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Sid Eudy, professional wrestler and WWE champion, dies at age 63
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Sid Eudy, professional wrestler and WWE champion, dies at age 63

Sid Eudy, a six-time world champion professional wrestler in promotions USWA, WWF (now WWE) and WCW, has died at the age of 63 after a years-long battle with cancer, his son Gunnar announced on social media. He wrestled under ring names Sid Vicious in WCW and Sid Justice and Sycho Sid in WWF.

Eudy was one of the top professional wrestling stars of the 1990s, appearing in the ring with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. One of his first major matches came in 1992, when he was in a headline match against Hogan at WrestleMania VIII that ended in a disqualification.

Over the course of the decade, the performer bounced between Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation, Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling and independent promotions such as the Memphis-based United States Wrestling Association, where he feuded over the USWA Heavyweight Title with longtime rival Jerry “The King” Lawler in 1994.

Rachel Lillis (Instagram)

Following that run, Eudy began his most prominent run in wrestling in 1995 in the WWF, initially as a bodyguard to Shawn Michaels before joining the villainous Million Dollar Corporation faction, led by longtime wrestling villain Ted “the Million Dollar Man” DiBiase. As part of that group, Eudy faced future WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash — who was wrestling under the ring name Diesel — for the world title, but was unsuccessful.

Eudy’s ascent to the top of the WWF wouldn’t come until 1996, when he developed the character of Sycho Sid, an unstable, space-staring maniac prone to outbursts of rage. Sycho Sid would go on to face Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship, eventually winning it for the first time at Survivor Series in Madison Square Garden.

Sycho Sid would continue to challenge for the title over the next few months against Michaels and fellow top star Bret Hart. Ultimately, in perhaps his most famous match, Sid lost the WWF title to The Undertaker in the main event of WrestleMania 13. It was a match that would become the sixth in Undertaker’s 21 consecutive victories in the WWF, now WWE’s flagship show.

Following that match, Eudy left the WWF due to a neck injury that required surgery. He returned to television in WCW, where he would win the promotion’s World Heavyweight Championship as part of feuds with Hogan, Nash and Chris Benoit before suffering a catastrophic leg injury in a televised match that left him in danger of being unable to walk.

After years of rehabilitation, Eudy returned to the ring in 2004 and continued wrestling on the independent circuit throughout the 2000s. In 2012, he made his first WWE return in 15 years as part of the 1,000th episode of “Monday Night Raw.” He had his last match in 2017 in Ontario, Canada.

Eudy is survived by his wife Sabrina and his sons Frank and Gunnar.

Phil Donahue