What Happened to WWE's Sunny?

WWE Hall of Famer, Tammy Sytch, better known to wrestling fans as Sunny is slated to be released from prison in early October after being incarcerated since March 2018.

It has been a rough few years for the 45-year-old, whose prison term stemmed from failing to appear in court for a series of DUI arrests in the New Jersey area in early 2018.

While she was being processed, New Jersey authorities found Sytch was a fugitive after her parole in Pennsylvania was revoked. After she ceased resided in the state, the police had been unable to locate her for extradition.

This was the culmination of many recent run-ins with the law which at one point in 2012 saw Sytch incredibly, arrested five times in a 4 week period for an array of charges including burglary, disorderly conduct and three counts of violating a protective order.

It is a sad tale for a woman who had once sat at the pinnacle of the wrestling industry as the then WWF's number one sex symbol and held the distinction of being the most downloaded celebrity on AOL, 20 years ago, in 1998.

Sunny briefly managed The Legion of Doom in 1998

Sytch first burst onto the wrestling scene for Jim Cornette's Smoky Mountain Wrestling in the early 1990s with her wrestler boyfriend, Chris Candido.

Despite never wrestling, Sytch was unquestionably the star of the couple's act and it was her, not Candido who first received the call from the World Wrestling Federation in late 1994 to move up North and work for the biggest wrestling company in the world.

After a short-lived stint as "Tamara Murphy" - a commentator for WWF news segments, Sytch was re-christened Sunny and joined in the company by Candido who received the moniker, Skip.

The pair were presented as fitness fanatic heels who would run down the crowd and opponents for looking less than perfect like them.

However, fame would soon go to the 22-year-old's head and recognising she was the star of the duo, her ego grew and grew and she became a frequent headache for management and the locker room for her unprofessional conduct and repeated tantrums.

Although, it wasn't long before she found a kindred spirit, in the then-immature and adolescent, Shawn Michaels. The pair embarked on a very public affair, even going so far as sleeping with each other in Chairman, Vince McMahon's office.

Michaels was not the only affair, Sytch had; she had frequent liaisons with several performers and acted as she pleased, without fear of consequences.

Candido for his part, was a much liked, respectful and largely quiet individual, who was popular in the locker room for his easy-going demeanour and many sympathised with the way the hated Sytch treated him.

So much so, there were several juvenile incidents in which the wrestlers dished out a measure of revenge on the blonde bombshell. Sytch had her bags defecated in on several occasions and more famously had Southern hillbilly tag team, The Godwinn's dump their "slop bucker" over her on camera.

That was a planned spot. What was unscripted, however, is the extra "contributions" that many willing participants from the locker room provided into the bucket. In another act of revenge, Sytch was persuaded to braid the 650-pound super-heavyweight Yokozuna's hair, unaware that the wrestler never washed it, due to his inability to raise his massive arms above his head. Sytch would later claim that it took days for her to rid her hands of the stench.

Despite her backstage transgressions, Sytch remained a featured performer on television. Her boyfriend, Candido was partnered up with Tom Prichard, who was re-named Zip and Sytch managed the duo who were given the name, The Bodydonnas.

Sytch led the tandem to the Tag Team Championship and did the same for The Smoking Gunns tag team of Billy and Bart Gunn.

After a brief, forgettable spell as the manager of Faarooq, Sytch was repositioned as host of weekend WWF shows such as Livewire and Shotgun Saturday Night.

Candido left the Federation for Paul Heyman's Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1997 and Sytch was allowed to accompany him for several shows.

She returned full time with the WWF in early 1998 but would soon find herself supplanted as the premier female talent in the company by the far more buxom, Rena "Sable" Mero, who today goes by the name of Mrs Brock Lesnar.

Sable - Supplanted Sunny as the WWF's top female performer

Sable had far less talent than Sytch but at that time caused none of the backstage aggravation that Sytch did and formed an attachment with the audience, Sytch could only dream of.

At this time Sytch became addicted to prescription painkillers and began causing backstage problems once more, specifically with rival, Mero.

Therefore, her release from the company in July 1998 was inevitable.

Unfortunately, her destination was ECW, which was a hotbed for all sorts of recreational drug use, which exacerbated her and Candido's, who by that point had become an addict in the ECW environment himself, drug issues. The pair left the promotion the following year and resurfaced in WCW for another short-lived run in a major company. Their departure came amidst rumours of yet more drug abuse.

Sytch and Candido bounced around the independent scene for several years, during which time, Sytch's weight ballooned to an incredible degree, making her unrecognisable from her mid-nineties peak.

Drug abuse affected Sunny's looks in the

2000's

Eventually Sunny and Candido cleaned themselves up enough that they secured regular jobs with Jeff Jarrett's Total Nonstop Action promotion. The couple were a success until tragedy struck. During a cage match at Lockdown 2005 on April 24, 2005, Candido fractured his tibia and fibula when opponent Sonny Siaki fell onto his leg. Candido underwent surgery the next day and had screws and plates inserted to re-set his leg. However, despite apparently making a full recovery, Candido died on April 28, 2005.

At the time, his death was reported as a blood clot stemming from complications during his surgery, however his brother, Jonny later confirmed in an interview that Candido had died from pneumonia after he was mistakenly administered sleeping pills which slowed his breathing and caused his lungs to fill up with fluid.

It was a devastating blow for Sytch, who despite her ups and downs with Candido, had been in a relationship with him for two decades.

Sytch largely fell out of the spotlight as her weight gain continued to spiral. A phone call from WWE Talent boss, John Laurinitis wherein he enquired about her willingness to return to the company inspired her to get back into "Sunny shape" and Sytch remarkably slimmed down to a figure, much closely resembling her 1990s self.

The WWE return never materialised, but Sytch did make an appearance during the 15th-anniversary edition of Raw in 2007 as well as an in-ring appearance in the 25-Diva battle royal at Wrestlemania 25 in 2009.

Sytch was then enshrined into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011. Sytch had emerged from years of personal problems to stand proud once more and accept the adulation from fans as a wrestling icon.

Sadly, her problems were not permanently behind her and her years of legal issues soon began. Hopefully, with her parole from jail set to begin in several weeks, Sytch can once more leave her problems in the past and live a happy life.

Wrestling fans would prefer to remember her as the icon of the 1990s rather than the tragic figure she has become this decade.