By Scott Bowden
The infamous hotel brawl between Arn Anderson and Sid Vicious (Eudy) in Europe in September 1993 has been well-documented in wrestling squared circles. What hasn't been discussed that much is my incident with big Sid in the dressing room of the Mid-South Coliseum in June 1994.
Sid, a huge redneck from West Memphis, Arkansas, started out wrestling in Memphis in 1987 under a hockey mask as Lord Humongous from THE ROAD WARRIOR movie. Three years earlier, in a effort to capitalize on the growing reputation of the Road Warriors tag team, Jerry "The King" Lawler had taken a retired wrestler, Mike Stark, and given him the gimmick of Road Warrior Humongous. Besides Sid, a slew of guys, such as Jeff Van Camp, Randy Lewis and Sid's pal Johnny Rotten, followed with the gimmick over the years.
One of his first bouts was a main event, teaming with hot heel Austin Idol, who earlier that year had become the first man in the business to ever cut Jerry Lawler's hair. (Side note: During the '70s and '80s, the easiest way to pack the Mid-South Coliseum was a bout in which the loser got his head shaved. Until the loss to Idol, who was then managed by Paul Heyman, Lawler had never lost a hair match.) Sid was about as green as you might expect, stumbling his way through a brawl with Lawler and Nick Bockwinkle.
Over time, Sid developed into a passable worker, getting his first major national push in 1989 as part of the Skyscrapers tag team with Dan Spivey. Because of his size and natural charisma, Sid was cheered by the fans even though a heel. When Vicious suffered an injury, Mean Mark Callous (who later would become The Undertaker in the WWF) took his place alongside Spivey.
He returned later as a member of the Four Horsemen, breaking the tradition of having great workers in the heel quartet. Still, Sid was over strong. By October 1990 Sid was headlining against Sting at the Halloween Havoc pay-per-view.
Vince McMahon signed him in 1991, giving him a babyface push as Sid Justice, with the plan all along to eventually have him turn on Hulk Hogan. Although Ric Flair's WWF title bout with Randy Savage was billed as the co-main event of WrestleMania VIII in 1992, Sid and Hogan worked last in a match billed as Hogan's possible farewell to the ring. (Laughable in hindsight; Hogan's been milking his retirement for more than 10 years. Of course, Terry Funk's got that beat.) The story goes that Sid double-crossed Vince on the finish by kicking out of Hogan's leg drop, although Sid claimed he did so because either manager Harvey Wippleman (a.k.a. Downtown Bruno) or Papa Shango (the Godfather) didn't make it into the ring in time to break up the pin for the DQ, which was the plan.
Before the scissors episode, the most talked about out-of-the-ring incident involving Sid occurred in 1991, a bar altercation with the late Brian Pillman. When Pillman didn't back down, Sid reportedly exited for the parking lot, only to return with a weapon from his car: a squeegee. Sid had also taken a lot of flack over the years for playing softball when he took leaves from work to heal injuries.
Sid became Vicious once again upon his return to WCW in 1993. He was in line for the biggest push of his career, with plans to win both of the company's World titles (the WCW and NWA versions) in a unification match against Vader at Starrcade '93. Instead, he was fired by the company after he reportedly stabbed Anderson with a pair of scissors during an argument that began earlier on a bus transporting the boys. Even though Sid was stabbed with the scissors as well, he was singled out because it was felt he instigated the fight and because Anderson suffered considerably more wounds. WCW instead went with Ric Flair as Vader's opponent at Starrcade, with the Nature Boy winning the strap in an emotional bout.
With nowhere else to go, Sid did what a lot of wrestlers did in 1994 when they had nowhere else to go: He returned to Memphis. Since the promotion was working with the WWF, Sid probably figured to shed ring rust and rebuild his reputation for another national run.
He was quickly awarded the area's Unified World championship in a forfeit win over Lawler, a small, ironic consolation compared to those WCW belts and payoffs. Although he couldn't have been too thrilled with his situation, he seemed approachable and amiable enough as he often joked around with the boys, including me, in the dressing-room area. One night the joking went a little too far.
Sid and I were standing behind the curtain at the Coliseum as we watched a six-man tag match involving Lawler and Doug Gilbert. During the bout Doug missed a spot, and Lawler got noticeably pissed in the ring.
Handling the situation in a manner that his brother, Eddie, would have been proud of, Doug took an unscripted powder, leaving the rest of the boys to finish the match. Afterward, a steamed Lawler confronted Doug in the back, screaming at him for being unprofessional. Just when it looked like the two were nearly coming to blows, Sid said something like, "Man, sounds like it's getting out of hand back there." I laughed and said, "Yeah, I hope neither one of them have any scissors."
I've never forgotten the look Sid gave me; it sent chills down my spine. Very quietly, but with a menacing tone, he looked down at me and asked, "What the hell does THAT mean?" With my heart racing, I said, "Uh, nothing. I just ... hope there aren't any, uh ... sharp objects around." He nodded his head and then screamed at me to "get the fuck away" from him. I quickly obliged.
I ostensibly had heat with him for a long time; however, after a while, I got the feeling that he was ribbing me. All the heels were sitting in the small dressing-room area in Nashville one Saturday night when he abruptly shouted, "Goddamn it, I should have both them NWA belts right now. Instead I'm sitting here in this dump with Scott 'fucking' Bowden."
For weeks Sid would tell me that he was begging them to turn him babyface so he could finally get his hands on me and give me a powerbomb. He finally got his wish one night in the metropolis of Jonesboro, Arkansas. I was booked to manage Sid and Doug against Lawler and Brian Christoper (Lawler) in the main event. They were struggling to come up with a finish, one that would end inconclusively but leave the fans happy. Lawler finally suggested the following: After a ref bump (this is a Lawler finish after all), I'm supposed to nail Brian from behind with my Florida State football helmet (given to me by Uncle Bobby) but remain in the ring. Sid would then ready Brian for a powerbomb, but before the move could be completed, Lawler would gouge his eyes from behind. Sid, who wouldn't be able to see at that point, would then grab me by mistake and powerbomb me.
Upon hearing the finish, Sid looked at me, shot me a sadistic smile and said, "Bowden, it's time. You thought I'd forgotten about that scissors comment, didn't you? Never! Never!" Later that night, right on cue, Sid positioned me and whispered for me to jump. I closed my eyes as Sid lifted me over his head and sent me crashing into the canvas. Sid was a pro all the way and didn't hurt me in the least.
Still, the apparent heat lasted until a softball game at Chicks Stadium in Memphis. The heels, captained by Sid, were playing Lawler and the rest of the babyfaces in a charity game. Although Brian advised me to strike out on purpose to stay in character, I hit two triples, including one to drive in the winning run for the heels. This, of course, thrilled Sid to no end. From then on, he treated me like one of the boys.
Should have known that it would take softball to get back in Sid's good graces.
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