Perfect Duluth Day

Video Archive: Rick Rude vs. Kim Yates in Duluth, 1988

What Rick Rude would like right now is for all you fat, ugly, Duluth little boys to keep the noise down while he takes off his robe and shows the ladies what “simply ravishing” is all about.

The World Wrestling Federation was at the Duluth Arena on May 10, 1988 to shoot matches for its syndicated television program Superstars of Wrestling. The clip above aired June 5, 1988 (or June 4 in some markets). It includes the opening sequence highlighting the William A. Irvin, a somewhat new tourist attraction in Duluth at the time.

Rude’s opponent, Kim Yates, is billed as hailing from Duluth. Yates was a jobber who also appeared at an American Wrestling Association card in Duluth 17 months earlier billed as hailing from Superior. There is very little information available about him online. The Internet Wrestling Database lists him as “Tim Yates” and his place of birth as “unknown.”

This is Perfect Duluth Day’s third post about this particular WWF card. The first featured Bobby Heenan and Randy Savage cutting promos for the event, the second featured matches from the first two episodes of the Duluth taping.

According to the History of WWE website, other matches on the third episode of the Duluth taping were: