Tony Nese Says He Wanted To Be WWE 205 Live’s Rick Rude, Recalls Pitching The Idea To Vince McMahon

Tony Nese never got the chance to live out his big pitch in WWE.

After signing with WWE in 2016, Tony Nese would go on to become one of the pillars of 205 Live. The former Cruiserweight Champion even recalled an idea that he pitched, repeatedly, during the beginning of his run on the brand, that would have seen him channel the late, great Rick Rude.

Appearing as a guest on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Nese shared the details of his pitch, his interaction with Vince McMahon, and why it ultimately did not happen.

“Rick Rude would probably be the top one. That was my big pitch to WWE when starting on 205,” Nese began by saying. “I wanted to be like Rick Rude. I wanted to come out every week, cut a promo on bashing the crowd, just like the sweat hogs type of thing, but my own version of it, and beat a local. I wanted to do it so much for so long that people were just absolutely sick and tired of me so that finally, it didn’t matter who it was, whatever babyface they wanted to come out there to whoop my ass, they were going to get a reaction for it.

“I pitched that to Vince one day, we were in England for a show, and I went into his office and told him everything I wanted to do, but I made sure I didn’t say ‘Rick Rude,’ I just said the idea of the concept that I wanted to come out every week and make fun of the crowd. He was like, ‘Yeah, I love it, you absolutely should.’ I was on cloud nine the whole time.

“The next week, I get pulled aside by the writer and he’s like, ‘Hey man, we’re not going to run with that idea anymore.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘We wrote it into the show and Vince kind of acted like he had never heard it before and was confused about it. I tried explaining it to him that was like Rick Rude.’ I’m like, ‘Oh no.’ ‘Yeah, then Vince was like why would he be Rick Rude? We already had Rick Rude.’ Then it got squashed.

“Unfortunately, that idea went away. It would have been great because I never really had a moment to have character development. It was mostly just ‘here’s the guy who comes out, counts his abs, flexes, and that’s it.’ I wish I was able to give more of that character.”

Nese was released by WWE on June 25. He was shown in the crowd on AEW Dynamite this past Saturday, October 23rd, where he was called “one of the hottest free agents in wrestling,” and then worked the AEW Dark tapings at Universal Studios. 

Elsewhere in the interview, Nese confirmed his signing with All Elite Wrestling. His comments can be seen here.

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