Sid Eudy, the professional wrestler known variously as Sid Justice, Sid Vicious and Sycho Sid, who rose to fame in the 1990s, died on Monday. He was 63.
The cause was cancer, his son Gunnar Eudy wrote on Facebook. He did not say where his father died.
Eudy, who won multiple championships, was one of his generation’s “most imposing and terrifying competitors,” World Wrestling Entertainment said in a statement. Listed at 6-foot-9 and 317 pounds, he was one of the biggest of what are known in the industry as big men, who often play supporting roles because they don’t perform the high-flying moves that thrill fans.
Eudy was a very big man who became a star in his own right. He headlined Wrestlemania twice and became champion of both the World Wrestling Federation, as it was then known, and its 1990s rival, World Championship Wrestling, a rare trifecta.
He entered the world of pro wrestling in 1987 and two years later, calling himself Sid Vicious after the Sex Pistols’ notorious bassist, signed with W.C.W., which at the time was an upstart circuit.
In 1991, according to W.W.E., he made his debut with the organization, under the name Sid Justice, as the special guest referee at SummerSlam 1991.
He was featured as the main event at Wrestlemania twice: in 1992 (as Sid Justice), against Hulk Hogan, and in 1997 (as Sycho Sid), against the Undertaker. He was both a two-time W.W.F. champion and two-time W.C.W. champion, as well as a two-time United States Wrestling Association champion, also in the 1990s.
“One of the most brutal Superstars to ever terrorize W.W.E., the sadistic Sid brought an intensity that few could ever hope to contain,” the organization wrote. “Just ask the litany of ring legends who have incurred his wrath — a hit list that includes Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Bret ‘Hit Man’ Hart and many more.”
Sidney Raymond Eudy was born in West Memphis, Ark., on Dec. 16, 1960. In addition to his son Gunnar, who is also a wrestler, he is survived by his wife, Sabrina Estes Eudy,; another son, Frank; and a number of grandchildren.
In 2001, during a televised pay-per-view W.C.W. championship match, viewers watched Eudy injure his leg after he jumped off the rope and accidentally landed badly, snapping his left leg at an unnatural angle.
The injury effectively ended his career as a major pro wrestling star, as he himself acknowledged. “With my injury,” he said in a 2023 interview, “I feel I came up short with solidifying myself as one of the top 10, 15 money-drawers in the business.”
He considered retiring. But, after a long period of recuperation, Eudy — who had previously returned from injuries more than once — resumed wrestling in 2004, on smaller circuits. He returned to W.W.E. in the summer of 2012, as part of the observation of the 1,000th episode of the organization’s TV series “Raw.”
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