The first name to head into the WWE Hall of Fame class this year came out on Wednesday, when it was reported that “Diamond” Dallas Page will be enshrined in Orlando during WrestleMania weekend. Now it looks like these names might come fast and furious, as we already have a second inductee’s name flying around.
PWInsider Elite reports that WWE officials have decided to induct “Ravishing” Rick Rude this year, and it’s one of those names where you smack yourself in the forehead and say, “Well of course, HE should be in! He’s not in already?! That’s wild!” If you watched pro wrestling at all in the ’80s or ’90s … regardless of whether you watched WWE or WCW … you likely have fond memories of hating Rude’s guts. His name and his trademark hip swivel managed to permeate the membrane between pro wrestling fandom and the rest of the world and make it into the cultural zeitgeist, so it’s about damn time that his legacy gets its day in the sun.
Amazingly, Rude was only in WWF from 1987 to 1990, then jumped to WCW in 1991. His lone title in WWE was one reign as Intercontinental Champion, but he held the WCW United States Championship and was a three-time holder of the short-lived WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. He retired due to injuries in 1994, but in 1997 popped up in ECW, WWE and WCW as an enforcer for various factions. Rude died of medication overdose in 1999 at the age of 40.
I have a whole bevy of amazing Rick Rude memories, and you likely do, too. From spray-painting Jake Roberts’ wife’s face onto the crotch of his tights, to having a posedown with Ultimate Warrior at the 1989 Royal Rumble, to his main event steel cage match at SummerSlam, and on and on. I couldn’t be happier about this one.
