Top 50 WWF Singles Wrestlers of the 90s

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I think he was just victim of a numbers game. Arguably, maybe never should have turned babyface cause babyface was more loaded throughout his run than heel side. Only time he could have been pushed past the #3 face role was Summer/Fall of '92 and I think WWF was looking to lean more international and fat Southern Sherriff wasn't going to win over fans in Europe...

 

[alfdogg]

Also of note is that Quake never actually did a job for Hogan on TV, discounting stuff like MSG/etc. shows. The closest was the end of the Royal Rumble, and the last of the feud was a tag match on TME in February where Bravo ate the fall.

 

[Valeyard]

Bossman should've had a Flair match at Summerslam '92. Flair being at the show, in his gear, but for no reason just will bug me forever and if Bossman was available, they should've gone that way. Then turn him to work with Taker for six months.

Hogan finally finishing Quake clean for the title is even better.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

If the Mega-Powers exploding hadn't been such obvious money, or for whatever reason Vince had decided at the last minute against turning Savage, then that Main Event card that had the break-up probably would have had Bossman beating Savage for the belt, instead, leading to Bossman/Hogan at WM5.

 

[SFH]

Context of childhood, but I remember being baffled when I found out Bossman was billed at 6'6 and over 300 pounds in one of those WWF sticker books I got for Christmas.

 

[Valeyard]

I know I've said it a bunch, and likely will even more as the list goes on, but Bossman's another guy who could've gotten Slaughter's run. Blue collar prison guard of the people going the full Iraqi is much more heartbreaking.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Well we know now how easy it is for law enforcement officers to develop radical viewpoints.

Also I'm amazed that Tugboat being the original choice for the Iraqi turncoat at WrestleMania VII hasn't come up in the Tugboat thread in GTG.

 

[Valeyard]

I was thinking about Tugboat. Tugboat could've been Col. Mustafa. Traitors all over.

 

[AA484]

25. Vader

Camp Cornette (1996–1997)[edit]

Main article: Camp Cornette

In the weeks leading up to the 1996 Royal Rumble, Vader's debut was heavily hyped on television as he was billed as "The Man They Call Vader" (though Vince McMahon had originally wanted to rename him "The Mastodon"). He made his first World Wrestling Federation (WWF) appearance as a participant in the Royal Rumble match, as he entered at number 13 and eliminated Jake Roberts, Doug Gilbert, one member of the Squat Team, and Savio Vega; he also fought with his ally Yokozuna, but Vader was eliminated by Shawn Michaels before he re-entered the ring and started assaulting everyone, including Michaels. Vader defeated Vega on the following Monday Night Raw, before assaulting WWF officials and eventually, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon demanded that Vader cease his attacks, and received a Vader Bomb for his efforts. As a result, Vader was suspended for his actions, though in reality he needed time off for shoulder surgery.

Jim Cornette campaigned for Vader's reinstatement, and by the time Vader returned, Yokozuna had left Cornette's management. At February's In Your House 6, Vader appeared during Yokozuna's match against The British Bulldog, and as Yokozuna was about to pin The Bulldog, Vader attacked him, handcuffed him, and delivered a severe beating. This led to what was supposed to be a one-on-one encounter between Vader and Yokozuna at WrestleMania XII. However, the match became a six-man tag team match pitting Vader, Owen Hart, and The British Bulldog against Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson, and Jake Roberts, with the stipulation that if Yokozuna's team won the match, he would have five minutes alone with Cornette in the ring; this never occurred as Vader's team won the match when Vader pinned Roberts.

Vader then attacked the WWF Champion Shawn Michaels after one of Michaels' matches, which earned him a spot in a six-man tag team match at In Your House 9: International Incident, where Vader, Owen Hart, and The British Bulldog teamed up against Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, and Sycho Sid; Vader pinned Michaels to win the match for his team. Vader faced Michaels again at SummerSlam, where Vader won by countout; Cornette, however, realized that the title could not change hands through a countout and got the match restarted, but this time, Michaels used Cornette's tennis racket and was disqualified, so again, Cornette managed to get the match started over, which Michaels won by pinfall.

Following his feud with Michaels, Vader faced off against The Undertaker in a singles match at the Royal Rumble, and during the match, The Undertaker's former manager, Paul Bearer, attacked him and helped Vader win; Bearer then became Vader's manager. Both Vader and Undertaker went on to compete in the Royal Rumble match, during which Stone Cold Steve Austin was eliminated by Bret Hart; however, the referees did not see this, as they were attending to Terry Funk and Mankind on the floor, allowing Austin to sneak back into the ring and eliminate both Vader and Undertaker, then Bret Hart, who was busy eliminating Fake Diesel, and win the Royal Rumble. As a result of this, Vader and the other men eliminated by Austin, Bret Hart and The Undertaker, were put into the four-way main event of February's In Your House 13: Final Four for the WWF Championship, in which Vader, after bleeding profusely, was eliminated by The Undertaker. Bearer then persuaded his two proteges, Vader and Mankind, to go after the WWF Tag Team Championship, despite the fact that the two men often brawled between themselves. They failed in their bid to win the tag team gold at WrestleMania 13.

Various feuds and departure (1997–1998)[edit]
Vader again received an opportunity to face The Undertaker, this time for the WWF Championship at In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede, but lost.[29] On the following night's Raw is War, Vader wrestled The Patriot Dell Wilkes, who won the match and then went after Bret Hart, who came to ringside during the match; Vader attacked The Patriot, and then brought him back into the ring, where he went for the Vader Bomb, but Hart came into the ring and laid the Canadian flag over The Patriot, so Vader got down, picked up the Canadian flag, broke it, and started a brawl with Hart. This turned Vader face and served to bring Vader into the USA vs. Canada feud, which culminated at Survivor Series, where Vader was the leader of Team USA, with Goldust, Marc Mero, and Steve Blackman (replacing the injured Patriot) as they faced Team Canada, composed of The British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart, Doug Furnas, and Phil LaFon; during the match, Goldust and Terry Runnels AKA Marlena, walked out on his team and Team USA lost the match after The Bulldog pinned Vader after hitting him with the ring bell. Goldust and Vader feuded throughout the fall and finally faced off at the Royal Rumble, in a match which Vader won. Goldust eliminated Vader from the Royal Rumble match later that night (Vader entered at number 30).[30]

Following his feud with Goldust, Vader began feuding with Kane, and both faced off for the first time at No Way Out of Texas, where Vader lost after a chokeslam and a Tombstone Piledriver before Kane subsequently attacked him with a large steel wrench, resulting in Vader being taken away on a stretcher and was kept off of television for a while.[31] Two months later, at Unforgiven, Vader returned during Kane's Inferno match against The Undertaker; as Kane was attempting to leave the match, Vader appeared and fought him back to the ring to continue the match, which Kane lost.[32] Vader and Kane had a rematch at Over the Edge in a Mask vs. Mask match, in which Vader attempted to use a wrench on Kane like the one used on him months before, but Kane managed to recover and defeat Vader, costing him his mask in the process. In a post-match interview with Michael Cole, Vader said, "I made the biggest mistake of my life. Maybe Vader time is over. I'm nothing but a piece of shit. A big fat piece of shit".[33]

Subsequently, Vader had a series of losses and was reduced to the status of a jobber to the stars, having a feud with Mark Henry which Vader lost. After considering retirement, Vader instead negotiated his own release from the WWF so he could once again wrestle in Japan.[4] His final WWF pay-per-view match was a loss to Bradshaw at Breakdown: In Your House in a No Holds Barred match. He lost to Edge on the October 11 episode of Sunday Night Heat in his final televised WWF match.[34] In a shoot interview, Jim Cornette said part of the reason that Vader's WWF run was not as successful as what was hoped was due to the failure to properly book Vader.[35]

 

[SFH]

What a wasted run.

 

[AA484]

Death Count

11 of the 26 wrestlers named so far have died. The average age? 48.6...

 

[Valeyard]

Did they ever explain why he wore his singlet backwards for like a month and a half?

Vader's run was lame, sure, but the good was really good. The Shawn match was great aside from the wrong ending. He tried to murder Gorilla Monsoon. He and Mankind were a great and he got totally underutilized during Taker's war with Paul Bearer despite having good matches with him every time. There was some fun stuff happening.

Sticking him with Cornette sucked. It never felt right. Vader was a born Fuji guy.

 

[Hawk 34]

Speaking of the Shawn match, try out the watchalong that Cornette did recently for this match to get an even more enhanced understanding of what was happening in that match.

The idea that VADER was scared of Shawn is baffling but fits the whole Leon White was too nice for the business narrative.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

#25 makes sense to me given criteria AA is using. Moderately warm take; Vader's WWF run while a massive disappointment wasn't quite as bad as people remember. He was consistently pushed, at least to upper mid-card level, until the last six months or so of his months (tipping point, obviously/amusingly, was when he yelled out "I'm just a fat piece of shit!" on a PPV).

I always thought Vader was buried in WWF until I had a conversation with an indy worker about it randomly and he brought up a great point. Vader didn't really make any attempts to modify his style or get into great shape for his WWF run. He was just the same big, sloppy hoss he had always been. While that worked great in early '90s WCW, it wasn't really going to cut it in the Monday Night Wars era (I think he would've been similarly depushed if he had stayed in WCW from '96 to '98. To compare to another contemporary monster heel who is also kind of snug (although not on same level as Vader) and briefly teamed with Vader in WWF; Mick Foley went to WWF with something to prove while Vader, I think, went to WWF expecting something owed to him.

Yeah, I think WWF probably could have done a better job with his character for damn sure but I think the late great Leon White deserves just as much of the blame as to why his run with Titan was ho hum.

 

[Dandy]

I think he needed the grand entrance too. Usually WWF/WWE has the more elaborate entrances (Steamboat breathing fire) than NWA/WCW. He needed the mask and staff full time.

And yes, Fuji would have been the tits as his manager.

 

[AA484]

24. Tatanka

Undefeated streak on television (1991–1993)[edit]
Chavis received his first tryout match with the WWF on January 8, 1991 against Dale Wolfe at a WWF Wrestling Challenge taping in Chattanooga, TN. He received a second tryout on February 18, 1991, against the Brooklyn Brawler at a WWF Superstars taping in Orlando, Florida. Wrestling as the War Eagle, Chavis was victorious. He followed it up with another win against Dale Wolfe the next day at a Wrestling Challenge taping.[6] On October 21 he received what was likely another tryout match at a Superstars taping, this time defeating Skinner. In November Chavis began wrestling on house shows under his given name.[7] Soon after, he took on the ring name "Tatanka". After wrestling in tryout matches at house shows, Tatanka made his television debut as a fan favorite on the February 1, 1992, episode of Superstars, defeating Pat Tanaka in his debut match.[7] As Tatanka, Chavis performed a war dance to the Lumbee tribal war cry that preceded his entrance to the ring, and had a red stripe dyed in the middle of his hair.

Tatanka was pushed as undefeated on WWF television; he did not suffer any defeat by pinfall or submission, but he lost several matches at house shows, the first being a countout loss to Rick Martel on June 4, 1992, in Fort Wayne, Indiana.[7][8] Tatanka's earliest rivalry on television was against Martel; it culminated in Tatanka's pay-per-view debut, at WrestleMania VIII, with Tatanka winning the match.[7] On May 18, 1992, Tatanka reached the peak of his success by winning the 40-man Bashed in the USA battle royal.[7] He renewed his "feud" with Martel, who had stolen sacred eagle feathers from him to add to his wardrobe, going on to defeat Martel again at Survivor Series to reclaim the feathers.[7]

At WrestleMania IX, Tatanka received his first televised title shot in the WWF, against Shawn Michaels for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. Tatanka won the match by countout. Since a title could not change hands on a countout, Michaels retained the title.[7] On the October 30, 1993, edition of Superstars, Tatanka suffered his first televised defeat in the WWF, losing to Ludvig Borga (Borga had hit Tatanka in the back with a steel chair while Mr. Fuji distracted the referee).[7] After the match, he was attacked by WWF champion Yokozuna and was subsequently out of action for three months. Tatanka returned to the WWF in the beginning of 1994.[7] He was scheduled to face Borga in a rematch at the Royal Rumble, but Borga injured his ankle just days before the event. Borga was replaced by Bam Bam Bigelow, who Tatanka defeated. Bigelow, however, would go on to eliminate Tatanka from the 30-man Royal Rumble match.

Million Dollar Corporation, suspension, and departure (1994–1996)[edit]
Main article: Million Dollar Corporation
Tatanka was honored by retired professional wrestlers Chief Jay Strongbow and Chief Wahoo McDaniel and by Lumbee tribesman Ray Littleturtle on an edition of Raw. Littleturtle presented him with a full-length Lumbee tribe chief headdress.[7] Tatanka engaged in a storyline feud with Irwin R. Schyster, who insisted he pay a gift tax on the item. Strongbow briefly served as Tatanka's mentor and manager during the duration of the feud.[7]

During the summer of 1994, Tatanka accused Lex Luger of selling out to Ted DiBiase, which resulted in a match between the two. Afterward, DiBiase entered the ring with a red, white and blue bag full of money. Luger kicked the bag out of DiBiase's hands resulting in Tatanka attacking him and turning him into a villain at SummerSlam, joining DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation.[7] He spent the remainder of the year feuding with Luger which topped off in a cage match on Raw that saw Luger come out the victor.[7]

In spring 1995, Tatanka had another feud with Bam Bam Bigelow, who just turned face.[7] As a result, he teamed with Sycho Sid at the King of the Ring pay-per-view to lose to Bigelow and Diesel.[7]

Tatanka was suspended on Aug 30, reportedly as a preemptive measure for being named in a lawsuit to be filed by a woman stemming from an incident in Anaheim, CA, following a WWF event in late 1994. According to sources, the woman was said to have been drugged, sodomized and her head shaved on only one side. Kevin Nash reiterated this story in an interview with Kayfabe Commentaries. The woman was having drinks with him and Undertaker the night prior. When the wrestlers were leaving the hotel the following morning, Nash noticed that she was seated in between two police officers. The hallway was smeared in blood. She had half her head shaven as she was crying, reporting the incident to the officers. In the interview, however, Nash presumed the person who did this was Jimmy Del Ray because of similar stories of Del Ray. During representation by Tatanka's attorney the facts showed that Tatanka was not involved in the incident at all and Del Ray was fired from the company and Tatanka's suspension was lifted and he returned with full-pay to the active WWF roster. As Nash noted in his interview, he knew that Tatanka was not involved at all but had only been around Del Ray that night, which caused Tatanka to also be named and unfairly suspended.[9]

Following this hiatus at the end of August 1995, Tatanka returned to the WWF to compete in the Royal Rumble event, where he was eliminated by Diesel.[7]

On March 19, 1996, Tatanka wrestled his final televised match in the WWF, losing to the WWF champion Bret Hart in a non-title match.[7] Tatanka left the WWF in the spring of 1996, citing family and spiritual issues.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

He'll have a place in my heart forever for being the first wrestler I ever met. At Home Vision Video (RIP) at the Mill Creek Plaza in South Portland, ME sometime in the Summer of '94 shortly before he turned heel.

I had to mute him on Twitter cause he's such a huge MAGA guy. Well, I guess Native Americans were first and worst ones exposed to scourge of illegal immigration.

 

[AA484]

If there is one thing I've learned as a wrestling fan all through the years, it is this: Casual fans, hardcore fans, hell, even people who didn't watch wrestling -- everyone remembers Tatanka.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Why is WWE so bad at booking undefeated wrestlers? How do you have a guy that you recognize as having a twenty-one month undefeated streak, and he only gets one title shot, in that entire run?

 

[Valeyard]

He had no upward mobility at the time, and the whole thing was pointless. I never bought him as a big threat to anything as a kid because he was so aimless for most of that streak, and it felt like it was always fight Rick Martel every three months. Won't ever complain about him losing because I fucking loved Ludvig Borga.

 

[SFH]

Always found it interesting in the WWF Magazine merchandise section they had autographs for sale and if you looked really close you could see "Chris Chavis" on Tatanka's autographed photos. I think I was only able to even decipher it because I caught some random pre-WWF wrestling show at 1am during his early WWF run, had him wrestling under his real name.

Loved the guy. Hell, I remember one weekend a friend was over playing video games and stopped dead, "Wait we need to put it on USA at 11, the Tatanka/El Gigante match is on" (he meant Giant Gonzalez, but kids). So he was resonating.

 

[AA484]

23. SID

Sid Justice (1991-1992)
At a Superstars taping on May 28, 1991, Eudy made his WWF debut in an untelevised segment attacking The Mountie following Mountie's open offer. He defeated Ted DiBiase in his first WWF match at a non-televised event in Calgary on July 8. On the June 8 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, vignettes began airing promoting his WWF debut and introducing him as Sid Justice.[9] On the July 20 episode of Superstars, Eudy debuted on WWF television and was announced as the special guest referee for the main event of that year's SummerSlam, where The Ultimate Warrior and the WWF Champion Hulk Hogan teamed up against The Triangle of Terror (Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa, and Gen. Adnan) in a 3-on-2 handicap match. Later that night, Sid saved Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth from an attack at the hands of Jake Roberts and The Undertaker at the newly wed couple's reception. During this time, Sid defeated Kato in his first televised match on the September 21 episode of Superstars. In a match with Roberts, Sid injured his biceps and was forced to miss the Survivor Series pay-per-view.

Sid returned at the Royal Rumble, which had a special stipulation: the winner would win the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Title, which had been stripped from Hulk Hogan. Sid entered at No. 29 and was among the final four wrestlers, along with Hogan, Randy Savage, and Ric Flair, before he eliminated both Savage and then Hogan, leaving himself and Flair in the ring. Hogan, who was still at ringside after being eliminated, grabbed Sid's arm and tried to pull him over the top rope, giving Flair the chance to grab Sid's legs and throw him out to win the match and become the new WWF Champion.

Less than a week later, on the January 25 episode of Superstars, WWF President Jack Tunney held a press conference to announce who would face Flair for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania VIII. Before Tunney even announced who the number one contender would be, Sid stood up as if Tunney called his name. Yet to Sid's annoyance, Tunney chose Hogan. Sid clutched the stack of papers he fanned himself with earlier and gave a menacing glance in Hogan's direction. After the press conference, Sid said what Jack Tunney did was "bogus." Sid later issued an apology to Hogan, which Hogan accepted. Sid and Hogan then teamed up to face The Undertaker and Flair on Saturday Night's Main Event XXX. During the match, after he double clotheslined Undertaker and Flair, Hogan reached to Sid for a tag. However, Sid refused to tag in and walked out of the match. Despite this, Hogan won the match by disqualification.

On February 23 on an episode of Wrestling Challenge, Sid appeared as a guest on Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake's "The Barber Shop". Knowing that Hulk Hogan (Beefcake's long-time real-life friend) was not in the arena, Sid threatened Beefcake and chased him off the set before destroying the Barber Shop with a chair. Later that night, it was announced that Hogan would battle Sid (and not WWF Champion Ric Flair) at the main event of WrestleMania VIII, resulting in Flair facing Randy Savage for the WWF Championship instead. A week later, Sid hired Harvey Whippleman as his manager. Sid also began a post-match gimmick where he would further "injure" his defeated opponents with one or more powerbombs (his finishing move), and sometimes — after the defeated wrestler placed on a stretcher — following this up by grabbing the stretcher and running it into a fixture, such as a ring post or guardrail.

At WrestleMania VIII, Sid lost his match to Hogan by disqualification when Papa Shango interfered on Sid's behalf, allowing the two to double-team Hogan until the returning Ultimate Warrior stormed the ring and saved Hogan. Nearing the end of the match, Sid kicked out of Hogan's trademark running leg drop. Sid was disqualified when Whippleman quickly jumped into the ring to get involved.

On a November 22, 2011, edition of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer confirmed that Sid failed a drug test prior to his WrestleMania match with Hulk Hogan. He was allowed to do the match and then went on their European tour. After the tour, he was told he was going to serve his suspension, resulting in Eudy quitting instead and pursuing a career in softball.[10] At the time of his departure from the WWF, Sid was about to embark on a feud with The Ultimate Warrior who had returned at Wrestlemania VIII to save Hulk Hogan from the beat down from Sid and Papa Shango, the story being that Sid was angry the Warrior had stuck his nose in his business. Eudy competed on the WWF's European tour in April 1992, then began his feud with Warrior in the United States. They wrestled on two house shows, with Warrior winning twice by disqualification. After wrestling Warrior in Boston, Massachusetts on April 26, Eudy voluntarily quit the company due to disagreements with the Warrior and WWF management in particular about the outcome of his match with Warrior.[11] The WWF replaced Sid with Papa Shango in the feud with Warrior.[12]

Alliance with Shawn Michaels and Million Dollar Corporation (1995)[edit]
Main article: The Million Dollar Corporation
On the February 20, 1995 episode of Raw, Eudy returned to the WWF under the ring name Sycho Sid, where he became the bodyguard of Shawn Michaels. Along with Jenny McCarthy, Sid accompanied Michaels to ringside for Michaels' WWF Championship match against then-champion and Michaels' former bodyguard, Diesel, at WrestleMania XI. Michaels had the match won after hitting his signature Superkick, but Sid stood on the ring apron and distracted referee Earl Hebner, allowing Diesel time to recover and pin Michaels after a Jackknife Powerbomb to win the match and retain his title. The next night on Raw, Michaels expressed dissatisfaction with Sid's interference and gave him the night off for his rematch against Diesel at the first-ever In Your House pay-per-view. In response, Sid replied to Shawn, "You don't give me the night off!", and attacked Michaels from behind before hitting him with a powerbomb three times, turning Michaels into a face again. Diesel came to Michaels' aid and clotheslined Sid over the top rope. Michaels claimed to have sustained a legitimate back injury as a result of the attack and was sidelined for six weeks, thus taking him out of the title match.[citation needed]

Two weeks later on the April 17 episode of Raw, Ted DiBiase announced Sid as the newest member of the Million Dollar Corporation after Bam Bam Bigelow left the Corporation. After joining, Sid challenged Diesel to a match for the WWF Championship at In Your House, which Diesel accepted. Diesel won the match via disqualification, and thus retained his title, when Tatanka interfered. After the match, Sid and Tatanka continued to double-team Diesel until Bam Bam Bigelow came out to save him. At the King of the Ring, Diesel and Bam Bam Bigelow defeated Sid and Tatanka. Sid faced Diesel once again at In Your House 2: The Lumberjacks for the WWF Championship in a lumberjack match, which Diesel won to end the feud. Following this, Sid moved on to a feud with Shawn Michaels and was scheduled to face him at SummerSlam, but was replaced by Razor Ramon at the request of WWF President Gorilla Monsoon, with Ramon challenging for Michaels' Intercontinental Championship in a ladder match as Sid was seen watching on the backstage television monitors. On the September 5 episode of Raw, Sid faced Michaels for the title but lost after being hit with three superkicks. Sid then started a brief feud with Henry Godwinn, culminating in a victory over Godwinn at In Your House 3: Triple Header.

On the November 13 episode of Raw, Sid faced the Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon in a non-title match, with Ramon's friend The 1–2–3 Kid as the special guest referee. Razor was about to deliver the Razor's Edge on Sid, but The 1–2–3 Kid helped Sid avoid it, allowing Sid to pin Ramon after a powerbomb, with the Kid making a fast count. After the match, the Kid turned heel and joined the Million Dollar Corporation. In the first elimination match at Survivor Series, Sid and Corporation leader Ted DiBiase helped The 1–2–3 Kid pin Marty Jannetty to win and become the sole survivor for his team. Later in the event, Sid was randomly teamed up with his rival Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, and The British Bulldog to face Yokozuna, Owen Hart, Razor Ramon, and Dean Douglas in a "Wild Card" Survivor Series match. Sid was eliminated by Razor Ramon after Michaels hit Sid with superkick. After his elimination, Sid powerbombed Michaels. At In Your House 5: Seasons Beatings, Razor Ramon and Marty Jannetty defeated Sid and The 1–2–3 Kid. Sid and The 1–2–3 Kid teamed up the next night to participate in the first-ever Raw Bowl, which The Smoking Gunns won. Shortly after, Sid suffered a serious neck injury and left the WWF.[13]

WWF Champion (1996–1997)[edit]
Eudy would not be seen again until the July 8 episode of Raw, when he was announced as the replacement for The Ultimate Warrior (who left the WWF) for the six-man tag team match, teaming with former rival Shawn Michaels and Ahmed Johnson against Vader, Owen Hart, and The British Bulldog at the main event of In Your House 9: International Incident, effectively making him a face. However, Sid's team lost the match.

The next night on Raw, Sid started a feud with The British Bulldog, whom he faced at SummerSlam on August 18 and pinned Bulldog with the powerbomb. At In Your House 10: Mind Games on September 22, Shawn Michaels hit Mankind with Sweet Chin Music and went for the pin to retain the WWF Championship, but Vader came out, broke up the count, attacked Michaels, and got Mankind disqualified. After the match, Mankind and Vader double-teamed Michaels until Sid came out to make the save. He and Vader fought their way backstage, starting a feud between the two. Sid fought Vader at In Your House 11: Buried Alive on October 20 in a match where the winner would face Shawn Michaels for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series on November 17. As Sid was about to powerbomb Vader, Vader's manager Jim Cornette got on the ring apron to distract him. Michaels responded and pulled Cornette off the apron before hitting him with Sweet Chin Music. Sid then pinned Vader with a chokeslam to win the match and to become the number one contender for the WWF Championship. After the match, Sid celebrated his victory with Michaels. At the Survivor Series, history repeated itself. Sid grabbed a camera from the camera operator and prepared to hit Michaels with it. Michaels' manager, Jose Lothario, got on the ring apron and told Sid to put the camera down, but Sid refused and hit Lothario in the chest with the camera instead. Although this was the act of a heel, the audience cheered wildly for him and booed Michaels, just as they had done, in Sid's favor, four and a half years earlier against Hogan at the Royal Rumble. Sid dropped the camera, and as soon as he turned around, Michaels hit him with Sweet Chin Music; however, Michaels went outside the ring to check on his manager instead of going for the pin. Sid hit Michaels in the back with the camera, then threw him back in the ring before hitting him with the powerbomb to win the WWF Championship.

At In Your House 12: It's Time on December 15, Sid defended the title against Bret Hart in a match where the winner would defend the title against Shawn Michaels at the 1997 Royal Rumble on January 19. Hart made Sid tap out to the Sharpshooter, but the referee was knocked out and unable to witness the submission. As Michaels was commentating at ringside, Sid and Hart left the ring and started fighting right beside him. After Sid had pushed Michaels then climbed into the ring with Hart, Michaels went to hit Sid but Sid threw Hart into him. Sid then pinned Hart with the powerbomb to retain the title. At the Royal Rumble, Sid lost the title to Michaels. During the match, Sid hit the chokeslam on Michaels and repeatedly powerbombed him outside the ring. Later on in the match, Jose Lothario got on the ring apron, and Sid approached him, but before he could do anything to Lothario, Michaels hit Sid in the back and the face with the camera, knocking him out in the process. Michaels went for the pin, but Sid managed to kick out. Michaels then hit Sid with Sweet Chin Music to become the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for the second time. Michaels soon forfeited the title due to being unable to wrestle, a claim still widely disputed by many during that time, especially Bret Hart, who believed Michaels did not want to drop the title to him at WrestleMania 13. At In Your House 13: Final Four in Chattanooga, a four corners elimination title match was held for the vacant championship belt between Bret Hart, The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vader. Hart won, and was scheduled to face Sid the following night, on the February 17, 1997, episode of Raw. During that match, Hart had Sid trapped in the Sharpshooter submission when Stone Cold Steve Austin, whom Hart was feuding with, came to the outside of the ring and hit Hart with a steel chair, allowing Sid to hit Hart with the powerbomb to win the WWF Championship for the second time.

At WrestleMania 13 on March 23, Sid lost the title against The Undertaker when Hart interfered during the match, allowing The Undertaker to hit the Tombstone Piledriver and pin Sid to win the WWF Championship. The next night on Raw is War, Sid made one more appearance after Bret Hart attacked an injured Shawn Michaels in the ring after a face to face promo about Hart turning on the fans. Following this, Sid was kept off of television until the May 12 episode of Raw is War, where he returned as a face. He competed against Owen Hart and defeated him to become the partner of The Legion of Doom in their feud with The Hart Foundation. At King of the Ring on June 8, Sid and The Legion of Doom faced The Hart Foundation (Owen Hart, The British Bulldog, and Jim Neidhart) in a six-man tag team match, which The Hart Foundation won when Owen pinned Sid with a roll-up. On June 9, Sid defeated Owen on Raw before disappearing from television for over a month. His last match was a loss to Owen in a house show in Toronto, Canada. He returned on the July 14 episode of Raw, making a brief final appearance before leaving the WWF once again to recover from a neck injury that would require surgery.

 

[Hawk 34]

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

a two time champion in the 90s when multiple title reigns still weren’t commonplace, two time WM main eventer among other great moments can’t be shoved into the 20s. He should be at least 7 spots higher at minimum.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Sid is weird to me. I look at him and somehow simultaneously wonder how he made it as big as he did, and also why didn't he make it bigger? Like, seriously, how can somebody be so major and so mid, at the same time?

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

a two time champion in the 90s when multiple title reigns still weren’t commonplace, two time WM main eventer among other great moments can’t be shoved into the 20s. He should be at least 7 spots higher at minimum.

Well, AA is doing it based on PWI Rankings . So based on that I'm guessing cause all of SID's runs were so short, even though he probably was ranked in Top 3-5 whenever he was in WWF. he probably wasn't in WWF for cumulatively for more than two years in the '90s.

 

[AA484]

Sid's best run was probably August of 1996 to April of 1997. Although he had two title runs you can't really say that either was very memorable. Not to mention that his two WrestleMania main events are also considered two of the worst of all-time.

Like Kamala said, he never really had a consistent run as he was regularly injured or on hiatus. His PWI rankings for his run in the WWF don't really light the world on fire, either; 16th in 1991, 34th in 1995, 40th in 1996, and 50th in 1997.

With that said, 23rd is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

The WCW Bias in PWI in '80s and '90s was pretty nutty. I don't see how in kayfabe terms, SID doesn't crack at least the Top 20 if not the Top 10 in any of those years. Hope you make a Top 50 WCW Singles of the '90s after this.

 

[Valeyard]

Two Wrestlemania main events, one against the biggest star ever and one defending the title against one of the biggest stars ever, really does make him higher to me. The great matches with Shawn are a bonus.

Him turning on Shawn was maybe the week before I got USA. Shawn was being a dick to him, so I didn't care...like how Hogan was a dick to him, and didn't care, really. He came the closest to making Diesel show the charisma to be a top guy; before Nash started making fun of the psycho blinking, Diesel didn't have much natural happening for him, and it showed Nash could be funny.

Second he got the big pyro SID he became the greatest.

 

[Gert]

Sid is weird to me. I look at him and somehow simultaneously wonder how he made it as big as he did, and also why didn't he make it bigger? Like, seriously, how can somebody be so major and so mid, at the same time?

 

[Valeyard]

Sid was actually the one time I didn't hate Dibiase as a manager, for that matter. I don't know why. Sid is the kind of guy who needs an interpreter, and since he has half the brain I have, he would totally sell his soul for magic beans.