My last “In Defense Of” article about Lex Luger was rather disappointing because of a mistake with paragraphing. When I uploaded my article the paragraphs were gone. I apologize and I hope this one works out….. In this In Defense of article I’m gonna look at the career of the controversial Sid/ Sid Vicious/ Psycho Sid or as some know him Sid Justice.
Sid is a very rare occurrence in Professional wrestling, Sid is one of the only wrestlers I know that in his prime, no matter where or when in prowrestling you put him he would be a main event star. Would Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan from the 80’s work in today’s wrestling? Probably not, Would Steve Austin be the huge Mega star he was if he came around in the early 80’s? Doubtful, Would the Undertaker be the Phenom in the early 80’s or 70’s? In the words of Gorilla Monson “Highly Unlikely”, But for some reason If Sid was in wrestling in the 1960’s or 2060 he would be a main eventer. Sid had a Presence and look that has never been seen before or after in wrestling. Have their been Wrestlers bigger or with a better build than Sid? Of course, But Sid had that “It Factor” and he was captivating. Sid’s Promos (which were not Classics by any means) were perfect for his character. Sid looked like a Psychotic monster and his mannerisms, Move set and promos complimented him perfectly….. Before anyone misunderstands me and take it another route, I’am not implying that Sid is more Talented then any of the men I mentioned Above. I simply mean that no matter what promotion or what time line you put Sid in, If you just drop him in the middle of the ring a Crowd would react to him.
No matter how much a company trys to bury Sid, Sid has a uncanny ability to be over no matter what. I remember in the mid 90’s, The WWF wasn’t happy with Sid for several reasons (Fake injuries to play Soft Ball, also some drug issues and maybe some attitude problems etc) They were Jobbing Sid to Henry Godwinn and a bunch of other lower mid carders, Then the WWF brought Sid in as a last minute replacement for The Ultimate Warrior at International Incident IYH to team with Shawn Michaels and Ahmed Johnson against Vader, Bulldog and Owen Hart and Sid blew the roof off the place. Sid was easily the most over guy in the ring and the fans reacted in such a huge way to Sid that it forced WWF to change their whole booking for the next 7 monthes and put Sid in the main event picture, Give him 2 title reigns and a Wrestlemania main event spot. Sid’s popularity was so huge it forced Shawn Michaels to be a heel for 1 night at Survivor Series.
After the WWF used up Sid and didnt want to use him anymore, they let Sid go. It looked like Sid’s main event days were over and Sid end up in WCW two years later and sure enough the people reacted to Sid in such a way that WCW had no choice but to put him in the main event picture and put multiple WCW championship reigns on him… Sid had a surprisingly interesting feud with Goldberg in his last WCW stint and even though Sid was heel, Sid was so over that his cheers were trumping over Goldbergs and Goldberg was the most over guy in WCW at the time.
Sid set the standards of a big mans move set in wrestling. None of the wrestlers in WWF or WCW at the time of Sid’s debut were using high impact moves like the choke slam or Power bomb. Sid changed the tired old ways a big man would wrestle in America and introduced High Impact power moves to the American audience. If you look at most big men in the 90’s all the way up til now, Their move set is a variation of Sid’s move set of Choke slam, Big Boot and Power Bomb. Just look at Kevin Nash, Kane, Undertaker and many other main event big men in wrestling….Before Sid , Most big men wouldn’t do much more than slam, Bear hug, sit on his opponent or choke and sometimes you get a lack luster drop kick and thats it. Sid was a trail blazer and ushered in a new way a big men wrestled.
With all that said, I will now talk about my favorite part of Sid, The Sid Behind the scenes. The legendary Stories we all heard on the internet. The Sid Safety Scissors incident, The Sid Squeegee story, The Sid squirrel story and last but not least the Sid Shit in his tights Wrestlemania 13 story… I could listen and read about Sid stories for days and not get tired, Sid’s botches in front of the camera and behind the scenes stories are legendary. The truth is the wrestling world is a much more interesting cause of Sid for many different reasons.
I wasn’t much of a Sid fan in the 90’s, sometimes I quoted Sid or got excited for him but it wasn’t some one I really rooted or got behind, but as I got older I appreciated what Sid was in wrestling. Most people on the internet and wrestlers will say Sid was overrated and didn’t deserve the career he got. But I think the opposite, I don’t think Sid really gets the respect he deserves. Think of it, Sid was over in the end of the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s, In NWA/WCW, WWF, ECW USWA and just about every federation he step foot in in 3 different decades. That is unheard of. Look at Hogan who had a ground breaking stint in WWF and changed the face of wrestling but moved to WCW and had a disappointing run until the NWO and heel turn. Ric Flair was a NWA/WCW legend and made the jump to WWF and no matter how perfect the situation was and how hard the WWF pushed him Flairs run wasn’t exactly what people expected. Same goes for Bret Hart who shined in WWF and just bounced around in WCW. It is a testament to Sid to be in both WCW and WWF in 3 different eras and still remain over and relevant.
