Bret harts tribute to Ric Rude
Zombie Big dead bastard
I am no way affiliated with this web-site. I am just posting News and
Rumors
http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestling/hitman_home.html
Saturday, April 24, 1999
Heaven gains a champ
By BRET "THE HITMAN" HART -- For The Calgary Sun
Mr. Richard Erwin Rood, aka (Ravishing Rick Rude), age 40, of
Alpharetta Ga., died (of a heart attack) on April 20, 1999. He is
survived by wife Michelle, daughter Merissa, and sons Richard Ryan
Rood and Colton Rood.
-- Atlanta Journal-Constitution
'I can't believe the news today.
I'd like to close my eyes and make it go away
How long, how long must we sing this song?'
-- U2
Sunday Bloody Sunday
I am a year his senior.We travelled the same roads.
Now he walks with angels.
There but for the grace of God go I.
Rick Rude was anything but ... rude.
In any circle of friends and phonies, you take the good with the bad.
And the bad makes you appreciate the good even more.
At the height of my road days, when 300 fights in 300 towns a year
was normal, strangers became family and family became strangers. You
can't pick your family but you can pick your friends. Rick Rude was
one of the best picks I ever made.
He was a smile on my face and everybody else's. He got a big kick out
of my drawings so this one's for him, because I think he'd like it.
He was a great family man. He loved his wife. He was one of those
kind of guys who never took his wedding ring off. He put a white piece
of tape around it when he went into the ring. He was the kind of guy
that when you needed someone to back you up, he wouldn't flinch at
all. Not for money. Not for anything.
When McMahon and his sidemen barged into my dressing room in
Montreal, Rick was there. He was one of the guys who refused to budge.
Refused to allow me to be put in a compromising position.
Rick Rude stayed there to make sure my back was watched.
There were -- and are -- some people who think the whole thing that
happened between McMahon and I was a hoax.
Rick was the one who called Eric Bischoff and said 'I was there. I
was in the room and this is what happened.'
When I was forming new business relationships in WCW, Rude's call
protected me and saved me from a lot of doubt because even Eric
Bischoff had to question whether this was a set-up or not. I was
always grateful to Rick for making that call and for being with me in
the room that day.
You statisticians, be sure to note that Rick Rude is the only guy who
managed to appear on both Raw and Nitro at the same time -- because
Raw was taped in advance on the night Rick showed up for a live Nitro
and told the world that what McMahon did to me was real and wrong.
I'd like to think Rick was defending me -- and he was -- but what he
was really defending was 'time-honoured tradition.'
The irony is that at the height of his popularity, Rick's Ravishing
character, the sexy playboy with the gyrating hips, caused a stir with
some conservative viewers, which Rick actually found amusing and took
as a compliment because it was sort of like being compared to Elvis on
Ed Sullivan. With overt sexuality accepted (by some, but not by me) in
wrestling today, it's hard to believe that Ravishing Rick was a
controversial cutting edge character only a few years ago.
The difference is that Rick did it with class. With taste. Your kids
could watch him.
Mine did. They looked up to Rick Rude as a great wrestler and when he
came to visit our house, they found out he was also a great man. When
my oldest son, Dallas, was a little kid, his mean imitation of
Ravishing Rick couldn't be beat.
I don't know if there's any great cosmic reasoning that can help a
kid understand why dad is in another place.
I only know that while he was here, Rick Rude was a great role model
to his kids, to kids around the world, and to those who forgot that
how you play the game is more important than winning it. But make no
mistake about it, Rick Rude was a winner.
Rick was world class heavyweight champion in the southern U.S. when
McMahon signed him at the height of the '80s wrestling boom. He was a
successful intercontinental champion during a hot feud with the
Ultimate Warrior, which culminated in a world title cage match at
SummerSlam '90. Rude lost. He went to WCW and held the U.S. title,
beating a feisty, up and coming guy then known as 'Stunning' Steve
Austin.
No doubt Stone Cold learned a lot wrestling against Ravishing Rick
that day.
And ... Rick Rude beat The Hitman the only time I ever fought him.
(Italy, 1989). I was making the transition from tags to singles and I
don't know if it was that Rick wanted to see what I had or show me
what I needed.
I always knew he was tough but that's the day I found out that he
always gave 110%, no matter how the small the town or if the cameras
weren't rolling.
Ravishing Rick vs. The Hitman is one of those rare lost classics.
The 'lost classics'. Brian. Kerry. Bravo. Adrian. JYD. Studd. Andre
... the list goes on so long it's scary. So many. So young. So
talented. So needed. So missed.
I was going to say I'd give anything to be at the strategy meeting I
know they're having but ... I'll stay here and be a 'fat, out of
shape, sweathog' just trying to do what's right. And what's right is
not to let what they lived for -- and died for -- decay any further,
until there's no respect left for wrestling's fallen heroes.
'I don't believe it's all for nothing
It's not just written in the sand
Fallen Angel
Casts a shadow up against the Sun
If my eyes could see
The Spirit of the chosen one
In my dream the pipes were playin'
In my dream I lost a friend
Come down Gabriel and blow your horn
'Cause some day we will meet again.'
-- Robbie Robertson,
Fallen Angel
http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestling/hitman_home.html
Bigdead...@hotmail.com
Thanks
----------------------------------------------
Add in the brutality of ECW,
The unpredictabilty of the WWF,
the class of WCW,
the brillance of APWW
That is
EPWO Nitro
Booker of EPWO nitro and Thunder.
Zombie
anonymous
Just curious. I remembered when Rick Rude had feuded with Jake the
Snake Roberts, there was a surprising incident on one of the national
TV broadcasts. Supposedly, Jake ripped off Rick's pants while he was
gyrating his hips leaving him naked in the ring. Did this really happen
or was he wearing something? From the TV broadcast, they had a black
box cover him up. Since this happened around 1990 when wrestling was
much more conversvative, I don't see how they'd allow full-frontal male
nudity in front of a live audience.
Mr.X
At the end of a match, Ric Rude ripped off his tights, revealing a second
pair underneath which had a picture of Jake's wife, Cheryl, air brushed on
it. Yes, soon after Jake rushed into the ring, knocked him down and began
an attempt to pull off his tights. Yes, it was full frontal male nudity(
Jake had those tights right up to Rude's ankles, but there was a black box
over his crotch as well as his hands).
Scott Keith
move.
>
>Just curious. I remembered when Rick Rude had feuded with Jake the
>Snake Roberts, there was a surprising incident on one of the national
>TV broadcasts. Supposedly, Jake ripped off Rick's pants while he was
>gyrating his hips leaving him naked in the ring. Did this really happen
>or was he wearing something? From the TV broadcast, they had a black
>box cover him up. Since this happened around 1990 when wrestling was
>much more conversvative, I don't see how they'd allow full-frontal male
>nudity in front of a live audience.
Anonymous, eh?
Well, fear not for your masculinity. Rude was wearing a g-string.
Scott "Netcop" Keith / ske...@home.com / ICQ # 28819658
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