On July 15, 1987, Rude made his World Wrestling Federation (WWF) debut as the newest member of the Bobby Heenan Family on Superstars Of Wrestling.
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Richard Erwin Rood a.k.a “Ravishing” Rick Rude was born on December 7, 1958. He was an American professional wrestler who competed for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), World Wrestling Federation (WWF now WWE), and Extreme Championship Wrestling, among others (ECW). Richard Clyde Rood and Sally Jean Thompson raised Rude in St. Peter, Minnesota. Tom Zenk, Brady Boone, Nikita Koloff, Curt Hennig, John Nord, and Barry Darsow, all of whom went on to become professional wrestlers, were his classmates at Robbinsdale High School in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. Curt Hennig, a boyhood buddy, was especially close to him.
Rude wrestled from 1982 to 1994, when he retired due to injuries, with one last match in 1997. He was a four-time world champion, three-time WCW International World Heavyweight Champion, one-time WCWA World Heavyweight Champion, one-time WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion, and the one-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion, among many more achievements. Rude has competed on pay-per-view for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the latter in the main event at SummerSlam in 1990. Rude continued to manage wrestlers after his retirement.
Rude, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Chyna formed the D-Generation X stable in late 1997. He became the first individual to appear on both the WWF’s Raw and WCW’s Monday Nitro shows on the same night on November 17 of that year, during the Monday Night Wars, since the former was pre-recorded and Rude had left for WCW in the interim. In 2017, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame after his death.
Rude was found unresponsive by his wife on the morning of April 20, 1999, and died of heart failure at the age of 40. He died of an overdose of “mixed pharmaceuticals,” according to an autopsy report. Rude was preparing to return to the ring at the time of his death. He may have died as a result of the effects of gamma-hydroxybutyrate, a narcolepsy preventive medicine. Rick Rude was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 6, 2017, according to WWE. Rude was inducted by Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. On his behalf, Michelle, Merissa, and Richard Jr. accepted.
| Name | Richard Erwin Rood |
| DOB | 7 December 1958 – 20 April 1999, 40 years |
| Height | 191 cm |
| Weight | 114 kg |
| Occupation | Professional wrestler, Actor |
| Professional Debut | 1982 |
| Wife | Michelle Rood |
| Professional Name | “Ravishing” Rick Rude |
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On July 15, 1987, Rude made his World Wrestling Federation (WWF) debut as the newest member of the Bobby Heenan Family on Superstars Of Wrestling. His first WWF rivalry was with Heenan’s former muscle-bound charge “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff, and he subsequently challenged Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in the Boston Garden on January 9, 1988, before beginning one of his most renowned feuds with Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Rude had a gimmick in which he would remove his robe before the match and criticise the guys in the audience from their hometowns, and then kiss a lady Heenan chose from the audience after each victory.
Rude’s second major rivalry was with The Ultimate Warrior, which started in January 1989 at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view and culminated with Rude hitting Warrior with a metal posture bar. Rude won the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship from The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania V with the aid of Heenan, only to lose it to Warrior at SummerSlam the following year, owing in part to intervention from “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Feud between Rude and The Ultimate Warrior continued but now for World Championship in which The Ultimate Warrior successfully retained his championship.
At the Survivor Series, Rude was supposed to be part of a team named the Natural Disasters, which would pit Earthquake, Dino Bravo, and The Barbarian against Hulk Hogan and Boss Man’s squad, but he was replaced by Haku after Jack Tunney suspended him indefinitely. Rude’s words about the Boss Man were the cause for his suspension, according to Tunney, and his manager Bobby Heenan was forced to battle the Boss Man in his stead. Rude really left the WWF after a disagreement with owner Vince McMahon.
Rude returned to the WWF on August 11, 1997, as the “insurance policy” for the trio that would later be known as D-Generation X (DX) (Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Chyna). Rick never competed while a member of DX, although he did sit ringside for the group’s matches. Rude quit the WWF again a few days after the Montreal Screwjob at Survivor Series. According to Bret Hart, Rude lingered in the locker room for Bret’s post-match argument with Vince McMahon and afterward contacted Eric Bischoff to inform him that what had transpired was true. Rude was not employed by the WWF on a full-time basis and instead worked on a “pay-per-appearance” basis. Because of his rage over the Montreal Screwjob, Rude was able to reach an agreement with Bischoff and WCW.
Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2017)
Rick Rude’s wife was Michelle Rood. She was his second wife. They got married in 1988 and were together till his death. Rood married his first wife Cheryl Holler, his love interest, in 1976. In 1982, the couple divorced. Richard Jr., Merissa, and Colton are the children of Michelle and Rick. Colton, his younger son, died in a motorbike accident in Rome, Georgia, on September 3, 2016, at the age of 19. Despite his “Ravishing One” reputation, Bret Hart has revealed that Rude was a loving family man who never removed his wedding band during matches, instead covering it with tape.
