[1992-05-09-WCW-Saturday Night] Interview: Rick Rude

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Yes! This is awesome camp! The interview starts with the lead singer of Alabama asking Rick Rude why he left the WWF. He said for a long time, he held the IC title, which should have made him first in line for title shots, but he never got a shot because the WWF wanted to hold him back. Not quite accurate, but good answer. The sexual harassment accusations continue, as Madusa joins Rude. Rude says he'd rather take questions from the audience than Ross. Missy Hyatt is all like, "Do you have an interview, I mean, question?" and some woman in the audience asks what she has to do to be his first lady.

 

Next, we get some bimbo saying everything Rude is saying is true and that she is having an affair with Steamboat. Another woman stands up and says she is too, they start calling each other sluts, Dillinger carries the woman kicking and screaming out of the building, another woman stands up and says she's having the affair and suddenly it's Springer years before Springer.

 

Rude apologizes to Bonnie Steamboat to wrap things up and this was all so hilarious and poorly produced, yet weirdly ahead of its time.

[Tim Evans]

I liked that the same woman that said she wanted Rude said she has an affair with Steamboat. WWE wishes they could book campy segments like this nowadays. Randy Owen looked like he'd rather be anywhere but on that stage.

[shoe]

The opening question is good. After that it turns into Springer or the Donahue show from earlier.

[El-P]

Fun stuff. Rude talking about WWF on WCW TV. Shooty-shooty ! Then the parts with all the women pretending to have an affair with Ricky Steamboat is pretty funny and totally Springer-like, right to the obvious fakeness of the whole thing. Rude appologizing to Bonnie is the icing on the cake.

[Kevin Ridge]

I didn't know who this Randy Owen guy was. Rude tries to say that holding the WWF Intercontinental title makes you the number one contender to WWF Title. Missy blowing her first line was funny. This like some sleazy talk show with women in audience claiming to be having affairs with Steamboat. Too bad Jason Hervey wasn't around this week.

[Zero]

Ah. This was classic. Rick Rude pulls this off greatly. I first noticed some of the girls when Rude was walking out though. The blonde in the crowd sticks out like sore thumb.

[WingedEagle]

Rude's been strong on the mic throughout this set. He says despite holding the IC Title he never got a world title shot because the WWF held him back, which comes across awesome. After bringing out Madusa, they go to the "Steamboat is not a family man" storyline which I can do without.

[PeteF3]

The initials "WWF" are mentioned on WCW television. I missed this when it happened but it would have had me passed out on the floor if I'd seen it. Rude answers the question pretty well. We get into Ricky Steamboat's stalking of Madusa and then we get some sub-Jerry Springer sleaze from the audience, as lady after lady announce their affairs with Ricky Steamboat. Ross sort of shits all over this and Doug Dillinger carries one of the chicks out of the studio.

 

Rude is really good here, especially his disingenuous shock and apology to Mrs. Steamboat. The angle itself is more "sounded good in theory."

[MikeCampbell]

This is campy, but entertaining. Especially the woman asking how she can be his first lady, and Rude replying "I'll get with you later."

[garretta]

To paraphrase an old joke, "I went to a wrestling match and The Jerry Springer Show broke out."

 

It's amazing that the first half of this was about as close to a shoot promo as you'll ever get in the Big Two at this time, while the second half is a poor attempt at a cross between TNT and a daytime talk show. I thought it was brilliant that Owen, the guest host, got to ask Rude about why he left the WWF; this way, it came across as an honest fan question, not just an excuse for WCW to take a shot at Vince. Even though Rude's answer wasn't strictly true, it allowed him to maintain his persona while putting over the promotion at the same time.

 

But with brilliance comes dreck. It was obvious from the time Rude asked to take questions from the audience that those women were his plants, and while parts of it were somewhat funny (particularly the same woman who'd asked Rude for a date claiming to have slept with Steamboat as well), I can't blame JR for not wanting much to do with it. As I've said in earlier threads, we didn't need this much of the extracurricular storyline once it was established that these two could get it done in the ring. A little bit of this stuff sprinkled into the SuperBrawl hype would have added spice; now, it's just giving viewers heartburn. (As an aside, being so obvious with Rude's plants makes the segment the next week with DDP superfluous, as does JR's out-of-hand dismissal of the whole business.)

 

Missy's gaffe almost had to be intentional, although people sometimes make mistakes like that out of the blue in normal conversation. Her being in the middle of all those women seemed so right that I almost expected her to yell, "I've had an affair with Steamboat too!" Considering her reputation both on-camera and off, it's not the most impossible thing to believe.

[dawho5]

I was thinking Jerry Springer too.  Cheesy and I wonder how much this whole angle hurt the DA in the eyes of the company.  It is pretty ridiculous.