Mid-Week Report
Mid-Week Report
By Bill
- If you haven't already heard, the official WCW website has reported that Rick Rude passed away yesterday (Tuesday) at the age of 41.
I was never fortunate enough to happen to meet Rick Rude, but I did see him wrestle live at least once, and he made The Ultimate Warrior look like a million bucks in that match. And, imho, anybody who can make Ultimate Warrior look like he is wrestling a great match definitely has talent. I also remember him at the Slammy Awards in something like 1987 making like a male stripper, and going all the way down to a g-string.
Arn Anderson said in his book that the pretty-boy look of Rick Rude belied what a genuinely tough guy Rick Rude was. Rick Rude would regularly be in the 24-hour Gold's Gym at 3:00 in the morning working out...and that's dedication. Rick Rude was once in a cage match where he was hanging from the top of the cage on the outside by his knees. He slipped and went straight down over 20 feet on his head. And he came up without a scratch.
My sympathies go out to Rick Rude's family and friends.
- Trivia Question: Much was made over Kevin Nash laying down for Hulk Hogan and handing over the World Heavyweight Title in January. Well, less than a year ago, a wrestler submitted during the pre-match handshake at Bash at the Beach, 1998. Who was that wrestler and who did he submit to? (answer at the end of the report)
- The mailbag:
- DDT Digest's own Wade writes:
I don't know why Aldo was so down on the B-Team. They serve a very useful purpose. Without them, we may never have known the answer to the following question:
"Can you say 'fruit booty' on a G-rated show?"
We owe them a debt of gratitude!
- (Another) Bill writes:
I just had to add something based on your last weeks poll about "Where is Ralphus?". I went to a Saturday Night taping on 4-13-99 in Nampa, Idaho, and after the show when everyone was coming out to tear down the set I saw none other than Ralphus.
So the most accurate answer to your question is "Ralphus is in Nampa, Idaho, talking to fans while the rest of the crew tears down the set."
- Brad M. from Statesboro, GA writes:
New at the WCW concession stands: Fruit Booties and Juvi Juice!
- To all of you who've sent house show reports, link requests, etc...my apologies. I'm really behind and will eventually get caught up. I'm currently working on a way to get the links pages updated more quickly. As for house shows...I will get to them eventually. I promise.
- As you may have noticed, Scott Steiner defended the U.S. Heavyweight Belt on Monday night. Here's a question: What is the combined number of title matches wrestled by the current and last three United States Heavyweight Champions...Scott Steiner, Scott Hall, Roddy Piper, and Bret Hart (in his last reign)?
Including Monday night, three. The other two were the match where Hart lost to Piper and the match where Piper lost to Hall. The period of time covered is well over four months. Hart and Piper never had a successful defense, and Hall never defended it even once.
- The general consensus is that things are definitely getting more interesting in WCW. I would tend to agree. (Well...except for losing Torrie Wilson and keeping David Flair.) One thing everyone has to admit is that things certainly are more unpredictable these days.
I mean, if someone had told you a month and a half ago that in six weeks DDP would be World Heavyweight Champion, Psychosis would be World Cruiserweight Champion, and Misterio and Kidman would be tag champions, you'd have said they were crazier than Norman the Lunatic.
- You know, professional wrestling is slowly being accepted by mainstream America. For better or worse, I've learned to accept it. But I saw something yesterday I never thought I'd see. An ad for Andersen Consulting on the official WCW home page.
Man, talk about strange bedfellows.
- Thanks for all of the positive e-mail about the Bobby Eaton interview. And, even more so, thanks for all of the positive e-mail about Bobby himself. I will be passing along everything you wrote to him.
- Well, even without the news about Rick Rude, without rehashing it all, the news around the U.S. and around the world has really been a bummer for the last few weeks. I figure the best contribution we can make here at DDT Digest is to keep doing what we do. Even if we just allow people to "read the news" for a few minutes and have a laugh or two without hearing something bad, that's something.
However, that being said, the news has been so damn bad, that I thought I'd do something a little special. So, I went through my bookmarks and pulled out a few of my favorite non-wrestling links. Maybe they'll take your mind off the bad news of late.
The Gamera Home Page
The Pacer Page
The Urban Legends Reference Page
- There's a new poll on the main page. (Thanks to Chris D. for sending in that poll.)
- Humperdido!
- Trivia Answer: Chavo Guerrero, Jr. He submitted to Stevie Ray.