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Bios

Rick Rude

Nickname: Ravishing, Smooth Operator, Sensational, Broadway

Height: 6' 3"

Weight: 251 lbs

From: Robbinsdale, MN

Birthday: Dec 7th

Pro Debut: June 1983

Aliases: Rick Rood, Ricky Rood, Ron Rood, The WCW Halloween Phantom

Feds Worked For: MSW, NWA, WWF, WCW, ECW, Mid-Southern (TN), New Japan (Japan), Continental Wrestling Association (TN)

Finisher: Rude Awakening

Signature Moves: Piledriver, Top-rope kneedrop, delayed backbreaker, figure-four leglock

Career Highlights: -Mid-Southern Champion
-Mid-Southern Tag Team Champion (w/ King Kong Bundy)
-NWA Florida Southern Champion (2x)
-NWA Florida United States Tag Team Champion (w/ Jesse Barr)
-NWA American Champion
-NWA World Tag Team Champion (w/ Manny Fernandez)
-WCCW Television Champion
-WCCW World Champion
-WCW International Champion (3x)
-WCW United States Champion (2x)
-WWF Intercontinental Champion

Affiliates: Curt Hennig, Jimmy Hart, King Kong Bundy, Manny Fernandez, Percival Pringle III, Bobby Heenan, D-Generation X, nWo, The Dingo Warrior, Paul Jones 2nd, Raven Rood, Madusa, Paul E. Dangerously, Mr. Perfect, Jesse Barr, Triple Threat, The Dangerous Alliance

Notable Feuds: Austin Idol, Jerry Lawler, Bruiser Brody, The Von Erichs, The Road Warriors (Hawk & Animal), Chris Adams, Wahoo McDaniel, Paul Orndorff, The Big Bossman, Jake Roberts, Paul Orndorff, Ultimate Warrior, Sting, Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Rock-N-Roll Express, Billy Jack Haynes, King Kong Bundy, Nikita Koloff

Other Facts: -Born Richard Erwin Rood, but legally changed his name to "Ravishing Rick Rude" sometime in the 1990s so he could use that name in whatever promotion he went to.
-Brother of wrestling manager Raven Rood
-Childhood friend of Curt Hennig
-Attended Robbinsdale High School in Robbinsdale, MN with future pro wrestlers Tom Zenk, Brady Boone, Nikita Koloff, Curt Hennig, John Nord, and Barry Darsow
-Worked as a bouncer at a club in Minneapolis with future pro wrestlers Barry Darsow and The Road Warriors when they were discovered
-Sometimes billed from Beverly Hills, CA
-Competed as an international arm wrestler, placing 6th at the World Arm Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas in 1983.
-Was part of a talent trade between Jerry Jarrett and Bill Watts in 1983. Jarrett received Rude, Jim Neidhart, Masao Ito, and Hacksaw Higgins. Watts received The Rock-N-Roll Express (Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson), Terry Taylor, Bobby Eaton, Dennis Condrey, and Jim Cornette.
-Left the NWA while still 1/2 of the NWA World Tag Team Champions. To cover this up, a non-title match with Manny Fernandez vs. The Rock-N-Roll Express was shown on the NWA Saturday night show where the Express win. This was announced to the fans as a title change and Rude was said to have been injured in that match. In truth, he had signed with the WWF.
-At a 1989 WWF house show in Greensboro, NC, a fan sued Rood for slander, based on Rude's traditional entrance of calling the crowd "fat", "out of shape" and various other insults on their appearance. The fan (who describes himself as overweight) was so offended by the comments, that he started to cry and then left to use the restroom and stayed there during the rest of the show. The case was settled out of court, and in future appearances in Greensboro, Rude promised to tone down his introduction to the crowd.
-Got Paul Bearer his interview for a job in WWF. Paul was out of a job in wrestling and was planning on going back to working in the funeral business and told Rude that in a phone call. Rude told him not to make any hasty decisions and a couple of hours later called back with Vince McMahon's personal phone number and told him to make a call. This was a few days before Christmas
-Came up with the name “Rhythm and Blues” for the tag team of The Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine because, according to Rude, “Honky Tonk Man had all the rhythm and Valentine always looked like had the blues because he’s upset all the time.”
-Suffered a neck and back injury in 1994 and stayed out of wrestling until resurfacing in ECW in 1996 as an announcer.
-Left ECW for WWF as an "insurance policy" for Shawn Michaels.
-On November 17, 1997 Rude appeared on WWF's "Monday Night Raw" with a beard, and WCW's "Monday Nitro" with just a mustache. This was possible because "Raw" had been taped 6 days earlier and "Nitro" was live. There is now a standard clause in WWE contracts (unofficially referred to as the "Rick Rude Clause") that prevents this from ever happening again.
-Was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1998, but this was determined to be non-life threatening.
-Former member of The First Family
-Former member of Neidhart's Raiders
-Former member of the Heenan Family (WWF version)
-Former member of the Dangerous Alliance
-Former member of Degeneration X
-Former member of the nWo
-Voted Most Hated Wrestler by the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated in 1992
-Ranked # 26 in the 1991 PWI 500
-Ranked # 4 in the 1992 PWI 500
-Ranked # 8 in the 1993 PWI 500
-Ranked # 13 in the 1994 PWI 500
-Passed away on April 20, 1999 at the age of 41 due to a heart attack. Rude was training for a comeback at the time of his death. The cause of the heart failure may have been an overdose of GHB.
-Buried at Green Lawn Cemetery in Roswell, GA
-Posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017