Prime Rude

I wrote off Kevin Von Erich as a coincidence, a fluke. So it just so happens this pro wrestler is the spitting image of Michelangelo's David, down to the contrapposto in the ring corner. But when Rick Rude peaked in the middle of the Reagan years, I had the distinct feeling my gay brothers and I had been targeted. I was well out of the closet by then, which might have affected the change in my perspective. There he was - hairy chested with a clone mustache, torso as taut and trim as Robert Conrad's (a fixation in my boyhood), buns as firm yet bouncy as Wham-O Super Balls, tighty-tight tights, and, oh my! those shoulders and lats. On top of his appearance (he even carried off the mullet look), he was a compound of tough and narcissistic - the perfection of heel beauty. Nobody tucked himself into a side headlock as snugly as Rude did. Nobody took a punch to the midsection more feelingly. And whereas the sweat-drenched bodies of Arn Anderson and Buzz Sawyer had earlier been sources of perplexing tingles, Rude's synthesis of sweaty and buff was a eureka moment in my life.

Matches:

1. Rick Rude vs Brian Blair, 13 March 1985 (CWF)

2. Rick Rude vs Brian Blair, 10 April 1985 (CWF)

3. Interview with Gordon Solie, 19 October 1985 (CWF)

4-6. Rick Rude vs Jerry Allen, 21 February 1986 (WCWA)

7-10. Rick Rude vs Gentleman Chris Adams, 1 September 1986 (WCWA)