One of the parts to WrestleMania weekend is the Hall of Fame induction ceremony that happens the night before. The 2017 Class to be inducted will include Diamond Dallas Page, Beth Phoenix, Teddy Long, the Rock and Roll Express, and will be headlined by Kurt Angle. Well, you can now add a new person to that class and one that rightfully deserves to be called a Hall of Famer, Ravishing Rick Rude.
[Jon]
First, it was reported by Bleacher Report and later confirmed by the WWE, that Ravishing Rick Rude will be an inductee into the 2017 Hall of Fame class. It was also reported that Rick Rude will be inducted by his long-time rival, Ricky Steamboat. Rick Rude was one of the more charismatic wrestlers during his time. He was also one of the top heels in the WWF during the late 1980’s. He ended up wrestling for many promotions such as WCW, WWF, and ECW during his run from 1982-1994.
During his wrestling career, he would end up holding the World Championship four times with three of them being with the WCW International Championship and the WCWA World Title. He would also hold the WWF Intercontinental title and the WCW United States Champion. It should also be worth noting that he challenged for the WWF Championship and the NWA Championship on pay-per-views.
Also, he would end up becoming one of the co-founders of the legendary stable known as Degeneration-X, along with Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Chyna who were apart of the original group. The rest of DX would not join the stable until 1998. Rick Rude also had a brief run in the NWO towards the end of his wrestling career, which is also something that has never been done. Also, it should be worth noting that Rick Rude is one of the only wrestlers to have appeared on both WCW Nitro and WWF Raw.
While Rick Rude was not able to break into the main event scene at the time, he was still one of the better mid-carders in wrestling. In regards to Ricky Steamboat being the one to induct Rude into the Hall of Fame, I feel that is the right move as they did have many legendary battles. However, the most remembered match between the two was at WCW Beach Blast 1992 where they went on to have a 30-minute iron man match.
The WWE Hall of Fame happens on April 1, 2017, as Kurt Angle, Teddy Long, Rick Rude, Diamond Dallas Page, and others will be getting the accolades that they deserve.