No one was better at selling the "Atomic Drop" to an audience... :) LOL

Greatest heel of 1985-1995.

Not a bad wrestler!

Passable!!! but no more than that!!

If anything, Rick Rude was the quintessential wrestling heel of his era. Blessed with ravishing looks and near-flawless execution, Rude was the wrestler whom everyone hated. With his curt trademark, CUT THE MUSIC!!! Rude was able to inspire boos and catcalls from the incensed crowd. Rude also made it a point to mock the fat, ugly, out-of-shape 'so-ons' in the crowd. But out of the ring, he was a good guy who outwardly showed to fans the importance of a healthy lifestyle (however, Rude was also known to be a steroid abuser, which was unfortunate). Yet, Rude was often said to be seen at Gold's Gym at 3 a.m., working out to keep his body in shape. It is unfortunate that this former NWA World Heavyweight Champion passed away far before his time. However, if there are any great tributes worthy enough to compliment Rude, it is the fact that wrestlers today like Val Venis, Trish Stratus and Randy Orton try to emulate his legendary in-ring persona (if but in vain).

Another wrestling casualty of steroids, and pain pills. While alive he had a great career. He started in Memphis with Jimmy Hart but his real break that got him noticed was when he paired up with Percy Pringle (Paul Bearer) in Florida and Texas. In The World Class organization he held the flegling group's newly introduced World title when the organization attempted unsuccessfully to promote on their own. As World Class continued to fade he made the smart move of going to the Jim Crockett run NWA and held the tag team titles with Manny Fernandez. As Crockett started to lose money he made another wise business decision and joined the big boys in the WWF. Managed by Bobby Heenan he really capitalized on his playboy image by posing and flexing in the ring like a male stripper and upsetting the crowd with his vanity. He held the Intercontinental Title and had many high profile feuds with the top faces like Roddy Piper and Jake Roberts. Fans were deprived of a match between Rude and Hogan because for some reason Hogan and Vince Mcmahon were opposed to the idea. Rude was built well but still had a smaller frame than the other WWF giant wrestlers. After continued disagreements with Mcmahon and company Rude went to the WCW. Rude was successful holding the WCW Us Title but also had political squabbles with new WCW Head Eric Bischoff. Afetr getting injured Rude filed a lawsuit against WCW. The wrestling workd was quite surprised when Rude turned up in ECW. He initially was a face commentator woith Joey Styles but turned heel and managed Shane Douglas. From there Rude went back to the WWF and pulled a major coup by agreeing to return to WCW despite lingering issues with Eric Bischoff. Rude appeared on both a WWF and WCW show on the same evening because the WWF did'nt have time to edit him out in time due to his quick departure. This certainly burned a major bridge with Vince Mcmahon. While never fully reconciling with Eric Bischoff, Rude did well in WCW as a manager-personality with the NWO. Sadly due to a history of abuse of steroids, pain pills, and probably alcohol Rude joined the fraternity of wrestlers who have died way too young.

these athletes dying before their time cuz of steroid abuse should be a wake up call to those thinking about it.

Another moron who died because of steroids. Never liked him much anyway, why the hell did they have to pull his damn tights down? I hated that.

Rude was a classic one of a kind heel that made everyone in the arena hate him.

One of my favorite 80s WWF heels, only behind Dibiase. The What I'd like to have right now... spiel was funny because the fat, out-of-shape fans as he termed them would always get worked into a frenzy. He was also one of maybe 3 people who got a good match out of Warrior, so he deserves some credit for that.

No wrestler before or since has showed off his ass-ets (so to speak) like Rude. When an opponent grabbed a handful of Rude's tights and pulled 'em down, Rude rarely bothered to pull them back up. He knew what we wanted to see, and he gave it to us. He offered himself as both a tough wrestler and as a sex object who we loved to adore and to see suffer as well. And as another rater pointed out here, "No one had a better look of 'pain' than Rick Rude after he was atomic dropped." And how! He played it to the nosebleed seats, and he offered many fantasies to horny young guys like me.

No one had a better look of "pain" than Rick Rude after he was atomic dropped! :D

Died too young to show us what he could do... all time.

beat the useless warrior twice..cause he had power,skillz and hella mic skillz..all around great ..we miss u...could have done more...injuries suck..boooo

he coud wrestle make u look bad like he did to the warrior and talk on the mic..injuries hurt him.....life killed him...R.I.P....greatest ones of all time

rude was great cause he had style, he made everything look good

ATTITUDE! HE RULED, ONLY GUT TO BEAT THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR TWICE!

dude....the greatest intercontinental champion of all time(he won the freakin pose-down)he probobly spawned the greatest amount of clones....hands down a wrestling icon(never to be forgotten).....well maybe you know the weed

Showed signs of greatness but was more often than not lazy in the ring. Pretty good on the mic and a more natural heel was never born. Discovered because he was a legit arm wrestling champion and was one of the strongest guys in the business to avoid the steroid scurge. He gets a couple of extra points from me for being the only man to appear on Nitro and Raw in the same night exposing the WWF's taping practices which forced them to return to a live format. Died much too young and back injuries had kept him out of the ring for long while at the end.