On a recent edition of his “The ARN Show” podcast, Arn Anderson discussed Rick Rude’s impact on the wrestling industry, the advice he used to give to young wrestlers back in the day, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On why Rick Rude was so impactful in his presentation: “I guess just because he had such a firm grasp on the character. And I think he was respected by the boys as being, you know, a no-nonsense, tough sumb**ch. And when you’re respected within that inner circle, it will permeate out to the fans. If the guys, I mean, ask any wrestling fan today who’s the toughest guy in the business, they’re going to go Haku, or some may say Lesnar, but they’ll be right on both counts, you know? Who knows? Rude just had a firm grasp on the pacing of his work. He looked strong as hell in the gym. It wasn’t just beach muscles that the guy had. I’ve seen him very strong in the gym, and he was a tough, son of a b**ch.”
On what he would tell younger wrestlers to watch for when looking at what Rick Rude did special: “He kept it slowed down to where everything was, I mean, I’m sure you could picture it in your head. How much did he get out of having a guy hit him with a reverse-ass bump? You know what I’m talking about. Drop a guy down on your knee, right on his private areas. Yeah, he would get — I think that was the proper terminology, but he would sell it for a minute. And his whole thing from the sexuality that, you know, the women loved him. It was the guys that were pissed at him. I don’t know, I don’t think it drew any more money just because if you really looked at the way Rick looked at the women who he brought out, you know, it wasn’t that he had no feelings.”
