10 Weirdest Wrestling Debuts Ever
6. Rick Rude
More involuntarily corny WCW b*llocks here, as Rick Rude, the coolest and most handsome literal your-motherf*cker to ever grace pro wrestling returned to WCW under a lame Halloween mask.
Re-debuting as the 'Halloween Phantom', making his way to the ring to the strains of cheesy organ music, hailing from 'Parts Unknown', jfc, Rude smashed through Tom Zenk. Announced as the 'WCW Halloween Havoc Phantom', with the entrance graphic reading just 'WCW Phantom', Rude's magnificent body was covered up entirely by a black body suit. Obviously, he wasn't promoted as Rude, which must have hurt the buy rate somewhat. This is a company that had introduced us to the Black Scorpion the year prior; the dwindling audience didn't have much cause to suspect there was a nationally famous pro wrestler under that gimmick.
"Can he absorb a blow or what?" asked Tony Schiavone, and of course he could. This was Rick Rude. He absorbed blows every night of his life. And yet, here he was, a shredded sexy badass, performing under the guise of an Andrew Lloyd Webber lead.
"What a coup!" said Jim Ross. No sh*t. Promote in advance and try not to ruin that coup, you idiots!