6 Ups & 4 Downs From Vader's Legendary Wrestling Career
3. Heartbreaker
A terrifying heel in WCW before the aforementioned Hogan humbling, Vader's growls and bellows weren't bullsh*t - he was 'The Man'.
Thought to be a dream pickup for WWE in January 1996 after talents had begun flocking in the opposite direction, the rechristened 'Mastodon' was destined for a summer run with white meat babyface titleholder Shawn Michaels. Unfortunately, he fell afoul of the temperamental WWE Champion after his character's unnecessary roughness bled over into their matches together.
According to a first-hand account from manager Jim Cornette, 'HBK' wasn't comfortable with Vader's hard-hitting style, even threatening to have him fired after a particularly tight hair-pull during a meaningless house show clash. It played into the myriad of chemistry concerns the pair already head following a SummerSlam main event peppered with botches earlier that year. The planned Vader title run was scrapped in favour of the softer and safer Sycho Sid shutting down Shawn at November's Survivor Series.