10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About Vader
7. Shawn Michaels Made His Feud With Vader Very Difficult
By his own admission, Shawn Michaels wasn't the easiest man to work with in the mid 1990's.
As WWF Heavyweight Champion, Michaels was feeling the pressure of carrying the load for the company every single night. Touchy and feeling the strain, working with a super-stiff Vader was not what he needed.
In the Summer of '96, the WWF programmed Vader as the top heel opposite Shawn's babyface champion character. It was a classic tale of David vs. Goliath, but it wasn't originally supposed to end with the underdog coming out on top.
Michaels would throw a mini-temper tantrum during the headline bout of SummerSlam.
When Vader failed to move out of the way of an incoming elbow drop, Michaels stomped on his face and shouted at him. It's true that Vader was prone to hitting hard during his matches, and that's something Jim Cornette has also claimed Shawn didn't take too kindly to.
It seems that Michaels didn't enjoy working with Vader, which is probably why proposed future rematches were canned and Vader was temporarily moved out of the WWF Title picture.