Sid Eudy, who was best remembered under the monikers of “Sid Vicious”, “Sid Justice”, and “Sycho Sid”, has died after fighting cancer.
Sid’s son Gunnar posted the following statement on Monday afternoon:
I am deeply saddened to share that my father, Sid Eudy, has passed away after battling cancer for several years. He was a man of strength, kindness, and love, and his presence will be greatly missed.
We appreciate your thoughts and prayers as we grieve this loss. Details for a memorial service will be shared soon. Thank you for your support
Eudy was a memorable character and was pegged for superstardom early in his career which led to big runs in both World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation.
He began his career wrestling in Memphis and adopted the persona of Lord Humongous near the beginning of his career. He became the final Southeastern Heavyweight Champion, winning the title from Danny Davis on Christmas night in 1987.
He toured with New Japan Pro Wrestling in early 1989 as “Vicious Warrior” including challenging Tatsumi Fujinami for the IWGP Heavyweight title at Sumo Hall and losing to Antonio Inoki in Nagoya during the tour.
Eudy went to WCW in 1989 and became a tag wrestler with Danny Spivey as The Skyscrapers but an injury to Sid’s rib and lung saw him lose his spot in the team, returning the next year and becoming the muscle for the Four Horsemen. It springboarded Eudy into a main event heel role where he challenged Sting for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight title at Halloween Havoc that year.
Eudy left for the WWF in 1991 and was set for a mega push as “Sid Justice” after being introduced as the special referee for that year’s SummerSlam and closing posing alongside Hulk Hogan after the “Match Made in Hell” involving Ultimate Warrior against Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa & General Adnan.
The seeds were planted for Hogan and Sid to headline the next year’s WrestleMania in Indianapolis. The key angle was at the Royal Rumble with Hogan being eliminated by Sid. Hogan reacted by pulling Sid by the arm and allowed Ric Flair to toss out Sid to win the WWF Championship.
A drug test violation would curb Sid’s run with the company, and he quit the company shortly after WrestleMania 8 and would not return for several years.
A return to WCW occurred in 1993 where he was positioned alongside Big Van Vader as the top heel in the company and feuding with Sting and Davey Boy Smith while the company was struggling. This run was also cut short due to disciplinary action as a widely covered fight with Arn Anderson occurred during a tour of England with Anderson being stabbed by scissors and led to Sid being fired even though he was scheduled to headline Starrcade.
While wrestling for the USWA, he got the call back to the WWF to serve as the on-screen bodyguard for Shawn Michaels before WrestleMania 11 in Hartford. After Michaels’ loss, he blamed Sid and told him that the next time he challenged for the title, Sid could have the “night off” which led to Sid taking out Michaels with a powerbomb and becoming Kevin “Diesel” Nash’s top opponent for the next three pay-per-view cycles.
His greatest stretch began in the summer of 1996, replacing the Ultimate Warrior in the main event six-man tag at In Your House: International Incident teaming with Shawn Michaels & Ahmed Johnson and having his first big babyface run in the promotion.
It climaxed with his WWF Championship win at Survivor Series where the New York crowd sided with Sid over Michaels and popped big for the title change. Sid would lose the title to Michaels in January but regained it one month later to headline WrestleMania 13 with The Undertaker and lose it for the last time.
After a car accident in 1997, he left the company and would not be seen in a WWE ring for the next fifteen years.
He would moonlight in ECW for a period, where he appeared and was a massive star to the audience despite representing everything you would assume the ECW crowd would reject.
His last major run was with WCW and returned in the spring of 1999 to feud with Kevin Nash and later had a series of matches with Bill Goldberg, which got over well.
He finally won the WCW title in January 2000 after the exit of Chris Benoit following the Souled Out pay-per-view. Benoit defeated Sid in the match to persuade Benoit to stay with WCW despite the return of Kevin Sullivan to booking power, and Benoit didn’t budge and vacated the title and left for the WWF. The match was laid out with Sid’s foot under the bottom rope as an “out” and he would become the champion to succeed Benoit.
Sid was positioned as the top babyface during the new booking committee’s brief tenure until Vince Russo & Eric Bischoff were installed into power in April and Sid was not featured throughout the year. He returned to television in late 2000 and his career was effectively ended at the Sin pay-per-view in January 2001 when he sustained one of the most gruesome injuries ever seen on a wrestling event where his leg snapped as he came off the turnbuckle.
Sid would return to the ring in 2004 and did several independent dates while hoping to return to WWE, but it never panned out nor was he one of the company’s chosen “legends” that it would bring back.
He finally was brought back for a one-off in June 2012 where he squashed Heath Slater.
Sid is survived by his wife Sabrina, children Frank & Gunnar, and his grandchildren.
