01/07/2026
Not gonna lie I find it funny and great your suppose to live the gimmick in public! And this isn't just public its a television show meant to get you and the promotion over. Plus guess what he got the response he was looking for too. Man was a legend
Ravishing Rick Rude is known for living his gimmick, but this classic segment on “Regis and Kathie Lee” didn’t earn him a fan in Kathie Lee Gifford. In her autobiography, Gifford expressed her general disdain for the “sleazy” nature of some wrestlers’ gimmicks and describes Rude’s “Rude Awakening” segment as a “pathetic spectacle” where he kisses women until they feign fainting. During his appearance on the show, Rude performed his “awakening” for a woman in the audience and then dropped his robe to reveal Lycra tights with Gifford’s face painted on his crotch and Philbin’s face on his buttocks. Gifford said she was horrified by this unscripted act, covering her face and fleeing the set. She considered it the “worst breach of taste in the show’s history.”
