5 fast-living characters immortalized in pro-wrestling
There are some characters on TV that merge in with the identity of audience through their blue-collared ways and then there are characters who enchant the audience by projecting a larger-than-life persona, often casting them into wishful reverie of pawing the “what ifs” in life. Either way, as long as a WWE character galvanizes the bond between them and the audience, the end justifies the means.
Through various eras of programming we have been privy to a fair share of characters that fit both moulds, but this list entails exclusivity in that we are firmly focusing on the latter; wrestlers who have been garbed in narcissism and are of purposeful excesses. They tempt, tease and goad the audience into jealousy, all the while flaunting their superfluity – and we love them for it.
These larger than life characters whose lives are perennially on fast-forward, have always found welcome in the WWE, and some of them have gone on to leave their indelible handprint on the WWE landscape. The following is a retrospective jaunt, to re-visit 5 such fast-living characters that have been immortalized in WWE lore.
Ravishing Rick Rude
In an era otherwise predominated by a rampant steroid culture and Hulkamania, Ravishing Rick Rude was a top-level heel in the WWE who was notorious for his flaunty shenanigans. Possessing what was recognized by the WWE as the greatest ever physique, Rick Rude’s penchant with his own Greek God-likeness coupled with his disdain for the men of a more mortal frame in the audience, made for classic heel heat.
“Now why don't all you fat, overweight squared-circle sweat-hogs shut your mouths, so I can take off my robe and show all you ladies what a real man looks like. Hit my music!” he would mouth off to the audience as he gyrated his hips and flaunted his chiseled torso. It was a queasy dynamic at times, for the audience didn’t know if to laugh at his self-glorification or lambast him for his obnoxiousness, because you just could not argue with that physique.
One of the more underrated wrestlers, Rick Rude involved himself in memorable feuds with the likes of Jake the Snake Roberts and the Ultimate Warrior. While his run in the WCW was tangibly fraught with more championship gold, Ravishing Rick Rude’s impact in the WWE cannot be ignored for it was in his narcissistic image that wrestlers like Billy Gunn and later on Dolph Ziggler found their inspiration and niche.
Vince McMahon
Vince McMahon’s proclivity towards body-building has been universally known and affirmed for quite a period of time. Now and in his prime, he possessed a physique that could rival that of any heavyweight wrestler and certainly didn’t pass up an opportunity to exhibit it. When he used to appear regularly on television, he was the power-hungry, self-obsessed and ego-maniacal boss who saw to it that his whims, sexual or otherwise, were satiated.
Ranging from the famous strut down the ramp with hands flailing wildly to his blatant affairs with various Divas, Vince McMahon portrayed the “Boss” character who we loved to hate, to perfection. So much so that the event of Stone Cold Steve Austin stomping mud-holes into Vince McMahon served as a primary draw during the Attitude Era. Vince McMahon’s place amongst the top draws in the company is seldom discussed, but the understated role he played in building up Stone Cold’s persona is akin to the bearing Roddy Piper’s roguery had on Hulk Hogan’s popularity.