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Post by Trent Valentine on Oct 1, 2010 11:44:16 GMT -5
Back in 1992, Sid Justice was the new kid on the block. Nobody knew who's side he was on, but soon it was revealed he was on the side of good when he helped out Hogan and Warrior countless times.
Course, then came the Royal Rumble. The final three were Hulk Hogan, Justice, and Ric Flair. Sid dumps out Hogan and the crowd goes batshit, then it all turns to boos when Hogan acts like he was eliminated illegally. Hogan grabs his so called friend's arm which makes him easy pickings for Flair to dump Sid over the ropes.
And how does Hogan get rewarded? A Title shot against Ric Flair at Wrestlemania 8 at the Hoosier Dome. Sid meanwhile gets a big pile of nothing. Can't blame the guy for turning heel, he was unfairly eliminated by Hogan when it could have been him as the new Champion.
Looking back..from a kayfabe standpoint(and realistically) Should Sid Justice have been the rightful winner? Listen to the crowd when Sid throws Hogan out on his red and yellow ass, the crowd loses it. For once, Hogan didn't win anything. Around the time of 1992, people grew bored of Hogan's good guy Hulkamania schtick. Sid was someone new they could get behind and they turned him heel. After his feud with Hogan ended he faded away from the WWF until 1995 when he was brought back as HBK's Bodyguard.
Should it have been Sid who was in the Main Event light?
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Post by lildude8218 on Oct 1, 2010 12:01:47 GMT -5
we're talking kayfabe right? well, let's look at Sid's run leading up to the Rumble
he debuts as special referee. we'll ignore dark matches and most house shows since they usually "don't count." his first match is squashing Kato of the Orient Express in September. he squashed Big Bully Busick who amounted to nothing in the company. had a match with Taker on Superstars that was just hijinks to have Taker and Jake attack him. then Sid squashed Col. Mustafa. that takes us to TV in November but Sid gets injured in October, has surgery and misses a huge chunk of dates.
Sid returns appears a few times in interviews and at ringside but doesn't return to wrestling until January. His first match is an extended squash beating Skinner followed by another squash against a jobber. the problem here is those matches don't air until AFTER the Rumble.
so technically Sid's first match back from injury was the Rumble. leading up to that point he had only beaten JTTS on TV. if you want to factor in house show matches, in 91 he beat Taker a few times in gimmick matches, had some DQ wins over Jake, but early 92 he was jobbing to Taker on house shows.
it's clear that he was getting pushed by the Rumble but him winning would have been kind of a "wow, anyone can win" factor instead of him being the right or obvious choice. I think Sid winning the title at that Rumble would be comparable to Russo's idea of having Tank Abbott win the belt in WCW the same way later on.
if Sid hadn't gotten injured and missed almost 3 months then it could have been an entirely different story. he could have beaten a lot more credible guys on TV and gotten a decent build.
and factoring all that in is a reason why Sid clearly wasn't the #1 contender just because he was the last man eliminated.
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Futureraven: Beelzebruv
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
The Ultimate Arbiter of Right And Wrong
Spent half my life here, God help me
Posts: 15,133
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Post by Futureraven: Beelzebruv on Oct 1, 2010 13:19:49 GMT -5
Not really, like lildude said, he'd missed 3 months with injury, while he had become a big deal, fairly quickly, they can't have been that sure how popular he was to the point of being cheered over Hogan. Plus in January, I'm guessing the plan was still for Flair v Hogan at Wrestlemania, and on paper, nothing should have stopped that.
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Post by DrBackflipsHoffman on Oct 1, 2010 13:46:45 GMT -5
If he had, I don't think we'd have got the best promo of all time from him at Wrestlemania 8
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Post by the5thhorseman on Oct 1, 2010 14:14:30 GMT -5
I mean I suppose they could have made it work, but Flair's victory was perfect and imo the best Rumble of all time.
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Post by Todd Pettengill on Oct 1, 2010 15:08:39 GMT -5
Also- quick note, I don't know if the crowd was necessarily cheering the elimination of Hogan. I think it's more like shouts of pure shock.
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Post by nerdinitupagain on Oct 1, 2010 21:40:51 GMT -5
Also- quick note, I don't know if the crowd was necessarily cheering the elimination of Hogan. I think it's more like shouts of pure shock. When you see the original, unedited version... The crowd did go nuts for the elimination... and did boo Hogan when he helped eliminate Sid. |
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Futureraven: Beelzebruv
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
The Ultimate Arbiter of Right And Wrong
Spent half my life here, God help me
Posts: 15,133
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Post by Futureraven: Beelzebruv on Oct 2, 2010 3:12:18 GMT -5
Also- quick note, I don't know if the crowd was necessarily cheering the elimination of Hogan. I think it's more like shouts of pure shock. When you see the original, unedited version... The crowd did go nuts for the elimination... and did boo Hogan when he helped eliminate Sid. Also, after the match they get in the ring and have a face-off, you can hear them going 'SID! SID! SID!' to the point he drops to one knee and acknowledges them. |
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Post by johnnyk9 on Oct 3, 2010 10:19:38 GMT -5
Sid I don't think established himself to much yet, his arm injury really put him on the back burner and people somewhat forgot about him until it was announced he was returning for the Rumble, he squahed Kato, Col. Mustfa, Big Bully Busick, and did the angle with El Diablo/Jake Roberts/Taker/Duggan, that was really it for his fall 1991 run
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Post by Nomad Soul on Oct 4, 2010 14:26:08 GMT -5
Has it ever been pointed out that Sid seemed to draw face heat when booked as a heel against an established babyface superstar TWICE in WWF? Against Hogan in 92 and against HBK in 96.
I wonder why that is and I wonder why he was always booked heel.
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Post by foreveryoung on Oct 4, 2010 15:27:42 GMT -5
I definitely would have put the belt on Sid over Flair.. As big of a legend as Flair was, he just never caught on with that Northern crowd as he did down south. He was over but not nearly as over as he was in the Crockett territory.. And you can argue Sid was definitely more over in the North then he was in the south for sure. Especially during his 91-92 run.
Sid was one guy they really missed the boat on.. I hear he flunked a steroid test back in 92, but been brought back after the steroid-sex scandle stuff ended to have a LONG run with the world strap. And not just a 2 month run that he had in 96. Hell he was mega over in 96 at the Garden.. Shawn was supposed to be the babyface, he was getting boos from all over the arena
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Post by baerrtt on Oct 5, 2010 9:33:55 GMT -5
I definitely would have put the belt on Sid over Flair.. As big of a legend as Flair was, he just never caught on with that Northern crowd as he did down south. He was over but not nearly as over as he was in the Crockett territory.. And you can argue Sid was definitely more over in the North then he was in the south for sure. Especially during his 91-92 run. Sid was one guy they really missed the boat on.. I hear he flunked a steroid test back in 92, but been brought back after the steroid-sex scandle stuff ended to have a LONG run with the world strap. And not just a 2 month run that he had in 96. Hell he was mega over in 96 at the Garden.. Shawn was supposed to be the babyface, he was getting boos from all over the arena The one constant thing that's been said about Sid by others is that the guy was never reliable or passionate enough about the business and that's a good enough reason as to why they 'missed the boat on him' as you say. |
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Post by romafan87 on Oct 5, 2010 23:56:15 GMT -5
I definitely would have put the belt on Sid over Flair.. As big of a legend as Flair was, he just never caught on with that Northern crowd as he did down south. He was over but not nearly as over as he was in the Crockett territory.. And you can argue Sid was definitely more over in the North then he was in the south for sure. Especially during his 91-92 run. Sid was one guy they really missed the boat on.. I hear he flunked a steroid test back in 92, but been brought back after the steroid-sex scandle stuff ended to have a LONG run with the world strap. And not just a 2 month run that he had in 96. Hell he was mega over in 96 at the Garden.. Shawn was supposed to be the babyface, he was getting boos from all over the arena The one constant thing that's been said about Sid by others is that the guy was never reliable or passionate enough about the business and that's a good enough reason as to why they 'missed the boat on him' as you say. There's a weird Catch-22 with guys like Sid and Warrior. They have reputations for not being reliable, but I think what it comes down to was they both knew their worth and it had to be worth their while to come in and work. Sid, more so than any person not named Hogan, Rock, or Austin, could pop a Northeastern crowd like nobodies' business and he knew that. I know he knows that because he says so in his shoot and it's absolutely true. I think, however, he would have been, at the very least perceived as, more passionate had he been given the ball and let run with it. I think the WWF had their big runaway star to take the ball from Hogan as a baby face but instead went in a different direction and Sid was gone shortly thereafter for flunking a steroids test. |
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