WRESTLING MUSEUM: RICK RUDE VS. RICKY STEAMBOAT

There are days. There are days when I watch a mainstream professional wrestling program and come near to tears. "Where are my great matches?" I ask myself. "Why can't I watch a wonderful exhibition every day rather than wait for that occassional long match on free television or once a month on Pay-Per-View?" I wonder. Many of us, myself included, have limited access to the alternatives, and while I persue means in which to remedy that, I'm still left with an empty feeling in my wrestling-starved soul from time to time.

Behold, a remedy.

Now more than ever, I've begun compiling a collection of matches from many years ago. There are hundreds upon hundreds of great bouts I've missed over the years. I could only watch so much in my youth. Watching an excellent match from fifteen years ago is just as satisfying and entertaining and watching something produced last week. Sometimes moreso. To that end, I have created what will soon become a monthy or bi-monthly (I haven't decided yet) addition to my weekly Beauty in Wrestling column.

I call it Wrestling Museum. Matches from over a ten years ago that fans of today should see. A decade is a very long time in wrestling years, as many fans of today started watching wrestling less than ten years ago, if ratings numbers and buyrates are any indication. I will start off slow with the inagural edition of Wrestling Museum and detail a match only about eleven years old.

Join me, good readers, for the first of many Wrestling Museum matches: "Ravishing" Rick Rude vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat in a thirty minute "Iron Man Challenge" at 1992's WCW Beach Blast.

(Warning to readers with slow connections: Graphics-intensive.)

PRE-MATCH

"Ravishing" Rick Rude makes his way to the ring, the announcer proclaims that Paul E. Dangerously, better known today as former ECW owner and current Smackdown on-screen General Manager Paul Heymen, has been barred from ringside. Rude carries his WCW United States Heavyweight Championship belt to the ring, even though the title is not on the line. "Because he loves it!" exclaims Jesse "The Body" Ventura, the heel commentator that night.

Rude's heel heat is obvious, but to keep it up that evening, as was usual of the now late wrestler, he tells the crowd it was "fat and out of shape" and to takes off his robe and shows off his incredible body. Ventura tells Jim Ross, at the time a WCW play-by-play man, "He's talking to you, Ross!" Ventura cracks the audience up all night.

The music changes as Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat makes his way towards the ring, accompanied by the "First Family of WCW," his wife and child. "You got a problem with family values?" asks Ross. "Next thing you know," answers Ventura, "we'll have Dan Quayle out here giving us a lecture." The political jab perhaps a sign of things to come for Jesse Ventura. Steamboat's family waves to the crowd down the aisle and eventually in the ring.

THE MATCH

As soon as his son exits through the ropes, Steamboat charges Rude with a series of punches. Rude is thrown into the ropes and Steamboat lands a gutbuster with some high altitude on his opponent. This sets the pace for much of the thirty minutes. As with many intelligent matches of strong psychology, Steamboat continues to assault the ribs of Rude, thus giving the appearance of trying to wear down a specific part of the body. Steamboat forearms and kicks Rude's sculpted six pack. While not a power wrestler, The Dragon locks down on Rude with a bear hug, and later, with a Boston Crab.

Shortly after Rude breaks the submission hold by reaching the ropes, Steamboat presses the attack and lifts Rick Rude's 250 pound frame up for a verticle suplex but drops him untraditionally forward so Rude lands face-first. A minute later, as Rude recovers, he rolls Steamboat up, pulls the tights, and scores the first fall in the Iron Man Match. Heavy boos ring throughout the arena. "What an upset!" declares Ventura. "Rude gets the first fall even though Steamboat had the advantage." Great out-of-nowhere pin.

There is no break period in this match, unlike the recent Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar Iron Man Match on Smackdown. Rude stays on Steamboat with some heavy knee lifts and quickly nails him with his finisher, the Rude Awakening. For those who have never seen it, the Rude Awakening is a very sharp neckbreaker. Rude goes for the pin but before he covers, he plays to the previous hurt ribs and gives the appearance that the neckbreaker took a lot out of him. Ross informs the audience of this as well to give it that much more legitimacy. Rude pins Steamboat for the second time with twenty-one minutes to go.

Rick Rude painfully makes his way to the top ropes and leaps off to strike the prone Steamboat with his knee. In what today should seem bizarre, Rude is disqualified for performing a move off the top ropes. In WCW at the time, there was a rule against it. The rule was made void later on, much to the delight of cruiserweights. After the announcement, Rude rolls up Steamboat into a small package for the pinfall. After the DQ and quick pin, the score is 3-1 in Rude's favor.

In desperation, Steamboat begins to throw hard punches to Rude's abs. The pained facial expression is priceless. After what Ross calls a "judo chop," just as the crowd believes the momentum was with fan favorite Ricky Steamboat, Rude face plants The Dragon. I love that. The building-up-steam-then-sudden-counter move. It's classic and beautiful when done well.

Rude goes for a Camel Clutch submission. As Steamboat makes his way to the ropes to break the hold, Rude leaps up and crashes down on the back of The Dragon to prevent him from going any further. The submission locked in again, this time Steamboat, from lying on his stomach, uses his position to his advantage and lifts Rude over his head, crashing him down with an Electric Chair manuever. The fans go crazy.

After a series of moves, Rude sets his opponent up for a Tombstone Piledriver, but Steamboat escapes by climbing up Rude and reversing it into a Tombstone position of his own. This move, in 1992, was not as common as it now is eleven years later. Plus, the way Steamboat does it is a little different from the way it was done at Beach Bash that night. Steamboat crawled backwards up Rude's chisled physique. Wonderful reversal. Ross and Ventura put it as they should. Steamboat goes for the cover and wins the fall.

Steamboat superplexes Rude off the top ropes, but because both men were in the high-risk district rather than one like before, it is not up for disqualification. Ross explains why it is a legal move for those of us not too familiar with the exact wording of the rule. When they make it to their feet, both men go for the clothesline and knock each other to the mat at the ten minute remaining mark. After a bridge and a few pin reversals, Steamboat scores a fall with a backslide. With two thirds of the match over, it is tied at 3 - 3.

At seven minutes left, after a series of clothelines, Steamboat begins to shake almost epileptical in his selling of his fatigue. Of course, he must be truly tired, but the way he shakes and convulses to put over his opponent is both great showmanship and sportsmanship. Once both men are on their feet, Rude attempts a Rude Awakening once more, but Steamboat battles tenaciously out of it and performs Rick Rude's finisher on Rude himself. The crowd is ecstatic.

Still at a tie, Rude climbs onto Steamboat's back and latches on with a sleeper. With Rude riding piggyback, Steamboat charges towards the corner and rams Rude's head into the turnbuckle. Great move. Not something I often see as it pertains to sleepers. Ross and Ventura explain the science behind the hold as Steamboat starts to look weary and near faint and stumbles towards the corner. With one minute to go, Ventura remarks "What do you think Steamboat is dreaming about, Ross?"

As the referee checks The Dragon's lifesigns and the seconds tick away, Steamboat lifts his boot onto the second turnbuckle and propells himself, and in effect Rude, backwards. Steamboat gets the pin with half a minute remaining! Rude is frantic and attempts half a dozen different pinning combinations but falls short in the end. Time expires, and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat is the victor.

CONCLUSION

What an excellent match. Ricky Steamboat and Rick Rude put on a hell of a thirty-minute Iron Man Match. The innovative manuevers (not only for its time but even for today) and wonderful psychology of the entire match makes it a true classic. If the exact same match was put on by two of today's most popular athletes, it would no doubt still be Match of the Year Candidate quality. I highly recommend acquiring a video of this match.

So ends the first ever Wrestling Museum edition of Beauty in Wrestling. Fortunately for me, the library of four star matches of years past is very wide. I hope I, in some small way, will inspire my readers to collect tapes of the matches of yesterday. Wrestling's history has so much to offer, especially considering wrestling's present is currently...ugg...Bill Goldberg.

Do not accept mediocrity. Seek out the best.