10 Amazing Wrestling Feuds With AWFUL Endings
5. Cactus Jack Vs. Vader (WCW)
Mick Foley wasn't really into that whole health and wellbeing thing. Determined to take hardcore wrestling to a darker extreme than previous pioneers like Bruiser Brody and Terry Funk, Foley was prepared to take life-altering bumps to sell his craft. Potato punch king Vader was more than happy to oblige, powerbombing Foley onto concrete during their sadistic feud to set up a storyline injury. Working themselves into a shoot, Foley wound up genuinely incapacitated with a concussion and lost sensation on the left side of his body.
It was an unbelievable angle, the kind that leaves jaws on the floor. Foley had wanted the injury aspect of their feud to be played seriously. The long term plan he had was for Cactus Jack to return with a new wave of babyface sympathy for a grudge match with Vader. The top brass in WCW disagreed, believing a comedy storyline about a doddery, amnesiac Cactus Jack getting institutionalised would put more butts in seats.
None of it was funny and the decision killed the feud stone dead. At Halloween Havoc 93, they did battle in a ferocious Texas Deathmatch. While the match itself lived up to both men's reputations, the goofy direction of the storyline and the idiotic decision to make it a non-title bout despite being on PPV in the main event sapped the feud of its former strength. A criminal misuse of 2 of the toughest, grittiest SOBs on the roster.