Rick Rude Deceased

Tuesday, 20th April, 1999. This date marks the death of one of wrestling's greatest all-time stars, Ravishing Rick Rude. It is reported that Rick died of a heart problem, possibly some type of heart attack.

Rick, real name Richard Rood, first turned pro wrestler in 1987. He only won one title in his time with the WWF, the Intercontinental Title. But he won that title with a great victory, because on that day he defeated the Ultimate Warrior, one of the very few men who ever did. Although Rick lost the title to Warrior again some months later, he put up on of the best matches of his time. Indeed many of Rick Rude's matches were amazing to watch, he always sought to thrill the crowd, even as a heel. In his prime he was considered the best worker in the business. Rick moved on to WCW, where he continued to have some success, until a neck injury in a match with Sting in Japan almost ruined his wrestling career. A couple of years later, Rick surfaced in ECW, the hardcore extremist wrestling federation. After a short but not dazzlingly succesful stint here, he once again went to Titan land to become the "Insurance Policy" for Shawn Michaels and the original D-Generation X. Rick soon jumped ship back to WCW however, as he and Vince McMahon just could not get along. Rick will be remembered as the only man to appear on both WWF Raw and WCW Nitro on the same night, as he had filmed the taped edition of Raw a week before the live Nitro. In WCW he managed long-time personal friend Curt Hennig, formerly Mr Perfect in the WWF. Health problems continued to side-track Rick, with a testicular cancer scare at the end of last year being the latest. In recent months he was able to do colour commentary on WCW's Backstage Blast internet show.

My thoughts and prayers are with the family, and friends, of Richard Rood, remembered by his many fans as Ravishing Rick Rude.