What were the reasons behind the death of Rick Rude, and what stopped him from wrestling in the ring ?
Rick Rude died of a heart attack, believed to have been brought on by a bad mix of prescription drugs. People have speculated that Rude was attempting to lose weight for a possible in ring comeback, and weight loss drugs mixed tragically with a painkiller he used, but that is all speculation. Rude had broken his neck on May 4, 1994 during a match with Sting in Japan where Rude won the WCW “International” World Title. Rude never wrestled again, and later sued WCW over it. Rude resurfaced in wrestling after a long absence in 1997 with ECW, then moved to the WWF, then WCW. Rude jumped to WCW as part of a settlement he reached with them over his lawsuit. His jump gave Rude an interesting footnote in history, as he appeared on a live Nitro while he simultaneously appeared on a taped Raw. He had shaved his trademark mustache before Nitro, “exposing” the taped Raw.
