Update (August 28, 2024):
In the days since I published this obituary, it has received a lot of attention, mostly focused on the headline. I just wanted to clarify to those who may not understand my tone or my history with Sid that this was meant to invoke praise and pride for one of my favorite wrestlers ever, not to put him or his career down.
I 100% understand how the headline could irk people, and I want to apologize for what may be interrupted or seen as a cruel slight toward a recently deceased man; I assure you that was absolutely not my intention.
Sid was historically known as a below-average, sometimes “bad” wrestler among the smark community. In the highly respected 2016 Greatest Wrestler Ever poll, Sid was not among the top 100 as named by the panel. 566 wrestlers received at least one vote in that poll. Sid was not one of them. This isn’t meant to be a slight to GWE or those who voted in it; it is more about where Sid stood in the pantheon of great in-ring pro wrestlers. In the annual Wrestling Observer Awards, Sid took home numerous negative awards, including Most Overrated (1993), Readers’ Least Favorite Wrestler (1993), Worst on Interview (1999), and 1990’s Worst Worked Match of the Year against The Nightstalker. Sid has also never appeared on the ballot for the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame.
Despite ALL of that, he is still a favorite among many fans of a certain age, myself included.
The headline was intended to put over Sid for making the most out of his limited bell-to-bell/in-ring skill and instead focus on his one-of-one aura, presence, and vibe, which I said as such in the article.
I’m also fully aware that many people are simply reacting to a headline and have either not read the full article or merely skimmed through the preview, so I’ve removed the paywall link and included the full piece below so that everyone has the proper context for the article.
-Rich
The wrestling world received sad news today as Gunnar Eudy, Sid’s son, announced on social media that his father had passed away. WWE.com later confirmed this news with a post of their own.
Both Joe and I will discuss Sid and his career extensively on this week’s Flagship, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts on his career today.
There’s no better way to put it than Sid was the best bad wrestler ever.
Nobody ruled and sucked more at seemingly the same time than Sid did.
Despite his limited in-ring ability, Sid left a lasting legacy on my wrestling fandom and millions of others. For those of us who enjoyed Sid, it was never about his slick work in the ring—he was slow and clunky. It was never about his classic matches—he has just as many matches rated below 1.0 on Cagematch as he does 8.0+.
It wasn’t about that kind of stuff with Sid. It never was. It was about aura, presence, and feeling. Few guys in wrestling history looked, acted, or moved like Sid. He was a unique specimen in the world of wrestling. Your wrestling company can only have one Sid at a time; too many Sids and it doesn’t work.
Sadly, nobody has a Sid today, and so many wrestling companies today would benefit from having one.
Eudy entered wrestling after a meeting with Randy Savage and his brother Lanny Poffo. His journey would follow a winding road of twists and turns, unlucky breaks (literally in one case), and behavior issues that resulted in a career that’s both historic and unfulfilled—a complete career that feels like it left something on the table.
One thing that always stuck out to me with Sid is people couldn’t hate the guy. Every company he worked for tried him out as a heel; time and time again, everyone cheered him. Sid’s most fitting example of likability and dynamic energy is when he debuted with Extreme Championship Wrestling in January 1999. This was ECW. The smarkiest of smark fans, and this was a big, lumbering oaf and a former Wrestling Observer Newsletter Most Overrated (1993) award winner with absolutely no “street cred” whatsoever.
Yet, when Sid walked down that ramp, acid-washed jeans tucked into his boots and wet blonde hair flying in the air, even the ECW faithful couldn’t help but be at his mercy.
They loved him.
WCW pushed him as a mega heel. He’d drop to his knees and bask in the crowd’s glory, and they were all in. They loved the guy.
When he walked into the ring during one of the most famous entrances in wrestling history at Survivor Series 1996, he was supposed to be a hated heel.
Instead, he was adored by the packed Madison Square Garden.
Sid just had that way about him.
Anointed as the next big thing in WCW, Sid was on the path to superstardom with the company in 1991 when Vince McMahon wooed him to jump to the WWF. Sid entered the WWF with more fanfare than anyone had ever seen before. Don’t believe me: here are roughly eight minutes of fellow WWF wrestlers cutting promos about how great and big and awesome Sid was:
Sid was instantly vaulted into the main event scene, referring to the SummerSlam 1991 main event of The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, and Gen. Adnan.
Later in that same show, Sid came out in the main event to save Savage and Miss Elizabeth from a wedding reception attack at the hands of Jake Roberts and The Undertaker.
Then that bad luck hit again. Sid was hurt in a match against Roberts and missed the last few months of 1991. When he returned, WWF had someone else to feature as their big newcomer; you may have heard of him, Ric Flair. Sid returned to the ring at WWF’s Royal Rumble 1992 when he was part of the legendary Royal Rumble match to determine a new WWF Champion. Sid famously tossed Hulk Hogan out of the ring to a chorus of cheers (later edited into boos); Hogan responded by yanking Sid out of the ring. After weeks of tension between the two and the second-most famous The Barber Shop segment of all time, their WrestleMania 8 match was set. Moments like this are why Sid bailed on WCW despite the promises of big money and world titles. Here was Sid, a WrestleMania main eventer.
Welp.
Sid failed a drug test before the show. WWF let him work the show, and after a brief European tour, they planned to suspend him. While on that tour, Sid had a series of matches with The Ultimate Warrior and decided the one-two punch of the upcoming suspension and working with Warrior was too much, so he quit.
WCW was more than happy to welcome Sid back into the fold. Plans were in place for Sid to go to Starrcade and face and beat Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Title.
Welp!
Sid stabbed Arn Anderson with a pair of scissors during a fight, and he was released. Now back with WCW, Flair slid into Sid’s spot and defeated Vader at Starrcade 1993.
Neither company could quit this guy, and the WWF came calling again in 1995, bringing Sid in as Shawn Michaels’ bodyguard. This began perhaps Sid’s most accomplished run, as he lasted with the WWF until 1997, winning the WWF World Heavyweight Title twice along the way. He also main evented yet another WrestleMania: WrestleMania 13 with The Undertaker.
In June 1999, WCW decided that stabbing a fellow employee was something they could look past while amid a wrestling war and brought Sid back to the company. Sid quickly began to dub himself “The Millennium Man” and emulated Goldberg’s 1998 win streak. WCW, by this point, was so beyond creatively bankrupt that they couldn’t even do a “big, menacing wrestler wins a lot of matches” story correctly. Instead, Sid would come out and powerbomb people, and the WCW announcers, effectively devoid of credibility at this time, would say, “THAT’S ANOTHER ONE!” and count every powerbomb as a victory for Sid. Just a few weeks into his “streak,” the buffoon announcers were calling Sid 120-0! During this time, he also lost matches, but who’s counting? (Well, nobody actually, nobody was counting).
This culminated in a two-match series against Goldberg at WCW Halloween Havoc 1999 and WCW Mayhem 1999. Goldberg defeated Sid both times, and the streak was over.
Sid had bad timing yet again, as Vince Russo had recently gained control of WCW and was about to make big changes.
Sid defeated Jeff Jarrett at WCW Uncensored 2000 to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Just a few weeks later, Eric Bischoff returned to the company and teamed up with Vince Russo to form the new creative braintrust of WCW. On the April 10, 2000 episode of Nitro Russo and Bischoff did a “reset” episode where they stripped every champion of their belt, including Sid. This would be Sid’s final major championship.
In 2001, Sid famously broke his left leg in a horrific in-ring accident, effectively ending his regular in-ring career.
Sid would make a final WWE appearance in 2012, defeating Heath Slater in a squash match to advertise WWE’s upcoming 1000th episode of RAW.
For all the badass aura that Sid had, do yourself a favor and watch some Sid squash matches on YouTube. I recommend Lee Scott from August 27, 1989:
Sid was also an unmitigated goofball, which helped endure him to a generation of fans who may not have grown up with him on their television.
From “We’re Live, Pal” to his numerous softball run-ins to the “I Have Half The Brain You Do” to “22!! WHY ME!!!” there’s a seemingly never-ending treasure trove of Sid being a goof.
Again, we’ll have much more about his career on this week’s Flagship, but I wanted to get something down today as Sid holds such a special place in my heart.
As someone who started getting into wrestling hardcore around 1994, Sid was an integral part of my maturation as a wrestling fan, and even today, he’s one of my favorites to watch.
Some will consider his career disappointing, but that’s not a good word for it. Unfulfilled, maybe. Incomplete, yeah, probably. He accomplished a ton, and despite seemingly being in the wrong place at the wrong time during every step of his career, he still leaves behind a one-of-a-kind legacy.
-Rich
