Ravishing Recollections
Rick Rude Remembered By Rick Martel, Bret Hart, Kevin Nash and More
#PWHS #StorytimeOnSunday #SOS #Article #WGD #RavishingRecollections #RickRude
Paul Heyman
"A great mind for the business. A man of few words..he simplified the situation and articulated his answer perfectly.
He'd say, 'I see it very simple: Black hat, white hat. What about it don't you see?"
And that was it; there's a good guy, there's a bad guy; the bad guy has to have enough heat that a credible good guy comes along to kick his ass and the people pay to see it."
Percy Pringle III (Paul Bearer)
"I first met Rick when I became his manager in 1985 in the Championship Wrestling From Florida territory. We hit it off immediately both in and out of the ring.
He was a fantastic athlete, and a wonderful friend and family man."
B Brian Blair
“Rick Rude was a tremendous worker, even underrated. He was a natural heel. He was very intelligent in some ways. He could keep conversations with people on the street or with kings. The guy had a command with psychology and words. I loved working with Rick Rude...”
Eddie Sharkey (trainer)
"You can talk about this and that guy being a great shooter...but this guy kicked more ass than any of them. People didn't realize how tough this guy was. He'd slap guys with an open hand and it looked like their head exploded..."
Bad News Brown
"He was a really good guy, I liked him. He was a hell of a talent, a hell of a worker, and a good talker.
I didn't like driving during the day, so I said, 'You drive during the day, I'll drive at night.’ He said okay, but I'd end up having to do all the driving anyway…he was one of these guys that as soon as he got in the car he'd fall asleep on you..." (Laughs)
Rick Martel
"What a great guy. He gave so much to wrestling. He was in there, and never held back a thing. He always was 100%. I liked his sense of humor...it was always funny the way he looked at life.
Being on the road, we always had frustrating situations with travelling and rental cars. He would always turn it around into a joke, put some humor into it. So that's why I liked to be around him. He was a happy-go-lucky guy..."
Jacques Rougeau Jr.
"I always found Rude easy to get along with. He was a good guy in the dressing room. Never looked for trouble. Always did his own thing. I got along perfectly with him..."
Kevin Nash
“Rick Rude took me under his wing like a father and never did anything but nurture me and love me and take care of me. And when he died...I mean, a part of me left.
I was in a parking lot in Macon, Georgia and some marks surround the car...It was me, Rick Rude, Danny Spivey and someone else.
Everybody in that car was a man who could hold his own. Before Spivey and I could get out of the car, Rude dropped three guys...”
Ultimate Warrior
"I liked Rick. [Our run together] was a good experience. Because Rick was a professional.
He had more experience and knowledge than I did...but he didn't use it to take advantage - he used it to build a match and make a character and make you understand what you should do.
Back then, throughout the company there was an overall optimism about working and being on the road and having the opportunity to perform in front of people and be your character...and I remember that about Rick.
I mean, it wasn't [always] a drag to be in the business...people got tired about the road travel and the schedule and being away from home and stuff, but for the most part, when you got to the arena and it was time to do the match and the show was going on, everybody was optimistic. It was exciting and energizing to go to the ring and perform.
Rick was like that.
He was meticulous...he just wanted to make the match work..."
Bret Hart
"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 flights 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 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 sidearm 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 to say he was there, and told him what had 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."
"A great mind for the business. A man of few words..he simplified the situation and articulated his answer perfectly.
He'd say, 'I see it very simple: Black hat, white hat. What about it don't you see?"
And that was it; there's a good guy, there's a bad guy; the bad guy has to have enough heat that a credible good guy comes along to kick his ass and the people pay to see it."
Percy Pringle III (Paul Bearer)
"I first met Rick when I became his manager in 1985 in the Championship Wrestling From Florida territory. We hit it off immediately both in and out of the ring.
He was a fantastic athlete, and a wonderful friend and family man."
B Brian Blair
“Rick Rude was a tremendous worker, even underrated. He was a natural heel. He was very intelligent in some ways. He could keep conversations with people on the street or with kings. The guy had a command with psychology and words. I loved working with Rick Rude...”
Eddie Sharkey (trainer)
"You can talk about this and that guy being a great shooter...but this guy kicked more ass than any of them. People didn't realize how tough this guy was. He'd slap guys with an open hand and it looked like their head exploded..."
Bad News Brown
"He was a really good guy, I liked him. He was a hell of a talent, a hell of a worker, and a good talker.
I didn't like driving during the day, so I said, 'You drive during the day, I'll drive at night.’ He said okay, but I'd end up having to do all the driving anyway…he was one of these guys that as soon as he got in the car he'd fall asleep on you..." (Laughs)
Rick Martel
"What a great guy. He gave so much to wrestling. He was in there, and never held back a thing. He always was 100%. I liked his sense of humor...it was always funny the way he looked at life.
Being on the road, we always had frustrating situations with travelling and rental cars. He would always turn it around into a joke, put some humor into it. So that's why I liked to be around him. He was a happy-go-lucky guy..."
Jacques Rougeau Jr.
"I always found Rude easy to get along with. He was a good guy in the dressing room. Never looked for trouble. Always did his own thing. I got along perfectly with him..."
Kevin Nash
“Rick Rude took me under his wing like a father and never did anything but nurture me and love me and take care of me. And when he died...I mean, a part of me left.
I was in a parking lot in Macon, Georgia and some marks surround the car...It was me, Rick Rude, Danny Spivey and someone else.
Everybody in that car was a man who could hold his own. Before Spivey and I could get out of the car, Rude dropped three guys...”
Ultimate Warrior
"I liked Rick. [Our run together] was a good experience. Because Rick was a professional.
He had more experience and knowledge than I did...but he didn't use it to take advantage - he used it to build a match and make a character and make you understand what you should do.
Back then, throughout the company there was an overall optimism about working and being on the road and having the opportunity to perform in front of people and be your character...and I remember that about Rick.
I mean, it wasn't [always] a drag to be in the business...people got tired about the road travel and the schedule and being away from home and stuff, but for the most part, when you got to the arena and it was time to do the match and the show was going on, everybody was optimistic. It was exciting and energizing to go to the ring and perform.
Rick was like that.
He was meticulous...he just wanted to make the match work..."
Bret Hart
"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 flights 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 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 sidearm 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 to say he was there, and told him what had 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."
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
#StorytimeOnSunday - Ravishing Recollections: Chapter One.
Author: Matt Pender (of Wrestling's Glory Days).
Published: May 3, 2018.
Article: #194.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
#StorytimeOnSunday - Ravishing Recollections: Chapter One.
Author: Matt Pender (of Wrestling's Glory Days).
Published: May 3, 2018.
Article: #194.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Other articles by Matt Pender can be Read Here.