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Worst in the World: Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV

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WrestleMania IV; One of the biggest clusterf*cks in WWE history. After the infamous "Two Hebner's" incident went down on The Main Event, where Andre the Giant pinned Hulk Hogan to win the WWF Championship with the help of an imposter referee Earl Hebner, trading places with his brother Dave. Andre then sold the title to Ted Dibiase, only for president Jack Tunney to declare the sale invalid and make the title vacant. The new champion would be crowned in a 14-man tournament held entirely at WrestleMania IV featuring some of the biggest names in the WWF. Hogan. Savage. Andre. Dibiase...Dino Bravo...Unfortunately, this made the card go especially long, as the fans had to sit through 16 matches in about 3 and a half hours. And because of that, the majority of the matches went very quick, with the main event and tournament final not even making it past nine and a half minutes. One of those matches in the tournament was a first round match-up between Jake Roberts and Rick Rude. Both are good workers and should be able to put on a watchable match. Is Dave Meltzer over exaggerating by giving this minus two stars? Let's get into this.
The two lock up before Rude shoves Roberts into the corner and poses. Another lock-up before Roberts throws Rude to the canvas face-first. Rude recovers and body slams Roberts twice, only for Roberts to reverse the third attempt and hit two of his own. Rude crawls to the corner, only to realize he is in the corner with Damien the Snake in it and springs up. This allows Roberts to quickly lock in a wristlock. So far this has been a good match.
Roberts continues to work over Rude with a wristlock as Rude punches him to the ground. Roberts gets knocked down, but keeps the wristlock in and brings Rude down with him. Rude gets back and beats Roberts down in the corner before the referee pulls him off. Rude goes back to the attack, only to take a second rope short knee strike. Roberts goes for the DDT, but Rude escapes and rolls out of the ring. Rude returns to the ring and Roberts locks in another wristlock. Rude fights out and after a criss-cross and a drop down, Roberts body slams Rude. Roberts goes for a knee strike, but Rude ducks out and knocks him down. Either this match gets really bad later in the match, or Meltzer is out of his mind to give this match a worse rating than John Cena vs John Laurinaitis.
Rude clotheslines Roberts back to the ground and locks in a headlock. Roberts tries to fight out, but Rude keeps him grounded. Bobby Heenan distracts the referee so Rude can choke Roberts. Roberts escapes the headlock with an arm drag, only to take a second rope axe handle from Rude. Rude clotheslines Roberts down again before locking in another headlock.. Roberts escapes again, but Rude is able to lift him up and send him back down. Rude follows that up with a diving fist drop for a near fall.
Rude locks in yet another headlock. Roberts is able to hit a side suplex, but Rude manages to keep the headlock on. Roberts almost falls out of the ring randomly before Rude starts hammering away on him and locking in another headlock. The referee does the three arm drops spot, but Roberts keeps his hand up on the third drop. Roberts refuses to submit before fighting out and hitting a jawbreaker on Rude. Roberts punches away on Rude before hitting a back body drop. Roberts follows it up with a short-arm clothesline and calls for the DDT. Roberts sets it up, but Rude forces him back into the corner.
Rude Irish whips Roberts to the other corner, but Roberts catches him with a knee up and hits a gutbuster. Roberts locks in a headlock, only for Rude to hit a side suplex out of it. Both men go down after a double clothesline spot. Over in the corner, Rude pulls off a double leg takedown and pins Roberts with his foot on the ropes, only for the time limit to expire and end the match in a draw. After the match, Roberts grabs Damien and chases Rude & Heenan off.

The Verdict

I'm sorry, but what was Meltzer thinking? This match was by no means minus two stars. I'd even say it shouldn't even be below zero. Sure, it drags at points, but it's still better than every match I've seen for this series. 

Rankings (Best to Worst)

  1. Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts-WrestleMania IV
  2. Too Much vs Al Snow & Head-King of the Ring 1998
  3. Vampiro vs Sting-Great American Bash 2000
  4. T&A vs Head Cheese-WrestleMania 2000
  5. Triple H vs Sgt. Slaughter-D-Generation X: In Your House
  6. Konnan vs One Man Gang-SuperBrawl VI
  7. Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules-WrestleMania IV
  8. Rick Rude vs Hawk-Clash of the Champions XXV
  9. Shelton Benjamin vs Viscera-New Year's Revolution 2006
  10. Steve McMichael vs Reggie White-Slamboree 1997
  11. The Chamber of Horrors-Halloween Havoc 1991
  12. The Natural Disasters vs Money Inc.-WrestleMania VIII
  13. Ivan Koloff vs Paul Jones-Clash of the Champions IV
  14. ODB, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi vs The Kongtourage-Genesis 2009
  15. Ivory vs Tori-SummerSlam 1999
  16. Nikita Koloff vs Bobby Eaton-Bunkhouse Stampede
  17. Alex Wright vs Steve McMichael-Halloween Havoc 1997
  18. Total Divas vs Other Divas-Survivor Series 2013
  19. The Oddities vs Kaientai-SummerSlam 1998
  20. Hulk Hogan vs Sid Justice-WrestleMania VIII
  21. Paul Ellering vs Teddy Long-Capital Combat
  22. Dusty Rhodes vs Big Boss Man-Saturday Night's Main Event (10/31/1989)
  23. Tyson Tomko vs Stevie Richards-Unforgiven 2004
  24. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Hog Wild
  25. Hollywood Hogan vs The Giant-Souled Out 1997
  26. Dustin Rhodes & King Kong vs Awesome Kong & The Equalizer-Battlebowl
  27. Finlay & Little Bastard vs The Boogeyman & Little Boogeyman-No Way Out 2007
  28. Jake Roberts vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania V
  29. Yokozuna vs King Mabel-In Your House 4
  30. Sting & Hawk vs Meng & Kurasawa-Clash of the Champions XXXI
  31. Hulk Hogan vs Randy Savage-Uncensored 1998
  32. Al Snow vs Big Boss Man-Unforgiven 1999
  33. Mickie James vs Ashley-Royal Rumble 2006
  34. Christy Hemme vs Big Fat Oily Guy-Against All Odds 2007
  35. Team WCW vs nWo Wolfpac vs nWo Hollywood-Fall Brawl 1998
  36. Vampiro vs Oklahoma-Starrcade 1999
  37. Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant-WrestleMania III
  38. Van Hammer vs Terrance Taylor-Clash of the Champions XVI
  39. Junkyard Dog vs Moondog Spot-Wrestling Classic
  40. Hiroshi Wajima vs Tom Magee-All Japan Pro Wrestling 1988
  41. Jim Duggan vs Big Boss Man-Royal Rumble 1990
  42. Meng vs Jim Duggan-Uncensored 1995
  43. Jim Steele vs The Equalizer-SuperBrawl IV
  44. Edge vs Triple H vs Vladimir Kozlov-Survivor Series 2008
  45. Kevin Sullivan vs Dave Sullivan-SuperBrawl V
  46. Steve McMichael vs Brian Adams-Road Wild 1998
  47. Scott Hall vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl IX
  48. PN News & Bobby Eaton vs Steve Austin & Terrance Taylor-Great American Bash 1991
  49. Scott Steiner vs Sid Vicious vs Jeff Jarrett vs Road Warrior Animal-Sin
  50. Hollywood Hogan vs Roddy Piper-SuperBrawl 1997
  51. Batista vs The Great Khali-SummerSlam 2007
  52.  Sable vs Tori-WrestleMania XV
  53. Super Invader vs Todd Champion-WrestleWar 1992
  54. King Kong Bundy & Jim Neidhart vs Yokozuna & Jake Roberts-Heroes of Wrestling
  55. Sid Vicious vs The Nightstalker-Clash of the Champions XIII
  56. The 8-Divas Tag Match-Survivor Series 1999
  57. The Fabulous Freebirds vs The Renegade Warriors-Halloween Havoc 1990
  58. Rick Rude vs Masahiro Chono-Halloween Havoc 1992
  59. Mike Awesome vs Vampiro-Halloween Havoc 2000
  60. Bray Wyatt vs John Cena-Extreme Rules 2014
  61. Brothers of Destruction vs KroniK-Unforgiven 2001
  62. Mabel vs The Undertaker-King of the Ring 1995
  63. Wendi Richter vs The Fabulous Moolah-The Brawl to End it All
  64. David Flair vs Kimberly Page-Mayhem 1999
  65. The Truth Commission vs The Disciples of Apocolypse-Survivor Series 1997
  66. The Bushwhacker vs The Fabulous Rougeaus-WrestleMania V
  67. The Beverly Brothers vs The Bushwhackers-Royal Rumble 1992
  68. Teddy Long vs Eric Bischoff-Survivor Series 2005
  69. Greg Valentine vs George Steele-Heroes of Wrestling
  70. Abdullah the Butcher vs One Man Gang-Heroes of Wrestling
  71. Major Gunns vs Miss Hancock-New Blood Rising
  72. Bradshaw & Trish Stratus vs Christopher Nowinski & Jackie Gayda-RAW (7/8/2002)
  73. Triple H vs Scott Steiner-Royal Rumble 2003
  74. Hollywood Hogan vs The Warrior-Halloween Havoc 1998
  75. Mr. T vs Roddy Piper-WrestleMania 2
  76. The Royal Family vs Clowns R' Us-Survivor Series 1994
  77. The Blacktop Bully vs Dustin Rhodes-Uncensored 1995
  78. Pat Patterson vs Gerald Brisco-King of the Ring 2000
  79. The Four Doinks vs Team Bigelow-Survivor Series 1993
  80. Sting vs Jeff Hardy-Victory Road 2011
  81. Oz vs Tim Parker-SuperBrawl
  82. Ultimate Warrior vs Andre the Giant-Saturday Night's Main Event (11/25/1989)
  83. The Doomsday Cage Match-Uncensored 1996
  84. Kane vs The Undertaker-Judgement Day 1998
  85. Kaitlyn vs Maxine-NXT (10/19/10)
  86. Sabu vs The Sandman-November to Remember 1997
  87. The Bushwhackers vs Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff-Heroes of Wrestling
  88. James Storm vs Chris Harris-Lockdown 2007
  89. John Laurinaitis vs John Cena-Over the Limit 2012
  90. Ultimate Warrior vs Goldust-In Your House 7
  91. Los Villanos vs Los Psycho Circus-Triplemania XXIII
  92. Jenna Morasca vs Sharmell-Victory Road 2009
And up next is...

Well, this should be...a match.
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