[1991-11-16-WCW-Saturday Night] Interview: Rick Rude & Paul E. Dangerously

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Paul E. is livid about being kicked off of WCW TV, and says he ain't stopping until he's called Paul E. Turner. He says WCW doesn't respect the talent it has, which is ... true. Rude does a really good promo to set up the Clash, and he seems excited to be in this environment, as he should -- he is instantly the freshest guy on the roster.

[Kevin Ridge]

Paul E feeling very under appreciated. He still planning on bankrupting WCW. Stick to your own promotion. It seems like the Cactus/Sting feud ended abruptly but Rude’s arrival is pretty welcome. WCW is slowly turning things around from the low point of summer.

[PeteF3]

Psycho promo from Paul E. in which he decries how Clarence Thomas can get to the Supreme Court while he gets dumped on, while Rude puts over Sting while also confidently predicting a U.S. title victory. Sting/Rude clearly comes off as the Clash's biggest match.

[soup23]

This feels like a big match to give away on a Clash and Paul E does a good job justifiable hyping his transgressions.

[garretta]

I think I've changed my mind a bit about Rude. I still prefer the sleazier WWF version for now, but he's impressing me as a serious character a lot more now than he did when he was challenging Warrior. The "where you've been, I've been" stuff may not be strictly true, but it certainly helps the fans to see them as two athletes on the same level and creates more excitement for a match that just a few months ago might have been seen as only semi-competitive based on Rude's previous reputation.

 

Heyman, on the other hand, is off to a bad start. He has the potential to be the Bobby Heenan of the nineties, but screaming about Clarence Thomas and the new governor of Louisiana so loudly that he can barely be understood isn't the way to fulfill it. More importantly, he comes across as not really caring about Rude or the U.S. title; he wants Sting crippled for his own totally separate and distinct purposes. That's all well and good, but there are guys already on the roster who fit the description of crippler better than Rude, two of whom Sting's already feuding with. Why bother creating the Dangerous Alliance? Why not simply attach yourself to Cactus and Abby, who already want to cripple Sting? Why spend your own money to being in Rude and Medusa if your ultimate plan doesn't really need them to be successful? They really need to get these two in sync goalwise if this partnership is to be believable.

 

JR doesn't help at all with his eyerolling and impatience. Plenty of guys have spewed bullshit just as unbelievable if not moreso than Heyman's over JR's long career; that's the nature of the business. But given how grumpy we know JR to be behind the scenes, and how he's always tended to treat Heyman as a real-life pain in the ass while on camera, I can't believe he's entirely working here, and that's bad. If he continues to think so little of the Paul E. character, and Heyman himself can't dial it back to at least somewhat saner levels going forward, this whole angle could end up as cartoonish as anything Vince has put out since expansion.

 

I've always heard good things about the Dangerous Alliance in WCW, so I'm willing to sit tight and see where this all goes. But it's not exactly off to a rousing start in my book.

[dawho5]

I'd say JR's eyerolling has more to do with his recent history with Heyman. And as much as Heyman does come off as psycho, I don't think hiring guys like Cactus and Abby to do your bidding and expecting the desired results would be within that definition of crazy. Rude's promo is really good and I like it better than his initial promo as the Phantom. He comes across as a really serious threat to Sting. When you think about that it doesn't seem like much. But after most of 1991 it is definitely an upgrade. I will agree that even if Paul's "WCW doesn't appreciate it's talent" line wasn't a shoot it was right on target.

[Beast]

JR's reaction adds to the later surprise of Dangerously unveiling the Alliance. For now, he's got the hot hand in Rude, but why would anyone in WCW think he's anything more than a loudmouth?

Rude is a bit too manic here for my taste and I'm looking forward to seeing the development of his smoother lead heel persona as he takes on the role of the head wrestler of the Alliance. He's pretty puffy as well, likely working himself back into ring shape after so much time off.

This interview followed Rude's first TV match in WCW, versus Steve Armstrong. Armstrong and Smothers had already kind of turned heel with a promo at Halloween Havoc, but Armstrong plays the babyface and gets way too much offense for a Rude debut.