Sid Vicious On Why Shawn Michaels Was Underrated And Bret Hart Was Overrated
The best way to write someone off TV in wrestling is by having a behemoth like Sycho Sid destroy them. That's what happened with Shawn Michaels' manager Jose Lothario in the mid-90s and Sid discussed that when he spoke to Wrestling Inc. on today's episode of The Wrestling Inc Daily podcast.
"I think they really didn't need Jose as a manager. I think that was done as a favor to him and to give him some part-time work," Sid said of WWE bringing Lothario in. "I wasn't the one who was supposed to be in that match as it was supposed to be Vader but things never materialized and they thought I was the better person to be put in that spot.
"The thing with hitting him was getting him back home, I guess. It was also to get some heat because that was Shawn's hometown. A lot of times when they bring someone in, they were trying to think of a way of getting [Jose] out of there. So, it was to give him a nice little run and get him back home."
Sid and Michaels had a feud that featured a couple of WWF Heavyweight Title matches at pay-per-views and Sid discussed working with HBK.
"It was always good to work with Shawn. He, and maybe a handful of others, would I consider to be right at that same level. Every time I worked with Shawn he was always really unselfish and giving. He worked really hard, like we all do, to make the other person look good. He did that as well, if not better than most people," said Sid. "That's what builds good chemistry, when you have two people? everyone has to be willing participants in it.
"Sometimes you work with someone who doesn't want to be giving and it just makes for a bad night. So, working with people like Shawn, Sting, Vader and Bigelow ? those guys are all workhorses and want to have a good match. They're giving and that's what makes for a good partner in the wrestling business."
Many people said it was difficult dealing with Shawn Michaels the person during the mid-90s but Sid said he had no such issues.
"I never had any experiences with anyone who was hard to deal with, just some people weren't that talented," stated Sid. "I think Shawn's reputation was really unwarranted. I don't know how he got it. He did a few stupid things but we all did stupid things, but not anything to get the reputation he got.
"I never saw anyone that he had a hard time except maybe for Bret. Even with that, Shawn worked really hard to have good matches with him. Some of the first three-way matches that ever took place, at least the first that I've ever done, were with me and Shawn and Bret. Really what made those three-way matches was Shawn. He didn't have an ego like Bret did where Bret would say, 'I don't know if this is good for Bret Hart,' just silly stuff like that. When people talk in third person, that always is a red flag that things aren't gonna be that great.
"Bret was a little overrated where Shawn maybe wasn't rated highly enough."
Sid's new podcast "Vicious Circle" drops every Sunday and is available on all major podcast platforms. Sid's full interview with Wrestling Inc aired as part of today's episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.