Sid Vicious had one of the most underrated careers in wrestling history, when it came to overall success. The long stints in WWE and WCW each led to Sid winning their respective World titles and main eventing their biggest events at various points. ECW even found success from Sid during Paul Heyman’s short time booking him.Fans have had a polarizing reaction to Sid for most of his career with both times of love and moments where he was criticized. But the interesting news to come out about the legend’s career throughout the years deserves another look back at his time in the spotlight. Sid had the following tidbits associated with him in his wrestling run.
10 Randy Savage Influenced Him To Start Wrestling
The old nature of wrestling would see top wrestlers recruiting others who looked like good athletes. Sid Vicious realized this when he met Randy Savage and his brother Lanny Poffo at a gym in Memphis before a local show.
Savage told Sid that his size and overall look could lead to success in the wrestling business. Sid started training on his own shortly after and received noteworthy opportunities in the business by the bigger promotions due to Savage’s prediction.
9 WCW Canceled Sid Vs. Hulk Hogan Title Program Before New Blood
WCW was planning to have a big feud between Sid Vicious and Hulk Hogan for the WCW Championship in the summer of 2000 before a huge change. Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff were tasked to reset the company with the New Blood storyline.
All titles were vacated, so the previous angles were dropped without a payoff. Sid and Hogan started teasing a bigger feud with Sid defending the title against his former enemy. The match never happened, and Sid was forced to vacate the WCW Championship.
8 Was Originally Planned To End Vader's Title Reign At Starrcade 1993
The infamous story of Sid Vicious and Arn Anderson getting into a hotel fight saw Anderson blooded with a pair of scissors. WCW decided to fire Sid for his role in the fight believing he escalated it to dangerous levels.
Sid had the worst timing with this fight as WCW was reportedly planning to have him win the WCW Championship from Vader at Starrcade 1993. The dominant title reign of Vader ending to Sid would have helped him reach new levels, but WCW went with Ric Flair when Sid was released.
7 Teddy Long Managed Him In Early WCW
The career of Teddy Long doesn’t get enough credit for how many things he did during his lengthy wrestling run. Long found a new level of success in WWE during his time as the SmackDown General Manager, but he was a manager in WCW many years earlier.
Sid Vicious’ career started off in The Skyscrapers tag team with Danny Spivey. WCW placed Long with them as a manager to help make up for their lack of experience. Sid witnessed Teddy helping him before he got used to the job enough to cut his own promos.
6 Failed Drug Test Before WrestleMania 8 Main Event
Many fans were shocked at Sid Justice getting fired from WWE shortly after he main evented WrestleMania 8 against Hulk Hogan. Bruce Prichard confirmed the longstanding rumor of Sid failing a drug test before the show.
WWE was already advertising the match, so they allowed Sid to have his match on the biggest stage against Hogan. The release came shortly after due to Sid needing a punishment and not showing enough commitment to WWE moving forward.
5 Sued WCW After Breaking His Leg In Brutal Botch
The terrifying botch of Sid landing on his foot and snapping his leg in WCW made fans assume his career was over. Sid did eventually return, but the injury certainly changed his career. A shocking lawsuit came afterward with Sid feeling he was owed compensation.
WCW management talked Sid into trying more top rope moves despite his larger size and discomfort with that idea. Sid going to the top rope was a rare thing that almost never happened, so he clearly blamed WCW for his brutal leg injury coming from this move.
4 Had Fake Celebration For WCW Championship Win Vs. Sting
One of the more forgotten title match finishes featured Sid Vicious having a WCW Championship win that didn’t stand. Barry Windham impersonated Sting toward the end of Sting’s title match against Sid, looking to fool the referee.
Sid pinning the face-painted Windham led to the bell ringing and confetti falling. However, the real Sting entered the ring and informed the referee of the manipulation. The match continued with Sting scoring a pin on Sid when he was celebrating his assumed first World title win.
3 The Outsiders Got Him Back Into WCW
WCW was struggling to keep the momentum going in 1999 when trying to add more talents. Sid Vicious rejoined WCW after his main event WWE stint in the mid-90s and a short run as part of the smaller ECW brand.
Eric Bischoff revealed that Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were the names backstage talking to Sid about a return. WCW wanted to find new heels to feud with Goldberg after his undefeated streak ended, and Sid was one of the names to get hired for it.
2 Had Bigger ECW Plans Before Money Disagreements
Paul Heyman booking Sid Vicious to become a fixture in ECW was a surprising move. Sid wasn’t the typical ECW wrestler, but fans reacted positively to the big man decimating his opponents in entertaining fashion.
Relevant names like Justin Credible and The Dudley Boyz getting squashed by Sid showed how strong he was booked. Sid ended up leaving ECW before bigger plans came into play due to money disagreements. ECW often ran into this issue as Heyman couldn’t compete with the money top names were used to in WWE and WCW.
1 First WWE Wrestler To Kick Out Of Hulk Hogan's Leg Drop
An interesting and unexpected aspect of Sid Justice’s career featured him being the first man to kick out of Hulk Hogan’s leg drop. The WrestleMania 8 finish was meant to see Papa Shango interfering for a DQ finish when Hogan had a pin over Sid.
A huge botch saw Sid having to kick out of the leg drop to keep the finish alive since Papa Shango was too late to the ring. No WWE wrestler had yet to kick out of Hogan’s leg drop as it was the most protected finisher in the business at the time.