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[1990-04-14-WWF-Superstars] Rick Rude vignette


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  • 1 month later...

These bored the crap out of me as a kid. Yeah, Rude beat him in 89, whatever. Warrior was a mythical being at this point. He was supernatural and they're tossing Rude at him? As a kid who started watching wrestling in 90, I had no reason at all to care about this and a bunch of goofy weightlifting skits weren't about to make me. They went "legit" when they should have gone goofball.

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Another excellent serious promo from Rude and Heenan. If I recall correctly, Rude even stopped kissing women from the audience in an effort to be taken more seriously around this time.

 

Matt, if you're still reading this, you say they should have "gone goofball" for Warrior's first major challenger. Did you have anyone specific in mind?

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It's a good question. Based on who they had on the roster, there are really only three choices. Earthquake is one and they needed him for Hogan and had just done Bravo vs Warrior to start the year. I don't think they could cycle Dibiase or Savage back in yet. After that, you've got Barbarian and Warlord. Of the two Barbarian was the better choice (win at Mania vs Tito, Heenan, the better wrestler) but neither are great. You know, maybe I'd have them turn Duggan.

 

Really, the best choice is to not let Windham leave before Survivor Series 89, no matter what.

 

Last thought, have Ax debut Crush as part of a heel turn as his weapon to destroy Warrior and take over the WWF. Something like that. The match would be absolutely terrible but it'd be two giant face-painted guys clashing and Demolition was still pretty over in early 90 and it'd work into the LOD debuting and all of the six mans that they ran anyway. I think it could have worked as well as Rude, actually. The more I think about this the more I love this idea.

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Matt,

 

Let's rank your answers:

 

6. Duggan- Nope. His entire character was based on patriotism, the two-by-four, and "HOOOOOOOO!" Who would be your new all-American hero if Duggan turned (and you know Vince would have had to have one other than Hogan)? Warrior as a heel denouncing the USA as "a country of normals" and Duggan fighting for its honor would have fit better.

 

5. Windham- Only because Vince had no control over his departure; he asked to leave because of Mulligan and Kendall's legal problems. In a world where they stay clean, Barry would have been ideal. Who knows, maybe Vince thought he'd be back once they were in the clear. Instead, he went back to Atlanta.

 

4. Demolition- Good thought, but they would have had to give the Harts the tag belts over Andre/Haku to make the timing work. Remember, Rude's challenge came right on the heels of Mania VI, which was two months before Crush even debuted, and the only reason Crush debuted in the first place was because Bill Eadie got sick, which no one could have foreseen then. They probably would have put Smash and Crush back with Fuji (as they eventually did in real life) rather than have Ax as the manager anyway.

 

3. Warlord- Not enough singles cred, plus the wrong manager, as no one took Slick seriously by then.

 

2. Quake- He was tailor made for Hogan, but he could have chased both Hogan and Warrior at the same time if they'd thought to book him that way. I'd have put him with the Brain if I was going to do something like this; he was the only credible male manager that they had left.

 

1. Barby- By process of elimination. Vince probably thought about this, but decided that Rude could get more out of Warrior athletically. It would have been a good secondary program, though.

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  • 10 months later...

Rude is in the gym doing overhead presses and he asks ‘The Brain’ how much the Ultimate Warrior weighs? When he says 275, he asks for 315 to go on the barbell. Rude says that the Warrior’s days are numbered, just as surely as he’s risen, he will fall. He’s beaten him before, will beat him again and will take his WWF World Heavyweight championship.

 

The pressing of the weights (if not gimmick) was impressive as hell.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1990-04-14-WWF-Superstars] Rick Rude vignette

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