Arn Anderson On Why WWE's 'Hogan Era' Was Bad Timing For Rick Rude

Arn Anderson believes Rick Rude could have gone further in professional wrestling. He's one of the most notable wrestlers in history to never command the top spot in WWE or WCW, with "The Enforcer" speculating on a recent episode of "ARN" that the timing wasn't right for him in the former company.

"[WWE] used him really well. He was the Intercontinental Champion, which was their setup for their next guy who's gonna be your guy. It just came at a time, I think maybe during the Hogan era, might have prevented Rick from winning [the World Championship]. A lot of guys were standing in line, and Hogan had that long, long run — probably knocked a bunch of guys out of a shot at it."

Hogan's legendary World Championship run lasted from 1984 until 1988, making it one of the longest in WWE history at 1474 days. Rude joined the promotion for the first time in 1987, toward the end of Hogan's reign, and remained there until 1990. The pair wrestled at the Boston Garden arena in 1988, but the bout wasn't televised, and they never got to have a title program against each other.

However, there might have been other reasons why the pair hardly worked together. Ric Flair claims that Hogan thought Rude was reckless and might have believed he wasn't championship material as a result. This opinion reportedly stemmed from an incident that saw Rude beat up The Ultimate Warrior in WWE. At one time, Rude supposedly demanded the top spot in WCW as well, which led to an awkward conversation with Eric Bischoff in a parking lot after the latter was forced to retrieve a championship from the backseat of a vehicle with a visible gun in it.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "ARN" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.