NEWS: Real Reason Rick Rude Left the WWE for WCW

March 12, 2017

NEWS: Real Reason Rick Rude Left the WWE for WCW

NEWS: It has long been rumored that newly inducted WWE Hall of Famer, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, left the WWE for WCW due specifically to the Montreal Screwjob, a now infamous real-life wrestling angle where Bret Hart was "screwed" out of his Title by Vince McMahon, Earl Hebner, and Shawn Michaels. Then WCW President, Erich Bischoff, confirmed this long-time rumor on his own podcast,

"I was at home. I wasn’t watching the PPV. The Montreal PPV. I had no idea what was really going on. One of the first phone calls that I got, I remember specifically being on my couch in Atlanta with my kids watching television, the phone rang and I picked it up and it was Rick Rude. Rick Rude, from what I remember, don’t quote me verbatim, but Rick basically was in the room when he saw the incident go down with Bret. He described to me how Bret knocked out Vince McMahon. Rick was so pissed off over the whole Montreal Screwjob incident that he picked up the phone and basically said, ‘I’ll be there tomorrow morning if you want to use me.’ That’s how upset he was. Yeah, it was clearly motivated by what Rick saw go down in Montreal."

Once Rude arrived in WCW, he promptly joined the NWO and managed his long-time friend, Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig. Rude stayed in WCW until 1999 and then passed away on April 20th of the same year.