I loved his initial reaction as a face, when he came down as a masked opponent for Douglas. Seeing him in that ring shows you just how big a man he really was, i recall him punking Douglas by telling him if he knew who he was he'd shit his pants of something along those lines. It was SO obvious who it was to the fans, Douglas sold it well.
He had a handful of manoeuvres but his ring presence was incredible, you knew you were seeing a genuine talent when he wrestled. His reign as US Champ in WCW was brilliant, i thought he'd have gotten the shot against Vader when Simmons was drawn out of the hat.
(on a side note: the closing commentary of that match is amongst the best i've ever heard, JR was on fire!)
Precisely!
Right when Rick said, "It's a new year, Shane Douglas..." the place errupted.
And you're right; for his part, Douglas put both Rude and the angle over BIG TIME.
I always liked and respected Douglas - both his work and as a person.
I remember being a trainee. Shane had no idea who the hell I was, but the fact that I was working backstage meant that I was
somebody, and Douglas never treated me or anyone else like a jabroni...even though most of us were.
But, back to Rude: yes, tremendous presence.
In fact, I've heard stories that when Rude took part in autograph signings, fans would be all over the place in true cluster-fukk-fashion at other tables...but, in Rude's line, everyone was orderly and behaved.