The following was emailed to WrestleZone.com by Pro Wrestling Syndicate co-owner, Eric "Tapout". It's a full explanation behind his dealings with Sid "Vicious" Eudy and why he gave out Sid's personal phone number at his event this past Friday night.
"Hey Chris,
Thanks for the email .
I enjoyed your editorial and do not fault you in any way shape or form for not having the full story .. you were simply going by what you were told from a wrestler whom should be a valid reliable source.
The way we handled the Sid No Show was definitely a controversial move. Some will side with it and of course likewise some will be vocal against. Please understand though this is our third miserable experience with Sid which is what really pushed us over the top. Sid has burned us three times now.
First time we had Sid booked was for May 2011. Sid was to sign autographs at The Queens Elks Lodge for 90 minutes before the show, and wrestle against Eddie Kingston that night. Sid was paid in full when he arrived. He was in a private room with Mick Foley and Velvet Sky for autographs with a line of 200+. After legit 15 minutes Sid got up and walked away citing "I dont feel like doing this anymore" and went to the back. Sid vs Eddie Kingston was a major let down , not that anyone was expecting a 5 Star Match however the crowd quickly turned on Sid within 30 seconds. The video of the full match can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KHiFkQ3ISE
After the match Sid came to the back and said "Eric I should have listened to you, I've been doing this a long time and I was wrong, we'll do better next time". Okay, not a problem.
Fans were upset about not being able to get Sid's autograph at the sold out Queens Elks Lodge event. Therefore, we decided to try again with Sid to meet the demands of our fans. Sid was booked to compete for PWS on August 20, 2011 in Ronkonkoma, NY. We also got Sid bookings to do two hour autograph signings at two stores during that weekend. Sid's flight was not booked until two weeks before the PWS show because Sid referenced he did not know when he would be returning from Africa with Kevin Sullivan. Sid stated that Sullivan wanted him an Africa tour and did not know whether Sullivan would be flying Sid directly into New York for us or back home. Sid never went to Africa.
One week before the August 20th show, Sid contacted PWS saying he needed us to fly in his girlfriend as well. To keep people happy we agreed. A day later Sid contacted us again and said not to fly in his girlfriend but since we agreed to do it, to just give him the money for the flight. Again, to keep fans happy we sucked it up and agreed. Two days later Sid contacted PWS again to go over his itinerary for the weekend. At this point he said he would only do one of the two store appearances , not both, but wanted the same payday as if he was doing everything in addition to the price of his girlfriend's flight. Both store appearances were heavily advertised (at Dan Sherman's store in Staten Island and at Royal Collectibles in Queens). Sid was pulled from Dan Sherman's store ..again with the focus of let's just do whatever it takes to get Sid at PWS to appease our fans. Sid then phoned back to say that he would not do the full 90 minute autograph signing at PWS. At that point, PWS explained that he agreed to do that and that's the major reason he was being brought in. Sid claimed he never agreed to do 90 minutes but instead claimed he agreed to do 30 minutes. PWS referred to the details that were in the email to Sid that explained his entire itinerary in full as well as that PWS had advertised a 90 minute Meet & Greet featuring Sid and others for the past several weeks. Sid said "you know I think we have some red flags here". At this point PWS and Sid agreed that it would be best if he stayed home which PWS announced immediately. PWS ran with Dan Maff vs Harry Smith (Smith's first post WWE match) instead and came out of pocket giving the first 300 fans in attendance a free PWS dvd to make up for Sid not being there. In spite of this, again, fans were upset that Sid wasn't there.
After all of that, once again to appease our fans we decided to try one final time with Sid. Sid agreed to wrestle Matt Hardy on March 9th 2012 at The Rahway Rec Center in addition to signing autographs for 2 hours before the show. We decided to keep Sid's booking short and simple (ie no store appearances or convention appearances while he's in town). PWS was approached by Kayfabe Commentary about their desire to do a shoot interview with Sid after the PWS show. Sid accepted their offer. PWS was in contact with Sid on a weekly basis making sure the specifics of his booking were fresh on his mind. Sid was very polite, courteous, respectful, and genuinely seemed like he was excited for the event and eager to wrestle Matt Hardy. We had zero reason to believe Sid would nothing but a pleasure to work with based on these conversations. PWS spoke to Sid at 9:45pm on March 8th. Sid knew he had to catch a flight at 6am into LaGaurdia with a transfer at Chicago O'Haire, and knew that a gentleman driving a black Hummer would be picking him up at the gate. Sid was to land at 1pm in New York.
At 10:45am on Friday March 9th PWS received a phone call from Sid which went as follows:
SID: "Man I'm not going to make it"
(awkward pause waiting for him to say 'hey just kidding')
PWS: "What's wrong are you okay"
SID: "Man the thing is, I went into a deli to buy a soda and someone stole my wallet. DAMMIT!"
PWS: "Wow that's really horrible, where are you now"
SID: "I'm home and now I gotta waste the day calling to cancel my credit cards".
PWS: "Is there any way possible we can book you on a later flight and get you into New Jersey tonight"
SID: "They stole my ID , I can't do nothing, I'll talk to you"
-end call-
PWS tried diligently to replace Sid. We immediately began rapid firing calls. Ken Anderson was contacted but was in Kentucky for a TNA house show. John Morrison was contacted but was unable to do PWS due to a private signing in NYC. TNA's Bob Ryder was contacted. Nobody available. ESS Promotions' Eric Simms; same deal. Kevin Steen, Jay Briscoe, Homicide, and MVP all received calls as well. We were willing to take on MULTIPLE names to replace Sid. We decided the best move we could have make was Jay Lethal, Balls Mahoney, and Marty Jannetty all wrestling on the event. We had little time and not a lot of options.
The Pro Wrestling Syndicate Super Card 2012 event opened with Pat Buck in the ring explaining exactly what happened with Sid. Sid's phone was called from the ring and it went to voicemail while fans chanted their thoughts at Sid. The phone number was quickly read because we did not want anyone to think we were pulling a stunt by false advertising Sid. It would have been very simple for anyone to turn around and say "yeah right they probably called Domino's Pizza not Sid Vicious". After all we have been through with Sid we wanted to extinguish any shadow of a doubt in anyone's mind about this situation. PWS offered a full refund to anyone in attendance and nobody accepted.
During intermission of the show Pat Buck and myself encountered three fans in the lobby area that were on the concession stand line that were verbally upset about Sid not being at the show. They said they "felt cheated". Pat Buck and myself asked them how much they paid for their tickets. We were told $20 each. With $60 cash in hand we offered them full refunds citing "you have just seen half a show of good wrestling for free, here is your $60 back". They declined.
PWS does believe in keeping things professional. We would NEVER give out personal information on ANYONE unless there was an extreme circumstance. We view this situation with Sid as being just that, an extreme circumstance. For instance Zema Ion legit had car problems driving from West Virginia to New Jersey on March 9th. We know Zema was being honest. Zema Ion is one of the nicest and most humble wrestlers we have ever had the pleasure of working with. In the case of Zema Ion, it was unfortunate he couldn't be there on March 9th for PWS but instead he was added to the PWS show on May 4th at the same venue in Rahway. Simple. No problem. Easy breezy.
Once again we apologize that Sid was not at PWS on March 9th to wrestle Matt Hardy. We tried guys, we really did, multiple times. Balls Mahoney vs Mary Jannetty was added so fans could still experience a match that has never happened before and likely will never happen again. Jay Lethal was added to wrestle Matt Hardy which ended up being a stellar bout which saw Lethal enter to Sid's music doing a spot-on Sid impersonation including his own rendition of the infamous "I have half the brain that you do" promo.
After all of this, perhaps the most complexing thing to PWS is that fans have still contacted us asking "will Sid be at the next show".
For all the latest on PWS please visit www.ProWrestlingSyndicate.com.
-Eric Tapout"
