MR. TITO: Rest in Peace Sid Eudy aka Sid Vicious, Sid Justice, and Sycho Sid

Folks, I’m going to be honest… I’m really bummed about Sid Eudy also known as Sid Vicious (WCW) and Sid Justice/Sycho Sid (WWE). He was one one of my personal favorites and I always rooted for him to succeed. From the moment that I saw the Skyscrapers tag team in NWA/WCW, I was instantly like “who in the hell is that???”. He was a massive human being who looked terrifying. Back during 1989, you didn’t see the Powerbomb delivered much but when Sid did it, it was a thing of beauty.

When I obtained AEW’s Fight Forever game, guess who was my ONLY Create-A-Wrestler that I made? Sid Eudy under his “Sid Justice” name with the teal tights. Don’t know why, but that was who I wanted to create and use in the AEW game. Usually with Create-A-Wrestlers, I select moves that are difficult to reverse and strikes that I can time that are hard to counter. I dominated with my CAW Sid Justice, beating poor NoDQ’s Aaron Rift’s wrestlers into the ground while dominating with Sid for online mode for the Nintendo Switch. If you saw Sid Justice in an online match and got dominated by him, that was yours truly showing you who the MASTER and RULER OF THE WORLD were.

Reason that I have always been impressed with the Sid Justice character is because of Wrestlemania 8. LOOK AT THAT WWE ROSTER that year, as they were stacked with Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Macho Man Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior about to return, Undertaker, and guys like Yokozuna, Bret Hart, and Shawn Michaels growing on the horizon. Yet, the WWE main evented Wrestlemania 8 with Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice. That’s remarkable to me, no matter how good the match was.

Was Sid Eudy the most talented wrestler over? Did he have great matches? Probably “no” on both counts…

But what Sid had was AURA. He was larger-than-life beyond his look. Yes, he was 6’9″ and chiseled without an ounce of body fat. However, Pro Wrestling has had MANY tall hosses in their day who looked like bodybuilders, too. They all don’t make it…

Sid always looked intense and always looked serious… He looked scary and projected something far more dangerous than he actually was. Sure, the in-ring work wasn’t perfect, but when he hit that Powerbomb, that’s all he needed.

Wasn’t perfect on promos, but he was effective… He always looked mean and serious. When he made errors, he didn’t flinch or sell that he made an error such as the “half a brain” promo in WCW. Even when there is total chaos going around around him, Sid was always serious. Go watch the famous Shockmaster segment as Sid doesn’t break character and takes the debuting character seriously.

So what if Sid wanted to play in softball leagues during the Summer, prompting many “smart” fans to call him “Softball Sid”? Wrestlers back then worked too much and deserved a break. Now, Roman Reigns wrestles less than 10 times a year but he’s praised as being a great champion. Sid, who was wrestling multiple times per week through Wrestlemania, just wanted some time off to be with his family and play softball with his friends when the weather was nicer. Is that too much to ask? FACT is that WWE over-worked its wrestlers back then and that’s what led to many wrestlers self-medicating to survive.

OK, he stabbed Arn Anderson many times with scissors. Who owned that pair of scissors again? Arn Anderson. And what preceded it was Arn Anderson breaking a beer bottle at the bar and threatening Sid with it! Sid later came to Arn’s room with a chair leg to finish the fight only for Arn to grab the scissors. Arn stabbed Sid 4 times before Sid overwhelmed him to take the scissors to stab arn around 20 times. It was a BAD NIGHT for both gentlemen and neither guy pressed charges on the other, later learned to work with each other years later in WCW.

As luck would have it, WWE used that scissors story to reshape Sid when he returned to the WWE and and named him “Sycho Sid” with one of the finest tunes that WWE composer Jim Johnston ever produced.

Sid was GREAT as Sycho Sid, as he kept the WWE from free falling during 1996 when Shawn Michaels was bombing as World Champion and then went on to Main Event Wrestlemania 13. While you can point to Sid being a 2-time WWE champ during a low period of time, keep in mind that he bailed the WWE out repeatedly from Ultimate Warrior no-shows to Shawn Michaels either failing to draw as World Champion or losing his smile. Sid doesn’t receive enough credit for adding stability to the WWE during late 1996 and early 1997. Shawn Michaels was a bust as a babyface main eventer and Sid gave the WWE a “larger-than-life” superstar that they needed.

Sorry, but Sid was my favorite part of 1999-2001 WCW. The “Millennium Man”, I loved it! But he continued being his usual serious and intense self by delivering Powerbombs when needed. Again, more stability as a wrestler… While WCW during 1999-2001 was throwing ideas at the wall, giving the WCW World Title to the big and scary looking fella always worked. Yeah, he broke his leg and that is still one of the worst things that I’ve ever seen.

Did you ever hear of Sid injuring any wrestlers? Nope… He was 100% safe and well liked by other wrestlers because of that. For as large as Sid appeared, he was careful inside the ring and nobody got hurt from his stuff.

Best of all, Sid didn’t need wrestling as much as wrestling needed or wanted him. He had zero problems walking away from a promotion that he didn’t agree with and wasn’t afraid to speak up if creative was off. That’s not to say that he was a thorn in the side of a promoter, but he knew his value… Sid knew that he had the intangibles to draw a big house or do strong on a Pay Per View, thus getting them to cave into demands of spending more time at home rather than working to death on the road.

If you think that Sid wasn’t talented or a legendary wrestler, then why hasn’t any promotion replicated him? Why haven’t they replicated the Ultimate Warrior or Bill Goldberg? Those 3 are always ripped for their in-ring performances, yet no other wrestlers can replicate the intangible “larger than life” qualities that each brought wrestler.

There should NEVER be another wrestler named “Sid”. Retire that name… This tall glass of water with blonde curly hair needs to be the only character named “Sid” that can ever exist in wrestling.

Why isn’t he in the WWE Hall of Fame?

Two-Time WWE Champion
Two-Time WCW Champion
Drew lots of money on being the Master & Ruler of the World

Sid was reportedly in that WWE category of being dangerous with a live microphone, as WWE somehow feared what this guy had to say. Yet, if you talk to certain wrestlers who worked with Sid, like Harlem Heat whom Sid greatly helped get into the business, they love the guy. Was he quirky? Sure, but who isn’t in the wrestling business?

It’s a shame that the WWE didn’t induct him while he was alive. The perfect timing was when Sid returned to WWE during 2012 to wrestle Heath Slater and they could have inducted him following that appearance during the weekend of Wrestlemania 29 during 2013. But it’s likely that WWE wouldn’t agree to Sid’s terms and WWE was probably afraid of what he’d say in the microphone about their past relations.

Anytime that I need a great laugh, I watch the Skyscrapers (Danny Spivey & Sid Vicious) just MURDER the Ding Dongs in NWA/WCW. THAT was the Sid that we all saw during 1989 and knew he’d be a big star in the industry. He was and sadly, his limited appearances in main stream wrestling since his broken leg in WCW during 2001 reduced the impact of Sid’s career. He should have been a bigger star, yet he didn’t always want to be. It’s good to have balance between work, family, and friends and Sid appeared to have that.

Rest in peace Master & Ruler of the World. Thank you for many years of entertainment.

CLICK HERE for the Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ