Rude wanted out. He and Vince worked out a deal where Rude agreed that he wouldn't wrestle for the WWF's main competition (WCW) for a year. Rude kept his word. He left in October of '90 and appeared on WCW's Halloween Havoc in 1991, wrestling only in the indies and in Japan for about a year.
According to Ric Flair Hulk Hogan said Rick Rude was the Tasmanian devil and didnt want to work with him in wwf or wcw in 94.
They worked together, just not in a pay per view.
@@Wreevesjr sad thing is they wasted it on some random show. Which was just 20 near days before the Royal Rumble 1988. And sad thing is Hogan wasn't at the first Rumble.
@@knowyourroleboulevard7119 He was there, he just didn't have a match. He had the contract signing with Andre.
You can look up hogan vs rude on you tune flair lies about everything.
@@michaelperez5172 he worked with him a few times in late 1987 early 1988 but other than that no he didn't work with him
This was the first ppv I ever bought as kid!!☀️
Same!
Pp
Me too! Well, my dad bought it...
Same here. Still my all time #1 PPV
Excellent choice
Wow. Bruce really doesn’t answer anything anymore.
This is podcast is unlistenable because of his attitude. Are there episodes where he ISN'T the most annoying person on the plant?
Just like he was working with Vince. Never said anything. Just Yes Sir. Yes Boss. Etc etc
He is a pompus Yes Man
What didn't he answer?
What can he really say?
Conrad’s basically asking the whole time “Why didn’t you do thirty years ago, what I fantasy booked today?”
@@philipbolin6776I’ve listened to enough of these interviews, and Conrad’s nothing but a professional mark, who scolds Prichard and Bischoff over everything he didn’t like on TV as a kid.
And here they are, decades later, and he thinks he has them beat because all the little details and factors which led to making these decisions were lost in time.
Rick taking the " Atomic Drop "was always so funny and well done, for a kid in the 80's it made you believe it so much. And then you'd see a Terry Funk match and for a kid it just seemed so real and a natural progression of selling and Ass-Kickery ! 😱
Rude & Honky Tonk Man both sold the atomic drop incredibly
Rick Rude was the best working heel the company has ever seen. He was the perfect guy to get face champions over. Such a shame they never gave him a run with the winged eagle, even if it was short run as a transitional champ.
Maybe Hogan/Rude at WrestleMania wasn't meant to be, but it could have been a hell of a match for Survivor Series, the Rumble, hell even Saturday Night's Main Event.
You're telling me they couldn't have Hogan/Rude *one* time at SNME? 🤔
It should've happened at the 1988 Royal Rumble. They fought 2 weeks before that or something and sorta not really feuded.... Hogan didn't even compete at the First Rumble SuperCard
It's already happened at survivor series
Rick Rude got his time on top in WCW. He was given a better opportunity there and dominated until he injured his back. God bless!
@@runnerbean6166 and his promos had another level of intensity. The Rude Collection agency is coming...and I expect to be paid......IN FULL!
Hogan Rude would have been gold
They wrestled in 88 in Boston and Hogan won
No.
Bret Hart vs Rick Rude would have been a classic also
I've been tryna look up to see if they had a match but I don't see anything
also imagine a Macho Man-Piper Feud in the 80's
Bronze
Rick Rude was one of the best heels. I think if Mr. Perfect turned babyface a match between the two would have been great. Both very talented strong wrestlers or performers imo. Plus they respected each other being best friends in real life so they would have sold for each other very well.
Loved Summerslom 1990 but that steel cage main event squash match sucked. I feel Rude should have been champion. Rude was way better in WCW anyway.
The messed up thing was they didn't build up rude enough to be as big a heel as earthquake. He got way more heat than rude did, which is why the match wasn't very good.
@@coresan9956 they built rude up with all this gym vignettes only to be dominated in the cage. I know warrior was big and coming off the ultimate challenge but it made no sense to me for rude to just be destroyed. It was dangerous allinace time anyway
@@jonstone6460 im saying they didn't build him up as far as getting massive heel heat like they did with earthquake. As a matter of fact he had more heat during their summer slam match the year before
I never remember Rude being out of shape. The man was in outstanding shape even in WCCW.
Roided
Regular Dad Here SERIOUSLY, RIGHT? I was actually gonna leave the EXACT SAME message!
So what? Roids don’t just magically make you shredded. If anything you have to dial in your nutrition, cardio, and strength training even more in order to reap the full benefits. otherwise why take it other than helping your body recover from the stress of wrestling.
caleb beraud so what? He shortened his life for nothing. All of these guys ruined their lives to look “great” for a moment in time. It’s just sad.
Learningisfree Hogan is still alive. Oh yeah my bad, he said his prayers, took his vitamins, and believed in himself. 🙃
Rick Rude and Curt Henning were two heels that should have had a run with the world title. They would have drawn tons of money for people to see them finally get beat. They could draw heat like no others.
Rick Rude deserved a World title reign or main event. To answer the question of where he was at Mania 7 he was gone from WWF by the fall of 1990 and would be in WCW in 91. Rude was awesome and I think would have been good. It was hokey but I still remember laughing at Slaughter's antics. Ultimate Puke, Immortal slime. It was cheap heat but as a kid my family got a kick out of it. As for Warrior after Rude who did he really work with? They built up to Savage but they had him working six-mans with LOD feuding with Demoltion. This is supposed to be the guy and you have him working with a kind of past their prime tag team. They could have had him with work with Dibiase, Martel, Warlord, Rude, Perfect etc. They just go to slaughter and then he is done. Imagine if Warrior-Savage was for the belt and retirement on the line. I think it would have done better as a main event then Hogan-Slaughter. Yeah Warrior wasn't drawing as well as Hogan. And would have to drop the belt eventually but always felt like they cut his legs off to me(and granted he was difficult to work with) Hell I always thought Earthquake deserved a bit more of heel push. Why not have him beat Warrior and finish the Hogan-Earthquake feud. But never had Hogan get a pin on Earthquake in any of their matches until Mania when he slays the beast. Just fantasy booking. Still watched it and enjoyed it as a kid bu t its fun to look back
He did have a world title reign in wcw. Got cut short cause of a back injury.
@@jasond4658 No he didn't. He was International WCW Champion which wasn't the World Championship and he had 3 reigns with it. He never won the WCW World Title
@@Will-h7h wcw recognized it as a championship.
@@jasond4658 No they didn't. Rude in kayfabe did but Flair and Vader had been the actual World Champions at that time.
Rest In Peace Rick Rude and Ultimate Warrior. WWE definitely drop the ball on WWE
Rude managed by Heenan against Hogan for WM 7 would have been MONEY
Rude went to another level when he went to short hair.
Wow for over 20 years me and my brother have been saying it should of been Rude vs Hogan at WM 7. No disrespectful to SGT but that match was boring! And this is why Rude went to WCW and became a 3x World champ and a bigger star
16:40 Bruce pretty much described AEW in a nutshell LMAO!!
I love the old stories and fantasy bookings. The 80s and 90s WWF was amazing entertainment. However, i always find Bruce to protect what happened, instead of speculating on how other angles, pushes etc would work. He frustratingly tows the company line instead of exploring other ideas.
As a kid Rude was the perfect foil. I LOVED WARRIOR but I remember Rudes matches more than anything. He got the word "sweat hogs" over, I still have never heard that word before or since
"Sweat hogs" was popularized on the '70s sitcom 'Welcome Back Kotter'.
@@chadvaughn7377The show where Travolta would OMG Mr Kotter
Survivor series 87 Rick Rude was in the Main event on Andre's team
+ was in a s mi feud with Mr Wonderful.
Conrad said not including Survivor Series or Royal Rumble.
hard to shit on the WM7 card, because it was magical. hogan v. slaughter and warrior v. savage carried that card. jake roberts v. rick martel was a close 3rd for me. Also Taker's WM debut.
Ya I was sad to see Rude go from WWF in 90 and the whole thing about him getting fired for saying bad things about the Boss Man's mother was the most absurd storyline in wrestling history possibly. They should of kept him around but I'm sure the budget didn't allow it and he had already feuded with all the top names outside of Hogan in the company at that time so a fresh start in WCW was good for him. Unfortunately he got hurt and that was terrible.
My height of my fandom was Wrestlemania 6 and 7. This was so awesome to me.
Rude was a bad ass heel. Shoulda been world champion.
Rick Rude was prolly the 1st heel I liked back in the day. Well and mr. Perfect with those vignettes they did to bring him in from the AWA, well and ted diBiase and Randy savage, wait, have I always liked the bad guys lol
Rick Rude left the company in October and shows up in WCW at Halloween Havoc as the Halloween Phantom.
Yes but that was 1 year later. He left WWF in Oct 90, and showed up in WCW in Oct 91.
Rick Rude was the ultimate heel that should've received the strap at least twice. I'm a grown man but I'm still upset about that.
God damn
I love the passive aggressive back-and-forth multiplied with burns and insults and inside jokes that are all on archive and make it
Haha I love the little tiffs between Conrad and Prichard.
I think that Conrad knows that Hogan demanded NEVER to wrestle Rick Rude.
I still remember Jesse Ventura saying in the Warrior title match " Rude could of been champion 5 times". I also wanted Rude to become champion, he beat Warrior all over that cage. I knew then that Rude wasn't going to win, cuz he was just steps away from winning and just wouldn't step out of the cage. Rude vs. Savage would of been my Wrestlemania main event. Hogan vs Slaughter could of still been done without the world title involved.
@@user-ow1yz4nq6j Mmm, Yeah, you're right. It was in fact, not, Jesse Ventura; It sounded like Piper. I need to go back and re-watch that video.
Hogan gave the typical "That doesn't work for me brother" that's why you never seen rude vs. hogan
@evildeaddrew - Hogan vs. Rude happened in late '87!
Rick Rude and curt Henning 2 of the best heels of all
not even
@@jasond4658 who do you thinks better
Flair, Hollywood Hogan, Jake Roberts
Ted Dibiase, Randy Orton, Randy Savage
@@jasond4658 all great heels yes but the one thing that they all have in common is that they are babyfaces too rude and perfect are full time heels not once were they ever a babyfaces
Perfect was a face a couple of times. Rude i think your right about him but i don't think that works for him.
16:40 is the greatest thing I've ever heard on wrestling TH-cam 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽🤜🏽🤛🏽💯 thank you Bruce. FDM. Conrad Rude was not an attraction enough in 1990 to beat Warrior, Savage or Hogan ESPECIALLY at Mania, and he wasnt a proven nationally known wrestling and mainstream character like Slaughter either.
Bruce calling Meltzer a liar is rich
I like this annoyed, slightly angry version of him. It just sounds so much more like conversation than a podcast.
NOTE: Rude was let go prior to Survivor Series 1990.
I felt like the title of the video made no sense because of this comment. Was he actually let go? Or did he leave?
N V Kayfabe suspension. He ended up in WCW after that.
N V They were gonna have him go against Big Boss Man as the main feud when he was feuding with the Heenan family. He kept cussing on Superstars and he was suspended right after.
Everything I've ever heard about Rude leaving was a pay dispute over Summerslam 1990. Warrior, Hogan, and Earthquake got main event pay while Rude got paid like he was just on the card.
It's sad that Bruce has to cover up for his & everyone's booking failures & politicking during that era. When you look back at Hogan's 80's run there's a reason why he mainly worked with giants. It's amazing he agreed to a program with Curt Hennig (R.I.P.). No matter how much Rude (R.I.P.) would have bumped for him, Hogan knew he was extremely outclassed. No disrespect to Slaughter, but the Iraqi sympathizer angle was a horrible excuse for shock value. Hogan/Rude would have made more sense as WM draw. Warrior was already over when they were trying to make him a credible champion with Rude. Just another recycled feud that Rude should have won
Warrior flopped as champ, Rude should have been booked to win at summerslam and the defend the belt v Hogan at wrestlemania.
If Bruce just said clearly early in this interview: "As we proceeded into the fall, it was starting to look like Warrior wasn't getting over as champ (which on my end would still have to insist was pretty early / abrupt--but maybe the guy was already being a complete pain in the ass, so it wasn't feeling worth it to keep trying to build him as the on top guy), so we wound up basically winging it through the fall trying to figure out how to lead into Wrestlemania." It was as simple as that. Before his departure, Rude was heading into a program w/ Bossman (who it seemed they were grooming as kind of a Jake the Snake position near top of the card). Rude wasn't at the top of the card again, but was figuring in w/ guys they were positioning for top of the card. He wasn't really losing his "spot" per se, but maybe he was feeling like: "Oh, great, is it my job now to help put over non-champ faces to elevate them to the top of the card? Am I getting buried in the process?" So he walks out. Little does he realize, if he had stuck around, he very well may have figured into the top of the card plans. That's pretty much the story in a nut-shell. WWF was re-shuffling its deck by Thanksgiving, because it had lost a couple of hands it expected to win, or when it did win hands, the pot wasn't as large as they thought it was going to be.
Before Royal Rumble, as an outside viewer, I had been under the impression they were working toward a Warrior / Savage main event. But that may have never been the intent, or maybe it was--for awhile--but BY the Rumble they were already deciding "neither of these guys are reliable enough for us". So they go with the Real American vs. American Turncoat angle to stoke the Gulf War heat. 'Cos that's about as good as they can muster at that point.
Rick Rude as the heel to Bret Hart’s hero.
Such a shame Rude left the wwe (wwf) at the time
He was wasted . They should have gave him a run with Hogan and the belt.
Wasn't a shame his best work was yet to come in wcw
@@mr.tonywilliams1236 Totally agree -- Rude's angles with both Sting and Steamboat were in my opinion the most interesting of the era.
Conrad and Bruce are an epic podcast duo!
Sgt Slaughter was picked to be Hogan's WrestleMania opponent because of his mainstream name value. He was a real life member of GI Joe. He was on the cartoon and movies. He had a GI Joe action figure. That made him the third most visible professional wrestler to the mainstream world in the 1980s after Hulk and Andre. He even had Presidents seek him out to salute him. Rick Rude had no mainstream name value outside the world of pro wrestling, period. Even though the Iraqi turncoat angle was awkward and not a good fit, Slaughter vs Hogan would draw more interest from non-wrestling viewers than Hogan vs What"s Him Name. People never factor what will sell the show to non-wrestling, mainstram viewers when second guessing past WWF decisions.
That's true. Though Slaughter could've worked with Dusty Rhodes at this time. And feuded with Hogan around summer/fall '91. After all they had a Survivor Series esk main event match at SummerSlam '91.
Even as a kid I said what the heck are they giving sgt slaugther the belt for
hogan and rude did battle in house shows. i saw them at the boston gardens. i couldnt say the date, but i recall the the whole laying down in the ring to arm wrestle as being something they were doing during house shows elsewhere.
Had Rick Rude stayed in the WWF, he would have had a good chance to win the title in 92 or 93.
I don't think so. Vince was pushing the smaller guys like Bret or Shawn Michaels.
Rick rude was alright a stand up kind of guy from what I heard
Got to agree, need to break away from Meltzer quotes. That’s like getting news from the unicorn farm.
Should have pushed rick to the moon , one of the very best
As awesome as Rude was, as great of heel he was sometimes its forgotten from his start in WWE until a little after WM6 he was part comedy wrestler.
Frankly you trim the comedy down a bit and dial up the serious he's probably in top spots. Not Rudes fault, but he wasn't treated seriously for most of his WWF run.
Some of his earlier PPV matches were pretty weak too.... Vs Steamboat being a major disappointment. Him a Jake at WM4 was pretty rough too.
Rude was a legitimate tough guy, and Hogan was afraid to work with him because if Rude didn’t want to put Hogan over, there was nothing Hogan could physically do about it.
yea but that theory really made no sense because Rude was also viewed as being extremely professional, and wouldn't sacrifice that reputation as it would affect him working in WWF or anywhere else.
Also, Hogan wasn't afraid of Rude at all. Whats there to be afraid of. If Rude kicked Hogan's ass for any reason, he is out of the company and likely out of the business. If you look at the majority of Rude's tenure in WWF, Hogan was doing what Hogan was usually doing: working with monsters (Kamala, OMG, Studd, Bundy, Andre, Bossman, Earthquake, Taker, Sid, even Zeus), and working with his friends in between the monsters (Dibiase, Hennig, Haku, Orndorff, Savage, Slaughter). Piper was really the only one that he honestly left a lot of money out on the table on.
With Rude, it just didn't happen. I don't think there has to be a definitive reason why. Should have at least happened on a SNME or 2. They crossed I believe only 3 times. A recorded house show, match is out here on TH-cam, Rumble 90, and Survivor Series 87.
Rude would not have shot on Hogan unless he pissed him off and even then Rude was never known to shoot on people in the ring, he waited until after the match if he had an issue. After Ultimate Warrior stiffed him, he finished the match then confronted him in the locker room and bitch slapped him.
If rick rude stayed in the wwf, I suppose he would have faced the big boss man at the 91 royal rumble instead of the barbarian. I wonder what could have been afterwards.
Rude should of been world champ at least 2 times him and warrior should of just did the wrestlemania 5 ending but have heenan hit warrior on the cage
Rick rude was pound for pound strongest guy ever in wrestling. Minny guy.
Unfortunately, during the bulk of the time Rude was around, Hogan owned the main events, and Hulk though Rude was too skinny and it wouldn’t have been believable. Ironic, considering Rude would have wrecked Hogan in real life.
Hogan didn't want to because Hogan knew that if Rude wanted to he could shoot on him in the ring and win nothing to do with looks Hogan was scared of him
I thought it was the opposite that because Hogan knew Rude was legit that he didn't want to get in the ring with him.
unfortunate son Rude was with WWF from 87-90. Warrior didn’t get the main event push til 90. Hogan could’ve worked a program with Rude but chose not to, for the same reason he wouldn’t work with Perfect and, several years later, Hart. He didn’t think Rude was big enough, physically, to be a threat to him.
D2K Prime I’ve read that Rude called hogan out and told him to meet him at his hotel room to show Hogan just how unworthy Rude is to face him. Hogan apparently wanted no part of it.
Rude worked stiff. Hogan didn't like it. End of story.
Vince didn't like the fact that Rude beat up his top star.
Was at this at Summer Slam in Philly, LOD, and Hogan got the loudest pops…
This PPV made me a wrestling fan. 10 year old boy seeing Hogan get his revenge on Slaughter. Macho and Liz getting back together...I gad no idea about the story with those two, but it was awesome.
Rick Rude was great on the Mic and great physical presence. Rick Rude was a Man’s Man lol
Let's give Meltzer credit for being the first to coin the term Attitude Adjustment @ 12:20
Conrad is underselling Slaughter. His being heel was the perfect send-off and twist to a fabulous career. I also thought the whole Iraq thing was hilarious.
It was funny to see Prichard dismiss Conrad. Rude wouldn't have worked. I don't think he was menacing enough to Hogan. I also feel Heenan had run his course, who was good fodder in WWF logic. I also don't think selling Hogan as married would have made much sense. Linda would have struggled to play some NES archetype needed for ace wrestler's wife
Wrestlemania needed a story of indignation each year in that period: best friend turns, country traitor, financial corruption. Warrior-Hogan did the worst business in part because it broke from that formula. Fans didn't want a sports-oriented good guy match. Slaughter's story was desperate and outrageous enough to work. They also toured for 5 months. I don't see Rude with that kind of staying power and character flexibility. Great character but hard to do a long feud with him. I think that's why he often got lost in the shuffle.
Dude slaughter as a heel was a bad idea and made no sense and that feud didnt sell tickets
@Justin Mayberry you obviously misunderstood what I wrote (naturally). It's not about bulk. Rude was always big enough by WWF standards (though he did have chicken legs).
I think a lot of wrestling fans don't really understand how outsiders see things. You're kind of like a tainted jury, which is a call for mistrial.
Rude tended to react to offense like a comedy wrestler. It was outrageous, overly emotive, self depreciating. I also think it made him look really sleazy, which added to his villain aura. Characters like that are good fodder for certain people, including the Ultimate Warrior, who did well with comedy heels. I don't think Hulk Hogan had good chemistry with people like that. Hogan did well with morbidly jealous backstabbers and guys who looked impervious to pain, so Hogan was essentially fighting from the bottom up. Incidentally, that was what made fans the most hot, chanting for him like Pentecostals speaking in tongues to bring back Lazarus from the dead. Rude wouldn't have been a good foil to that. He gave too much away. Warrior was a very different type of character: he did best when comedy types and pretenders to the throne tried to best him. His one real monster feud was against the Undertaker, and that did do good business. You could argue Andre but I don't think that feud convinced anyone. It was clear he couldn't move.
@@vampirascoffin870 I hope you realize I'm a woman with a very successful academic career. It's not just men who post here though I think there are a lot of men who think women can't analyze. I see it all the time with how I'm treated. Casually guys will see me as "doing homework" when I'm doing very hard theory. That doesn't bother me much since I like them but it does speak to societal sexism. Yet guys who do advanced calculus are seen as geniuses (I got A's in those 15 years ago). And women do the same too sometimes: "Oh wow, you must be pretty smart. I never would have guessed." Does pink blush really mean you're a dolt? Get a grip
What you write is silly anyway because you would need a viable alternative. What was it? Mr Perfect was a box office failure against Hogan, and the worst drawing opponent Hogan ever had. (I'm sure his weak offense and absurd overselling had nothing to do with that.) DiBiase was close to retirement. So was Savage. Both had been in the main event scene already. Rude had the same vices Perfect had (overselling) though his offense was way more convincing. Earthquake was to be sacrificed to Hogan.
So you're left with few options. You need someone new or who can be reintroduced, and you need someone who can passably come off as a threat. Who in the business was available and could have fulfilled that role? Even if it wasn't going to be Hogan fodder, you still needed serious bad guy headliners. I think Barry Windham could have done that had he been interested in being that high profile. He wasn't motivated enough. Slaughter had main event experience and proved he could deal with that pressure.
Was the event a failure? Maybe. But it did the best numbers the company would do for two years, which includes Sid and Hogan, and Savage and Flair with Miss Elizabeth as pawn. It did significantly better than the 1992 Summerslam as a sell. In fact, the conclusion of Slaughter as Iraqi turncoat did the worst number from 1988-1991 but the very best number until 1998. Do you see a pattern?
So you have an obvious recession where no matter what was going to be put forth, nothing was going to jolt the company creatively. Prichard is right: the fans were tired.
But here's another angle to look at this. The 1991 Royal Rumble did better than Wrestlemania VII, but also EVERY SINGLE PPV until 1998... and who headlined? Sgt Slaughter and the Ultimate Warrior. And we KNOW that was the draw because the Royal Rumble of 1990 and 1989 did half as much, while the 1992 Royal Rumble, with even more at stake did as well as 1990's.
So how do we deal with that puzzle?
I'm not trying to be a bitch to you. I'm doing the same thing I do when I teach college grade history. Think. The answer is never that obvious
I think you can have three schools of thought, none of which are more right than the other on the surface
1. WWF recession couldn't be mitigated. I think the first poster would then suggest "Why not try Rude?" That gets complicated because Rude wasn't established whereas Slaughter was. And in recession time, companies tend to hotshot more while the market had not contracted as much. And revenue matters. If Rude bombs, you would have lost money you couldn't spare. If he didn't, you didn't gain much more than a heel placeholder because Rude was never going to be the top draw no matter what (top draws don't come out of vacuums usually; there are many indications for years about their growth potential)
2. A more interesting school of thought is that the WWF bombed the Ultimate Warrior.
I'm probably most sympathetic to that view. Why? People like Prichard say crowd reactions hinted that Warrior wasn't going to be the top draw. But my question was how could he be if he was stuck wrestling people like Perfect, who had mid-tier credibility, and Rude, whom no one thought could beat him?
The logical thing would have been to feed the Earthquake to the Ultimate Warrior. Clearly there was very real interest in Slaughter and Warrior.
I think their problem was too great for wrestling limitations. People want their winner. Either Warrior was on par with Hogan or he wasn't. Like with Savage, where the message was clear that he was second fiddle to Hogan, Warrior was booked under Hogan: weaker opponents, often stuck in six man matches, while Hogan returns and gets a fresh opponent. He also headlines the A shows.
I think it's funny that Warrior outdrew Hogan against Slaughter. I also think it's funny that he and the Undertaker did the best numbers of 1991. But who remembers that?
Which gets to the bigger point. To make Warrior their ace, they had to make Hogan second fiddle. And they weren't going to do that. In other words, Warrior was a placeholder, then got the gaslighting treatment the moment he demanded equal pay, as the company unceremoniously fired him, while mindfucking him to insanity
And of course, they all acted like Warrior was at fault!
In elementary school, all of the girls who watched wrestling preferred Warrior to Hogan. Same with my brother's friends. That's of course anecdotal. But it does suggest who was more popular is an open question.
I feel like Warrior didn't have the political instincts Hogan had. When he didn't do the numbers Hogan was going to in his peak (and no one could have hoped to do that), they went back to Hogan each time rather than doubling down on Warrior. It didn't hurt that Hogan had better emotional intelligence and was BFF with McMahon, and his staff by extension. Warrior never could have usurped him from that position. Whatever the case, there's a lot of group think and once enough of the right people deemed Warrior toxic, the rest like lemmings repeated that myth
Case in point. Jim Ross talked about Warrior's coming back in 1996, saying no one wanted him back. Really? Like who? The Undertaker drew money with him. Money talks. Bret Hart is jealous of anyone who makes him feel threatened. Michaels and Jannetty probably had little interaction with him. Bulldog was his road partner, though the 1992 fallout had both blaming one another. Owen Hart and Warrior had little interaction. In reality, aside from Bret Hart (in a very limited sense) and the Undertaker, there was no one who could make a reasonable objection as to why he shouldn't be there. It seems to me like ego and group think tainted the pool. And it's wrestling. Of course it did
Now, I'm not suggesting Warrior should have come back. I think he was damaged goods as of 1991. His feelings were hurt and you can't cure paranoia. I also think lack of steroids made him look like a human and not a god for 1992.
3. Your last school of thought is that Warrior drew only because Slaughter generated curiosity and that the curiosity would be gone by Wrestlemania VII. Possible.
I think the big negative to Slaughter is he wasn't the same performer anymore. He was near retirement, and it's obvious he wasn't trying to get hurt. In that regard, maybe Rude would have been a better choice. But I don't see how. I think the company was heading for a big recession no matter what. But I think they could have had more staying power with Warrior on top in 1992 until a heel turn. Problem is with how much merchandise both he and Hogan did, that was never going to happen. But jealousy would have been a great storyline
Agreed Rude was fantastic and made an amazing IC champion, but even as a 10-12 year year old, I felt he was too small to really threaten Hogan. I know Hulk had amazing feuds with Roddy, Mr. Wonderful and Savage and had great matches against Perfect and Bad News, but he was usually force fed monster heels.
I can 100% understand why Rude left the WWF. He deserved a main event opportunity, and worked to be part of that tier.
When it a one and done, he knew he had to invest in himself elsewhere.
Mr. Bruce was so funny as brother love😀😀😀😀
As much as i loved Hulk Hogan, i think Hogan was afraid that Rick Rude would really hurt him in the ring...
And the WWF at the time, was gonna protect their biggest star.
They wrestled in 88 without incident, Rude was always a businessman in the ring
Hulk arguably had a harder job: working with every monster they brought in. That's a big part of where his money was. Tearing down each perceived monster heel brought in to end Hulkamania. The list is easily 10 deep if not more. When he wasn't doing that, he was working with his friends and helping them get over. Paul Orndorff, Ted Dibiase, Randy Savage, and a few others. Rude was just the odd man out of this equation.
D and in a blur of neon and cocaine, the 80’s were over.
@@Thor-Orion and the 90s began in that same blur.
Rude gets beat by Warrior on Saturday Night's Maine Event then again at Summer Slam & Conrad thinks it makes sense to have Hogan/Rude at Mania 7? I was around then watching & that would not have felt like a WM main event. Rick was not on that level.
Not to mention, he suggests Rude go over Warrior at Rumble 91 and on to job to Hogan at WM7 lol. So then that's 3 matches with Warrior......plus the 2 in 89 for the IC strap. It would have just been Warrior/Rude overkill. And if Hogan squashes Rude in the first meeting......that kills all Warrior steam. Warrior is no longer viewed on the same tier as Hogan, from that point on.
@@mrsain19 exactly. I think Rude was great, but he was never booked strong enough to main-event Mania against Hulk.
@@mrsain19 Earthquake could have feuded with him at the summer.
@@knowyourroleboulevard7119 quake could have feuded with who? When?
@@mrsain19 Ultimate Warrior. SummerSlam '90. Hottest heel of the summer.
They dropped the ball with Rude.
Rude should have been world champion for wwf he would of done a better job then warrior as world champion one last thing mr.perfact should have been wwf world champion he was perfect
Well, the title wasn't passed around like condoms back then. Mr Perfect was the worst drawing opponent Hogan had of that era.
Why would you put the title on Rude? I can think of many who would have been better in that role. It doesn't help that Rude was a hothead so it's hard to trust people in that position.
Warrior didn't have the staying power management would have wanted. But he was a very special performer when he was popular. He drew a lot of money with the Undertaker. Warrior's problem was the steroid scandal. It didn't help that he had no one to feud with, which includes Perfect.
I don't think Perfect was that good. He hits the right notes for those in the industry. But wow, I think his offense looked weak. I can't really explain why that was. He just didn't look menacing.
I think Rude was much better. But I also think Rude risked being one dimensional as a character, which is why he would often get lost in the shuffle. You can only go after someone's wife so many times or get into pose downs. Did he ever have a reason to hate someone if it wasn't that? Chasing the title as a villain is a money bleeder
I think you need to look at character development and performance. People look too much at the wrestling aspect. That doesn't and has never sold tickets
People get into it so much more when their are clips instead of just talking.
When I was a kid, thinking about Hogan retiring was like "oh wow" but in hindsight Holy Shit. He's going to wrestle like 2 more decades.
Rude should of been atleast a 1 time wwf champion
Never was a hogan fan but him vs rude would have been great ..slaughter never really entertained me
I do agree Rude should have been in more ppv main events, but you have to consider the time. There were only 4 ppvs a year, and one was the Rumble and the other Survivor Series. So if you're not counting multimen main events, there was only Wrestlemania and Summerslam. But still I think Rude should have gotten a ppv main event against Hogan.
Do you think Rick Rude should've been a 3x World Champion even against Hogan?
Rude was a 3 time world champion
Rude beating warrior at mania 5 was a great upset. WM5 is underrated
Rick Rude and Ted Dibiase both should have had title runs in this time period.
Rick Rude should have been champ at least once along with Mr Perfect. I bet it was backstage politics involving Hogan
Politics ??? Hogan was way more over than them ! Way more huge ! Make no mistake about it Vince says who is champ and who isn’t.
The problem with a lot of comments like these is that it's looking at the way things now not back then. The belt didn't change like it does today. Mr Perfect maybe getting a run is one thing but even though I liked Rude I don't think that would have worked as well
Heel champions don't sell merchandise. "Politics" isn't the reason why. Rude and Perfect were heels. Neither Rude nor Perfect drew enough to warrant being a "heel" world heavyweight champion. Both guys were IC champions.
The only person in the 1980s that would have worked as a heel-champion was Andre The Giant because of the cache' he had, and even HE understood that you put the belt on the top-draw of the company. That way *EVERYBODY* makes money. That's he jobbed to Hogan at Wrestlemania III. That's why he put the Ultimate Warrior over in squash-matches. I don't think Andre should have gone to that extreme, but that act showed you the confidence he had in the Warrior to draw money.
If Perfect and Rude were babyfaces and they drew like the Warrior did, maybe they would have had a world-title reign. That's the reason the Ultimate Warrior was allowed to beat Hogan.
The only reason Vince puts the world-title on a heel is because they either are drawing just as much as the top babyface (i.e The Rock in 1998,) or there is some real-life situation that Vince is trying to capitalize on (i.e. The Iron Sheik with the hostage-situation in Iran and Sgt. Slaughter with the Gulf War.)
Yokozuna was the first-heel to be champion for any extended-period of time since the Superstar Billy Graham, and that had more to do with the fact that Yokozuna was a spectacle. He drew (for awhile at least) just based on his sheer-size and athletic ability. Once people got used to seeing him, then his weight started getting out of control, and he lost a lot of the athletic-ability he had, he was drawing as much but business overall was down so he could not be blamed.
D2K Prime yeah, that was the way things were done in the territory days (which includes 80's-early 90's WWF). You only used heel champs as a way to transition to a new babyface champ. You almost never had a good heel run as champ.
Could Rude or Perfect have been used in Slaughter's spot, and put on a much better WM main event....sure. But, it would have never been anything more than a couple months to transition the belt back to Hogan.
as a kid i HATED rick rude (as an 8year old should) but looking back he was just amazing. He was pretty underrated and under utilized in WWF. At least he got the push he deserved in WCW
Earthquake should've crushed Hogan then taken the strap off Warrior at Survivor Series or Royal Rumble. Setting up Earthquake defending against Hogan at WM7.
Linda would have loved that angle with rick , no resistance at all
Basically Rude looked a hell of a lot better than Hogan in 90 and would have shown him up at Wrestlemania and Hogan wasn't gonna let that happen
**Vince McMahon voice** "Welcome Everyone to 5 🌟 Wrestling!!"
This is like listening to 2 brothers fight 😂
Rude and perfect are my 2 favorite wrestlers ever
I think Bruce has been over working himself since he's back at the WWE. I'm a big fan and no disrespect but he sounded a little cranky
He obviously hasn’t thought about this stuff in years and doesn’t remember any of this anymore. All his answers are just reiterating what Conrad says without any further clarification or expanding.
Wrestle Mania 7 should’ve been heel Warrior defending against Hogan in a rematch, or Babyface Warrior defending against Macho.
I LOVE how every TH-cam show I watch thinks the SAME THING about Dave Meltzer.
Jack Tunney announced from the very beginning of wrestlemania six that there would be no rematch between Hogan and Ultimate Warrior.
Rick Rude was great..he was the right opponent for Warrior in 89 but not in 90..problem was wwf had nobody else/new ready for the Ultimate Warrior after WM 6...
Imo wwf had huge backlash from using the Iraq war as a storyline and it was the main reason for the decline of wwf in the early and mid 90s.
they also had backlash in 05
because they aired Undertaker getting attacked by Hassan's masked men
and that same day
was when London suffered a tragic bombing
Rude wrestled Hogan on at least one house show in 1987.
I saw a house show on TH-cam with a match between Rude and Hogan.
I loved Rick Rude but him against Ultimate Warrior would never have drawn as a main event for Wrestlemania, especially as they had already had several matches before then. Ultimate Warrior didn't draw anywhere near as well as people thought he would as Champion, drawing figures were way down on Hogan and even Randy Savage in his year as Champion was drawing way better than Warrior ever did. A Champion not drawing against a guy who'd never really been treated as a main eventer wasn't gonna be best for business.
As bad as the stuff with Sergeant Slaughter has aged, people were so much more into the storyline with the all American Hero Hulk Hogan inevitably beating the Iraqi sympathiser and viewing figures instantly went up as Hogan was back in the main Title picture in a storyline that 1991 America was gonna be fully behind. As silly as the booking might seem in hindsight, it was a better decision for business in the long run.
Fun Fact of the day: Randy Savage and Sergeant Slaughter are the only 2 guys in the top 10 drawing Champs of all time, who aren't Hogan, Rock or Austin.
Rude and warrior worked good. Rude did all the work. But I heard backstage rude hated warrior like hell and bitch slapped him.
Even I as a young un knew that old man Slaughter was only wrestling Kogan because of 'angles'. It wouldnt have been so apparent if a guy like Rude had gone at Hull Kogan , he looked like he could stand toe to toe with him, and not be just a guy playing a character.