Rick Rude to be inducted into 2017 WWE Hall of Fame

The late ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude is to be inducted into the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame.
The late professional wrestler – who passed away in 1999 from heart failure at the age of 40 – will be awarded the honour posthumously, alongside the likes of fellow 2017 inductees Kurt Angle, Beth Phoenix, and Diamond Dallas Page.
Rick will be inducted by his former rival Ricky ‘The Dragon’ Steamboat, who was an inductee himself in 2009 and who dubbed the late star as "an all-round package".
Speaking about Rick’s upcoming induction, Steamboat said: "If you looked at all the boxes you would check to make a main event guy that would go down in history as one of the best, Rude checked all the boxes.
"He was an all-around package. He looked good, he could play the part, he knew what to do. He could take great bumps, feed the baby face when it was time to feed, and he would never run out of gas."
And whilst Steamboat is still working on the details of the speech he will give at the ceremony on March 31 in Orlando, Florida, he said "It will be heartfelt, with a lot of truisms."
Rick rose to prominence within the wrestling community in 1987 when he first signed with WWE and joined Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan’s stable of villains.
The star was known for his chiselled physique, and would famously talk down to the men in the audience and flirt with the women.
Steamboat told Bleacher Report of Rick’s actions: "Even as arrogant and womanising as he was, the women thought to themselves, ‘Oh, this guy’s a real hunk.’ But Rude could diminish all that with what he’d say or a gesture. There were just a few guys in the business who had that ability and knew how to do it."
Rick’s in-ring career came to an end in 1992 after he suffered a back injury, and moved into non-physical roles such as commentating.
He was also involved with both the D-Generation X and New World Order wrestling stables and after leaving WWE in favour of rivals WCW in the battle for ratings in 1997, ended up appearing on the taped ‘Raw’ and the live ‘Nitro’ on the same night.
Rick Rude will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 31 2017.