The Ultimate Warrior’s Top Rivalries in His WWE Career

 No.2:  Ravishing Rick Rude

WWE.com

Rick Rude was brought into the WWE about the same time as the Warrior.  He was one of the best heels during his time in wrestling.  The smug look, the million dollar body, and the insults he came up with made you want to go right up to him and punch him in the face.

Rude got himself into some trouble with his previous feud with Jake Roberts – involving “The Snakes” wife into the story.  He got him even more over with the crowd and make him the perfect villain to put up against the WWE’s new superhero and Intercontinental Champion, The Ultimate Warrior.

At the 1989 Royal Rumble Rude challenged the Warrior to a “pose off” – like what you’d see at a body building competition.  Going off crowd reaction – Warrior was winning the challenge and Rude wouldn’t have any of that.

When Warrior turned his back – Bobby Heenan would spray some baby oil into the Warrior’s face and Rude then would hit the Warrior with a flex bar.

That one moment set up their WrestleMania V match for the Intercontinental title.   Warrior would dominate a good portion of the match but Rude stayed in it and again Bobby would earn his name “The Brain”.

The Warrior had Rude on the outside apron and was going to suplex the challenger back into the ring – only to get his legs taken out by Heenan and held down for “The Ravishing One” to score the win.

Rude would hold on to the belt over the spring and into the summer.  He would taunt the Warrior but he always made sure he had Andre The Giant in between the two.

The rematch was set for Summer Slam 1989 – Rude would drop the title back to the Warrior after a returning “Rowdy” Roddy Piper would make an appearance and “moon” Rude causing the Warrior to gain control and nail Rude with his finishers – the over the head press slam and the gorilla splash for the victory.

The feud wouldn’t end after that match – it was just put on hold for a year.  While Rude feuded with Piper and Warrior moved on to his push into the World Title – the two could face off again.  Rude made the challenge to Warrior after WrestleMania VI.

In several “Rocky” like vignettes showing Rude training like a mad man and with a new look of a short hair cut – Rude claimed he was the only man who could beat the Warrior (which on television at the time was true) and he wanted a shot at Summer Slam 1990 for the title.

The match would be held in a steel cage and would be the co-main event along with Hulk Hogan vs. Earthquake. Personally, I didn’t like the match as much as the previous year but it was still a solid main event match.

Heenan did his best to help Rude win – even playing tug-of-war with Warrior at one point trying to get Rude out of the ring. Warrior pulled in Heenan and threw him into the cage for his trouble.

The Warrior would press slam Rude after several closelines and would climb out of the ring.  Rude could only watch as Warrior even did “Ravishing” Rick’s own hip taunt while climbing down for the win.

The two had great chemistry with each other and really had some good encounters.  While there isn’t a lot of televised matches with each other – they did work well together and had a memorable feud.

Next: No.1: Macho Man and King