Better Good Or Bad: Sycho Sid Vicious

[The Brain]

Believe it or not Sycho Sid Vicious was the man I had in mind when I decided to this little series. Recently I was watching the 1990 Great American Bash. At the time Sid was a member of the Four Horsemen who of course were heels. Despite being part of the heel group the fans loved Sid. They were chanting his name during the match. I usually think of Sid as a heel, but I thought about it and realized the fans always seemed to love Sid. He seems to be better suited as a heel. He’s a big and intimidating force and a complete psychopath. He looked like a threatening opponent to any top face at any given time. If I were the booker I would take one look at Sid and think I found my top bad guy.

Even though Sid looked like the blueprint for a monster heel I think he may have been better as a face. It’s hard to remain the bad guy when the fans just refuse to hate you. I think Sid did his job as a heel but he was just too cool to hate. For as much as I think Sid was made to be a heel when you’re getting cheered against the top faces and think that makes you a better face.

 

[x24hrs2livex]

I like Sid better as a Heel. I really didnt like Sid Justice when he first came into WWF. Even though I was young back then, I just couldnt buy into Sid as a good guy. Sid from the late 80s was just the ultimate bad ass

 

[tower 25]

His best time was when he beat Shawn at Madison Square Garden, came in heal left babyface champion. With that being said,i'd say him as a heal was the best. I mean c'mon that whole milleunium man angle against goldberg was the best. Plus him tagging with Vader as the masters of the power bomb, man you just don't see stuff like that anymore,or him first turning on shawn with the 3 power bombs. Who's the man!!

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

I agree with Tower, Sid was best when the arenas would boo the shit out of HBK and Sid's getting mega pops and fistbumping Vlad the super fan.

I guess that means that Sid is the best as the ultra badass (like Chuck Norris level) anti-hero. I hate most people's idea of an anti hero and how most people want guys to be anti-heroes. But Sid would say random crazy shit, fist bump people, look crazy, and powerbomb everyone. Sid was like a villain out of an 80s action movie.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

He seems to be better suited as a heel. He’s a big and intimidating force and a complete psychopath. He looked like a threatening opponent to any top face at any given time. If I were the booker I would take one look at Sid and think I found my top bad guy.

I think you are spot on with this statement. Sid Vicious looked like the ultimate heel,the guy was a terrifying specimen and looked like he would kill you at any time. Add to that his massive size, his in-ring power and you have yourself the blueprint for a mega heel. If Sid had the mic skills he could have been one of the all time greatest heels.

However, if people cheer you even as a heel it may be good for business for you to be a face, and this ended up being the case with Sid. The best wrestlers can usually play both roles well, but if I had to pick a spot for Sid...it would be as a main event pychotic mega heel.

 

[GameOver]

this is a no brainer. He's only really been successfull as a heel and his whole personality is a sychotic bully. Who is "The Ruler and The Master Of... The WORLD"
as a face he was obviously gonna get a push as another Hoganesque type power guy and had some brief success, but he always reverted to heel which IMO was a far better choice.
as a fan he was always hateable but in a cool way kinda like Undertaker/Austin, even when they were at there most heel that were cool and in Sid's case he was also off the planet

 

[daddyJ_t]

S.I.D.= suddenly im dominent. the man was cool as hell and didnt really care for him until he became psycho sid. he became a great monster and even made a good case to break undertakers streak until bret hart interfered at "wrestlemania the 13th" loved how his mean streak was and wouldve loved to see him be the head figure in a great heel faction

 

[rokuma]

Let me just put it this way....I know wrestling is scripted, but there are a select few guys I would never want to make angry. My short list goes something like this:
- Vader
- Nash
- Undertaker
- Sid

Sid scared me to death as a kid. He's huge and the guy looks exactly the same as he did in 1990. He's the Dick Clark of wrestling.

That being said, I prefer him as a heel. Imagine him coming in and beating people up in WWE. All the kids in this PG era would be scared to death.

 

[justtxyank]

Sid is one of the most underrated workers of all time by the IWC because the IWC too often focuses on "skill" and not "believability."

Sid was a bad mutha. Unlike most wrestlers from his era on forward, he seemed real. He was stiff in the ring and when booked right he was awesome.

My favorite short stretch of his career was with ECW. I think if Heyman had ever booked for WCW with Sid there he would have made Sid a mega star because he knew what worked for Sid. The ECW crowd, smarky as it was, loved them some Sid.

To answer your question, Sid should not have been a "heel" or a "face." He should have consistently been a mercenary. At times he could have been a face ally because of his interests and at times he could have been a heel.

 

[mrhexum]

These are some of the funnest threads I've seen on here in a long time. Keep 'em coming.

As most have said, Sid was at his best as a heel. He was just dominant and always a threat to the top face. He worked pretty well no matter what roll he was booked in. But, as a face I was always waiting for his all too predictable heel turn. I will say however that when needed, Sid was always a good choice to put the other monster heels in their place.

So, I would have to say Sid was better as a heel, being that you always knew that's where he was gonna end up anyways.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Sid was booked as a heel for the large part of his career but he did have something likable about him. Most people remember how Shawn got booed against Sid but it is also worth noting that Sid got a huge cheer when he eliminated Hulk Hogan from the Royal Rumble in 1992 to set up their WrestleMania match. That incident was actually the first thing that suggested that Hogan's hold over the audience was slowly fading away.

People responded to Sid's charisma and for this reason I have always felt that he deserved a run as a face on the main event level. WWF tried it with Luger in 1993 even though they had Bret Hart on the roster. I think Sid would have been a better choice than Luger at that point. They should have signed up Sid and given him the ball. Luger did get popular as a face during that time even though he had no history as a face while Sid was a guy that had outpopped Hogan. The look was never a problem with Sid and while he did not have great in ring skills, it wasn't as if Luger was the second coming of Ric Flair.

He was always a bad guy and had a good career but I think he could have done even better as a good guy.