10 Things WWE Regrets About SummerSlam

5. Not Making Vader WWE Champion (SummerSlam 1996)

SummerSlam 1996 Shawn Michaels Vs Vader
WWE.com

For Vader, his time in WWE was sadly a forgettable one.

After injuries initially derailed The Mastodon's WWE career, he finally got some traction and was set to do battle with Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam '96.

If the online scuttlebutt is to believed, Vader was actually due to defeat Michaels and become WWE Champion at the event - only for Shawn to have a tantrum about working with the snug 'n' stiff Vader and outright refuse to drop the title to him.

Not only did Vader's WWE Championship run never actually happen, but he was verbally berated by The Heartbreak Kid at various points during their PPV bout. In a classic case of Shawn being Shawn, he wasn't shy about publicly showing his unhappiness with The Man They Call Vader, and he even laid in some stiff shots of his own to show how pissed off he was with the former WCW Champion.

For those who'd seen just how great of a monster Vader was in Japan and in WCW, it was hugely disappointing to see how his WWE run played out. This SummerSlam '96 match was the perfect time to give Vader a massive win to establish him as a top-tier player.

Instead, Big Leon would slowly slide down the card up until he departed the company two years later.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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