The Brutal Story Of Arn Anderson's Backstage Fight With Sid Vicious

Professional wrestling is a brutal and unforgiving business, in terms of physical health, as well as mental stability. There is no doubt that many professional wrestlers truly enjoy putting on a show, but at the same time, wrestling is more than just putting on a show through athletic spectacle and technical mat work. The very top of the industry is extremely competitive as out of the hundreds and thousands of wrestlers over the decades, only a handful have been megastars to the degree of The Rock or Steve Austin.

Aside from the physical pain of working grueling matches, backstage politics and competitive spirit can and does lead to conflicts that are not intended for the entertainment of the masses. Indeed, wrestlers have slugged it out backstage over personal and professional issues, as confirmed by testimonies or the wrestlers themselves coming out and admitting it.

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Oftentimes, wrestlers punch each other in the face and the situation is stopped from escalating further by the co-workers or management barging in and separating the wrestlers involved in the melee. However, there has been one case where two wrestlers brawled in a hotel hallway, and the fight ended with both athletes being sent to the hospital as they had bled buckets.

The Fight Began Over Sid's Resentment Towards Ric Flair

The year was 1993, and the two men involved in the bloody melee were Sid Vicious and Arn Anderson. After wrestling a show in Blackburn, England, Anderson and Sid, along with a couple of other wrestlers, went to a bar. At that time, WCW was not doing particularly well in terms of finances and the wrestlers themselves were not making decent figures and so the conversation between the group, which also included Steve Austin, shifted to money woes and the company not drawing good numbers.

Ric Flair was brought up as the guy who was making good money in the business and then tempers started to flare. Sid lashed out at Flair and basically singled him out as the problem in the company. Anderson, who was close friends with Flair, took offense and the two got into an argument. Eventually, Sid threw a beer bottle and that was the cue for everyone to disperse as the situation was bound to escalate into something worse had they not left the bar.

From here, accounts begin to differ. The wrestlers went back to the hotel, but according to Sid’s manger, Col. Robert Parker, Sid dismantled a chair, grabbed the leg of it and then went to visit Arn Anderson. After feigning a handshake, Sid smashed the leg of the chair over Anderson’s head, leading to a brawl that spilled outside the room.

Anderson attempted to stab Sid with a pair of scissors. The two wrestlers tussled for them, with Sid eventually snatching the instruments and stabbing Anderson 20 to 30 times, spilling an obscene amount of blood.

Parker also insinuated that Sid was wrestling without steroids and he was bound to explode due to the withdrawal effects. On the other hand, Sid has given a different retelling of these depressing events. According to him, Anderson was threatening to stab him with a broken beer bottle during the argument in the bar. Later on, Sid visited Anderson’s room with the intention of nailing him on the head with the limb of the chair he had dismantled but decided against it.

However, when Anderson opened the door to his room, with scissors in his hand, Sid thought he was “coming after him” and knocked him down with one shot. He then noticed that Anderson had stabbed him during the scuffle and then grabbed the scissors next to his feet and then stabbed Anderson repeatedly.

According to 2 Cold Scorpio, an eyewitness in the hallway, the entire place was stained with blood and Sid was kicking Anderson on the face and stabbing him over and over again. Scorpio immediately rushed in and broke up the fight, noting that Anderson was in a much worse condition than his foe.

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Sid walked off in a daze while Anderson collapsed due to the loss of blood. The two were sent to the hospital, with Sid having four stab marks and Anderson suffering of over twenty. Sid and Arn both spent the night in the hospital and had to be kept separated during the remainder of the tour. Moreover, they went back to the United States on different flights.

Both Sid and Anderson Have Since Reconciled

Sid was fired by the WCW for this incident and Anderson received a suspension. After the incident, Sid admitted that he had apologized to Arn Anderson and currently, the two are on good terms with each other.

However, this backstage fight still stands out for all the wrong reasons. The little argument over Ric Flair spiraled out of control and led to the most bloody and vicious real-life fight in the history of pro wrestling.