Terry Rudge

[ohtani's jacket]

I'm about to get some more Rudge in, but here's two I watched recently:

 

Tibor Szacaks vs. Terry Rudge (aired 5/4/74)

 

These are two of my all-time favourite British workers so of course I was into this. Unfortunately, it ended in the third of fourth round of a possible six rounds just as the action was getting really good (like Tibor Szacaks vs. Terry Rudge good.) If I have one complaint about Szacaks it's that his matches weren't long enough, but he was probably past his prime at this point.

 

Mike Marino vs. Terry Rudge (1/22/77)

 

This was a few weeks after the classic Rudge/Jones match, so he has the shaved head here. Marino/Rudge was an awesome sounding match-up so I ordered this and for the most part it didn't disappoint. Walton was all over Marino, gushing over practically everything he did. Marino was an excellent worker, probably the closest thing we have to what Billy Robinson might have been like on a regular basis, but like Tibor Szacaks and a couple of other guys I've noticed lately he didn't always go the distance. I really wanted this to be more epic, but it was a little on the short side because the scores came early in the rounds where they occurred. Rudge was also relegated to subtle heel, which took some of the shine off his awesome wrestling. I dug Walton's bullshit line about Rudge taking Inoki to a draw on a recent tour of Japan. I have the feeling Inoki was just about the only Japanese wrestler Walton knew.

[Phil Schneider]

Steve Regal v. Terry Rudge CWA 10/7/88

 

Total hidden gem, sort of a dream match you didn't know you dreamt about. Rudge is a gritty British veteran very much in the vein of Finlay, Taylor and Regal. I imagine he could have been an awesome 3rd Blue Blood. Opening part of the match is Rudge working a nasty headlock which Regal works his way out and puts on a top wrist lock. That doesn't sound that exciting, but these are a pair of guys who know how to put on a headlock and wrist lock. Rudge gets more and more brutal laying in a beating worthy of Regal himself, he absolutely root canals Regal with some uppercuts, along with short headbutts and thumbs to the eyes. There was this amazing moment where Rudge puts on a hammerlock and with Regal's arm trapped, Rudge unloads on his rib cage. Regal fires back too, although he was more of an overwhelmed babyface showing grit and fire. It is a role I haven't seen much of and one he is great at. A hell of a match and something pretty awesome to show up in my youtube feed.

[jdw]

Steve Regal v. Terry Rudge CWA 10/7/88

Cool juniors style match. Rudge's early "filling space" stuff (headlock, work the leg/knee, work the gut/back) had nothing to do with working towards a finish, but fills the body of the match with cool holds. Regal blows it off for his two big comebacks, whipping out all the cool flashy stuff without a sign of any of the prior damage and instead does stuff that might be the finish. The actual finish doesn't have anything to do with the earlier knee/legwork, as Regal is perfectly fine running around the ring until getting pitched over and then "injuring" the leg. Which is kind of a cool babyface injury spot. Rudge takes advantage of it, we get a finish that wham-bam but at least is a cool submission.

 

Fun stuff.

 

John

[ohtani's jacket]

Terry Rudge vs. Franz van Buyten (Hamburg 10/1/87)

 

Fab contest between two of the best European workers of the 80s. Rudge had so much more scope to work in these German tournaments than he did on the crappy TV at the time and you can see why he was Regal's favourite worker, not only because of his style but because of his mannerisms and attention to detail. This was actually the first time I've heard Rudge speak and his Bedfordshire accent didn't quite match his asskicking image, but his hammerwork work sure did. Man, was he the king of the hammerlock. Van Buyten sold superbly as usual and provided his trademark comeback. I especially liked a desperation spot he did where he back body dropped Rudge over the top rope only for Rudge to re-enter the ring and kick his ass some more. The tiebreaker section of the match wasn't as good as the Lasartesse match as Rudge wasn't the theatrical type and I actually enjoyed the body of the match more, but it was still a treat to see these two go at it.

[ohtani's jacket]

Terry Rudge vs. Alan Kilby (6/18/81)

 

This was everything I could have hoped for from Rudge & Kilby and more. They were given the six rounds on the undercard of the Big Daddy/Giant Haystacks Wembley Arena show and basically went for as much heat as they could possibly get. Kilby was one of the most likeable guys on the circuit, not only because he was deaf, but because he was an excellent and charismatic worker with tremendous babyface presence. It's an old point of mine, but it's extremely difficult to play a likeable babyface in wrestling and Kilby was second only to Steve Grey in the UK and possibly better than him. Since Kilby was so popular, Rudge was in full-on rudo mode here, and spent a large portion of the match sparring with Kilby in a manner befitting the best Fujiwara shoot style bouts. He worked a mix of inside shots and legal strikes, both of which pissed Kilby off, and they teased everything from a pull-apart brawl to Rudge being thrown out. In fact, if there was ever a bout that should've been thrown out, this made a good case for it. Rudge kept coming out of his corner before the bell despite having two public warnings to his name and the crowd let the ref have it. The finish was kind of obvious and probably could have been executed better, but it got a strong pop from the crowd and Rudge posed gratuitously on the outside, including on one of the chairs near Walton, which amused me as I'd never seen Rudge do any pantomime before. Flash pin aside, a really good bout, probably in the top six Rudge bouts I've seen. Delivered big time.

 

Terry Rudge vs. Gil Singh (6/15/82)

 

This was the usual high quality albeit heatless match between the two. Singh was much bigger than I remembered and the size difference between the two was far greater than I could recall. There was some good grappling, but Singh was a bit too dominant for my liking, especially in the fifth round where he basically rode Rudge the entire round. Definitely one for the Rudge purists, though, as he added plenty of sweet touches.

[ohtani's jacket]

Terry Rudge vs. Pete Roberts (3/21/83)

 

I know there are people who think "Super Destroyer" Pete Roberts is one of the most boring workers to ever grace a ring, but with the right kind of opponent Roberts could have stellar matches. This was an excellent twenty minute draw full of fantastic, hard-hitting action. Since Joint Promotions aired on a real sports programme, they tended to mimic other sports by having more draws than is normal for a wrestling promotion. Along with their injury finishes, they did this to varying degrees of satisfaction, but this was just about the best draw I've seen in terms of the finishing stretch. I often find that most workers' execution of a time limit draw leaves a lot to be desired, but this was the perfect combination of both guys going at it hammer and tongs to get the winning fall and fatigue and the clock playing their part. I got over Walton's commentary a long time ago and sometimes ignore it these days, but he was on point here and did a wonderful job of calling the action, which made an exciting match seem like a cracker. He was particularly good at pointing out that because it was a twenty minute match without falls that the only breaks the workers would get was between falls instead of the usual intervals between rounds, and both guys wrestled so well that the old cliche about neither man deserving to lose never rung truer.

 

Terry Rudge vs. Pat Roach (6/28/84, JIP R5)

 

Awesome match-up, but it was joined at the end of the 5th round with Rudge already up a fall. His attacks on Roach's arm were God-like in their inventiveness and execution, and Roach, who had a good seven inches on Rudge, was like a bear with a sore head dealing with the smaller man, but not enough of this aired to form any real opinion about it.

[ohtani's jacket]

Franz van Buyten vs. Terry Rudge (Hamburg 9/11/90)

 

This wasn't anywhere near the class of their '87 match but still it was Terry Rudge in Germany, which is like watching Fujiwara in a shoot style setting or Satanico in a singles match. The major problem was simply the length at a little over 10 minutes compared with their epic from '87.

[ohtani's jacket]

Terry Rudge vs. Billy Samson (Hamburg 9/17/87)

 

Another good Rudge match. This wasn't as hard hitting as some of his other German stuff, but it was a nice showcase for his heel work. The flick of the sweat and the "up yours" hand gesture were enough to get his opponent Billy Samson going. Samson came from a boxing background, but was firmly entrenched in the pro-style, which was a bit disappointing as I would have liked to have seen him trade blows with the GOAT.

[ohtani's jacket]

Terry Rudge vs. Suni War Cloud (Hamburg 9/20/87)

 

Suni War Cloud is the least interesting opponent I've seen Rudge face. There's been guys who have had successful Native American gimmicks in Europe, but Suni War Cloud wasn't one of them. Rudge is a great worker, but he couldn't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear on this particular night.

[ohtani's jacket]

Terry Rudge vs. Tiger Dalibar Singh (8/19/87)

 

Highlights tacked onto the end of the show. Match looked like the usual Singh/Rudge bout.

 

Terry Rudge vs. Ray Steele (6/10/87)

 

It's kind of fun dipping into this original broadcast stuff as you're never sure what you'll get. In this case, they aired the entire bout as a preliminary contest before the freak show stuff. Rudge was a beast in Germany in '87 and finally got to show his wares on British TV. I was a little surprised by how good this was as Steele can be a buzz killer at times, but he pit his skills against Rudge for the full six rounds and this was about as good as he could wrestle. Steele was one of the most ordinary looking blokes in the entire run of wrestling on British TV. He looked how most people's grandfather must have looked when they were young -- short back and sides with a part, ears protruding. Funnily enough, for a territory that was built on the strength of some over-the-top television gimmicks, the heavyweights were often distinguishable by the colour of their trunks and little else. I'm not fond of the way Walton put Rudge over late into the TV run. Rudge played a sort of a tweener role and would throw the occasional inside shot, or in this case slap Steele to provoke him, and Walton would put it over in a really tired way, rehashing the same lines he'd used for dozens of tough guy workers over the years. It would've been nice if Walton had put him over with the same vigour as he put over Marino, but I guess that's over-estimating Rudge's station. Nevertheless, Terry carried Steele to a good, solid match with some great, original looking holds and this ended up being quite the gem for Rudge enthusiasts.

 

Terry Rudge vs. Ray Steele (3/4/86)

 

Finish only. Apparently, this was the only time Rudge was on TV in '86. Travesty.

 

Terry Rudge vs. Len Hurst (10/31/85)

 

This was another gem. It would be easy to overlook a match like this as Hurst wasn't an overly outstanding competitor, but this was another opportunity for Rudge to go long. The first few rounds, in particular, were quality rounds with Hurst more than a match for Rudge's guile. The bout petered out a bit as the draw began to loom, but all in all it would slot into the best of Rudge quite easily.

[JNLister]

Thought you'd appreciate this line from a bio I just did on Mike Marino:

 

Marty Jones recalls that Marino didn't use his legitimate skills to take advantage of younger grapplers. "He was what I think of as a great [technical] worker, along the lines of a Pete Roberts or Terry Rudge. He could make anyone look good and he wanted you to look good. He gave me a lot of respect, partly because I had the Wigan training background, and I wish I'd spent more time with him."

[ohtani's jacket]

Terry Rudge vs. Suni War Cloud (Hamburg 9/20/87)

 

Suni War Cloud is the least interesting opponent I've seen Rudge face. There's been guys who have had successful Native American gimmicks in Europe, but Suni War Cloud wasn't one of them. Rudge is a great worker, but he couldn't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear on this particular night.

This was perfectly good Terry Rudge. Fuck knows what I was thinking the first time round. Rudge gave War Cloud a working over, the ref stuck his nose in one too many times and a spit between the two led to a red card for Terry. Like all German bouts it needed a better finish, but it was worthy Rudge and watchable Rudge.

[Matt D]

In a year and a half when I finish all the Buddy there is, I am totally going to watch Terry Rudge.

[cheapshot]

It's well worth it Matt! I will start adding some thoughts of some of his matches in the new year.

[rzombie1988]

I reviewed Terry Rudge vs Tom Tyrone here:

http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/wo...tom-tyrone.html

 

And Terry Rudge vs Bully Boy Muir here:

http://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/wo...y-rudge-vs.html

 

Rudge vs Tyrone is a Rudge armwork clinic. He stretched Tyrone's arm out bad and they exchanged some nice euro uppercuts.

[NintendoLogic]

The spot where Rudge pounds away on his opponent while trapping his arm in a hammerlock should have been copied by hundreds of wrestlers.

[Jetlag]

Mother of fuck that Rudge/Hurst match is great. That is what I love about watching old wrestling, when they take offense that we think of as low end and make it interesting. Rudge may have turned a hairpull into a holy shit spot in that match.

[ohtani's jacket]

The Rudge/Hurst match that's on YouTube is from 1981.

[ohtani's jacket]

Terry Rudge vs. John Carlo (3/14/74)

Pre-asskicker Rudge. He did a pretty valiant job of putting over local boy John Carlo, letting him kick out of more than half a dozen finishing moves. Good day at the office in terms of what they were trying to achieve, but not the asskickery you want to see from Terry.

[dawho5]

Really liking Rudge from the Regal match. He's great as the ass-kicker heel and the chickenshit heel and can switch gears instantly. Always loved watching guys like that.

[ohtani's jacket]

These are for the Rudge completists:

 

Terry Rudge vs. John Savage (9/3/85)

 

Stone Cold Terry Rudge squashes John Savage. Savage is on the list, and that's Terry Rudge's list.

 

Terry Rudge vs. Dave Bond (3/19/88)

 

Man, 1988 TV is sad. They tried to spruce the show up when World of Sport ended, but it was just so lame. I hate the voice over guy who opens the show and the ring looks as garish as Brian Crabtree's wardrobe. I didn't realise Bond got himself back into shape during the final season. He looked even better than in the 70s. It's too bad they threw this out on a disqualification for no good reason.

 

Terry Rudge vs. Steve Logan (12/16/87)

 

Another annoying thing about the stand alone show is that they seemed to edit out every second round. The match would skip from round one to round three without any fall. They were usually pretty good at it, but when you notice it makes the match feel choppy. Rudge was still a great worker at this point, but even in a draw with one of the more capable "blue eyes" he didn't get to show his wares. Germany was where the better wrestling was at this point.

 

Terry Rudge vs. Mohammed Afzal (5/4/88)

 

Best of a bad bunch of matches. Rudge brought his usual dickish temperament to the bout and really needled Afzal unnecessarily between rounds, and in a match that felt destined to go to points, Afzal came back strongly in the final round and did an awesome amateur ride on Terry. Terry went through on points, though, because of his trusty uppercut.

 

[Parts Unknown]

Rudge is the man.

Such a great worker, nothing flashy but does the simple things really well and most importantly it all looks crisp and killer. Should be mandatory viewing for any aspiring wrestler.

[ohtani's jacket]

Terry Rudge vs. Pete Roberts (9/11/84)

 

This was a 20 minute bout with no rounds and two falls, two submissions or a knockout to decide it that cut off with a bout three minutes to go. To be honest, I wasn't hugely gutted that the footage was incomplete as neither man was at their best, but it's still Terry Rudge against Pete Roberts and that's as good a match-up as any from mid-80s World of Sport. Walton was underselling Rudge a bit since Roberts was one of Walton (or the promoters') favourites, and Rudge didn't really appear on television enough for Walton to push him too hard, but aside from that distraction there was a neat tactical battle in this that Kent highlighted pretty well where Rudge kept attacking from behind and Roberts was slightly more dynamic. Both men have had better, though.

[Parties]

Rudge is making my Top 100, the only question being how high, which depends on how much of his stuff that I haven't already seen is out there on Youtube/DM.

[ohtani's jacket]

Wayne Bridges vs. Terry Rudge (3/31/81)

I kind of knew that this would be weak, but I couldn't resist asking for it because it was 1981 Terry Rudge. Terry Rudge in 1981 was miles away from where Bridges was in terms of heavyweight booking and therefore he wasn't given much respect in this bout .Whatever we might think of Rudge, and I think a few people agree with me that he was the natural precursor to a lot of guys like Finlay, Regal and Taylor, the promoters never saw him that way and even the Heritage guys considered him comparable to Barry Douglas. As a bout this was all right, but Bridges did nothing to make it seem special.