10 Forgotten TNA Appearances By Ex-WWE Stars

9. Vader

AJ Lee TNA
TNA

Fresh off lengthy runs in All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH between 1999 and 2002, Vader wrestled his first match on American soil in nearly five years when he teamed with Dusty Rhodes to take on The Harris Twins on TNA's 34th weekly pay-per-view.

Rallying against Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme stable, Rhodes was challenged to find a an experienced parter to take on the seven-footer siblings, and 'The Man They Call Vader' served as both a nice shock for the live crowd and a hot tag that still had enough muscle to take out two of the company's larger men. It was all-action for a TV match too - the SEX group were all over television, and this heated effort resulted in Rhodes getting a gusher from the heels despite the whole thing only gong six minutes and ending in a DQ.

It wasn't quite a one-and-done, though literally everything about the performer and promotion looked different when 'The Mastadon' returned. Answering an open challenge by Bram as a "former Impact star", Vader picked up the win also by disqualification when the Englishman took a hammer to his head after just over three minutes.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett