The final match of Ravishing Rick Rude's career as an active pro wrestler took place on May 1, 1994 in Fukuoka, Japan while working for NJPW. While wrestling Sting at the Fukuoka Dome, Sting did a running over the top rope dive. Rude caught Sting, but he had a mishap on an elevated board that surrounded the ringside area, blowing out his C-4 and C-5 vertebrae. Rude finished the match and won the WCW International Heavyweight Championship as scheduled with a kneedrop off the top rope after distraction from valet Lady Love (who worked his corner in those days only on Japan tours).

Rude never wrestled again, and a few weeks later the title change was rescinded and given back to Sting due to the controversy surrounding the finish. Rude was injured, and in very bitter fashion, gone from WCW. Allegedly Rude blamed Sting for being careless in where he dove, and there was tremendous heat between the two.

"He was 35 years old and in the second year of the biggest contract he ever signed," his wife Michelle said. "And then it basically ended. That just killed him. He was a great entertainer, and it really hurt him that he couldn't perform. Even at the risk of injuring himself seriously, he'd have tried it again."

The following is a small transcript of a interview The Miami Herald conducted with Sting on July 9, 1999:

Question: Rick Rude.

Sting: One of the best at being hated. He did the heel's job to perfection.

Question: I know accidents happen in the ring, but I also heard he never really forgave you for his neck being injured in a match against you. Is that true?

Sting: No, it's not. When he came back to WCW (from the WWF), he walked right up to me and shook my hand. We were friends until the day he died.

Music: Mt Eden Dubstep - I'll Be There For You

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