Rick Rude

Rick Rude
Rude, c. 1988
Birth name	Richard Erwin Rood
Born	(1958-12-07)December 7, 1958[1] St. Peter, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	April 20, 1999(1999-04-20) (aged 40)[1] Alpharetta, Georgia, U.S.
Cause of death	Accidental overdose
Alma mater	Anoka-Ramsey Community College
Spouse(s)	Cheryl Holler ​ ​ (m. 1980; div. 1982)​ Michelle Rood ​ (m. 1988)​
Children	3
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Rick Rude[1] Ricky Rood The WCW Phantom[1]
Billed height	6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[2]
Billed weight	252 lb (114 kg)[2]
Billed from	Robbinsdale, Minnesota[2]
Trained by	Eddie Sharkey[1][3][4]
Debut	1982[3]
Retired	1994[5]

Richard Erwin Rood^[1] (December 7, 1958 – April 20, 1999), better known by his ring name "Ravishing" Rick Rude, was an American professional wrestler who performed for many promotions, including World Championship Wrestling (WCW), World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW).

Rude wrestled from 1982 until his 1994 retirement due to injury, with a final match following in 1997. Among other accolades, he was a four-time world champion, a three-time WCW International World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time WCWA World Heavyweight Champion, a one-time WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion, and a one-time WCW United States Heavyweight Champion. Rude also challenged for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship on pay-per-view cards, competing for the former in the main event of SummerSlam in 1990.^[6] Following his retirement, Rude managed multiple wrestlers.

In late 1997, Rude founded the D-Generation X stable alongside Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Chyna. On November 17 of that year, in the midst of the Monday Night War, he became the only person to appear on the WWF's Raw and WCW's Monday Nitro programs on the same night, as the former was pre-recorded and Rude had left for WCW in the interim. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017.