One MIND-BLOWING Secret For Every WWE SummerSlam

36. 1990 | The WILD Justification For False Advertising

Rick Rude
WWE

You’ll know about the payoff controversy that led to the Ultimate Warrior’s departure from the WWF in 1991. The basic gist is that Warrior threatened to no-show SummerSlam until he was paid the half a million dollars he believed to have rightly earned from WrestleMania 7. Vince paid Warrior, in order to get him in the ring, but promptly fired him afterwards. You might not know that something similar forced Rick Rude out of the door a year prior - or at least, you might not know the bizarre additional details. 

Rude headlined SummerSlam ‘90 with Warrior. It was a damn good match by the standards of the time, but while Rude was built as the man who had handed Warrior his only notable televised loss, the fans saw it as a retread of an Intercontinental title programme. SummerSlam wasn’t a major hit, but Rude felt he had headlined the second biggest show promoted by the biggest company, and deserved more money. Rude was unhappy with his payoff, promptly quit, and never wrestled on pay-per-view for Vince McMahon again.  

Vince knew that Rude had quit and was injured - i.e., there were two very good reasons why he wouldn't appear in house show matches against the Warrior - yet continued to advertise these matches regardless. This further incensed Rude, who believed the WWF was earning money using his name. 

Dave Meltzer reached out to front office executive J.J. Dillon about this, and the response was basically “Rude might change his mind, you never know, so it’s not technically false advertising”. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!