WWE: Top 10 Superstars To Never Be World Champion
By Tim Sherry
credit: wwe.com
9. “Ravishing”Rick Rude
Based on the fact that the “Ravishing” one only spent three years in the WWE, he doesn’t have massive numbers like the aforementioned Kingston. But from 1987 until 1990, Rude was one of the very best heels in the company. A tremendous in-ring worker and natural villain, he joined Bobby Heenan’s “Heenan Family” stable were he immediately found success by way of a heated feud with Jake Roberts. Rude parlayed that success with the biggest win of his career, when he took the Intercontinental Title from The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania V. He carried that strap until the following August, when he lost the title back to Warrior at SummerSlam. Rude has since been highly credited with progression of The Warrior, as he was one of the few that taught him how to work
But Rude wasn’t done there. When the Warrior won the WWF Championship from Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania VI, he quickly planted himself in the main event scene, hell bent on pulling off the same feat on his foe that he had the year before, but this time for the company’s top title. Reigniting the magic they produced in the past, Rude and Warrior main evented the 1990 SummerSlam in a steel cage. And although the match didn’t live up to it’s lofty standards, it was still the biggest stage in the company.
Rude left the WWE shortly after that match and headed for the WCW where he would find the biggest successes of his career. Over the next four years, he would win a United States championship and then finally become a world title-holder, capturing the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship three times before an in-ring accident resulting in a neck injury ended his career. So maybe Rude doesn’t have the WWE resume as the rest of this list, but he needs to be included based on talent and what he meant to the company who at the time needed someone to help carry their top star. Rude died tragically at the age of 40, but he will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the true legends of the sport and as such, was inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame this past year.