Posted June 7Jun 7 comment_6030939 Rick Rude vs. Jake Roberts (Philly 5/21/88) - Jake comes in and taps Rude on the shoulder and immediately begins the attack. Rude regroiups and he comes back with strikes of his own. Rude barely escapes a DDT. Rude distracts Jake by taking Damian and dropping him in the aisle. Jake retrieves and when he comes in, Rude takes over. Genius. Rude goes to the chin lock. It doesn’t last as long as the Mania match but its such a horrible crutch to fall back on. They are more active but I am having Mania IV PTSD. When the chinlock ends, really hot action for the last several minutes. Rude gets crotched on the top rope to a huge pop. Jake punching Rude followed by the short-arm clothesline. The ref gets in the way of the DDT and that was dumb. Rude has had enough and walks away but Jake chases him and drags him back but Rude reverses and rams him into the post. Great posing pin by Rude reversed by Jake for a roll up three. AWESOME ENDING. Rude is pissed but not so much that he can’t still pose after throwing Jake out. If this happened at Mania, people would say it was a great Mania moment. SOLID NOMINATION.
June 7Jun 7 comment_6030944 Rick Rude vs. Jake Roberts (Philly 5/21/88) Jake jumps Rude from behind to start. Rude bumps around for a bit. Jake teases the DDT & Rude bails. They find a clever way for Rude to get his heat. Rude steals Damien from the outside which distracts Jake allowing Rude to take over. Rude’s heat sucks though. There’s a constant head lock. He just keeps going back to it. I do like Rude’s character work throughout such as kissing the camera & gyrating. Funny. Jake crotches Rude on the top rope which sets up the comeback. Rude always sells crotch spots great. Rude tries to bail again while getting his ass kicked & Jake brings him back to the ring. Cool finish with Rude swiveling his hips over Jake & sitting on his neck only for Jake to counter into a sunset flip pin for the fall. Rude attacks Jake in the post-match but meets Damien for his troubles. Rude’s heat is so boring. This is a great feud, but I’ve never heard anyone talk about the matches measuring up to the angles. Hopefully, something comes up. I'm going no on this one.
