10 WCW Stars Who Were Fired For Unprofessional Conduct

Of course, if you want tough, there’s practically no one in wrestling before or since tougher than Leon ‘Big Van Vader’ White. The superheavyweight has the reputation of being one of the hardest men in professional wrestling, although reports suggest he’s a pussycat in real life.

In 1995, however, Vader met his match in ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff. The story goes that Vader was late to the show because he’d been ordered to a photo session – he’d put it off so many times that finally Bischoff straight up ordered him to go. Apparently the command from on high failed to reach the agents in charge that night, and Orndorff called Vader out backstage and had a few choice words for him about timekeeping.

With Orndorff right in his face, Vader slapped him down, putting him on the ground hard. Of course, men like Mr. Wonderful don’t ever stay down. Even with the bum arm that had taken him away from wrestling, Orndorff sprang back up and attacked White. In the meantime, Vader had calmed down a little and realised the situation he was in: that his career was in jeopardy if things got out of hand. He refused to fight back, allowing Orndorff to land four or five good punches, putting him down in turn. Orndorff then began kicking Vader while he was on the ground… fortunately for both men, he was only wearing flip flops, so no real hard was done to anything except his toes.

Finally, Kevin Sullivan and Meng managed to separate the two men. Vader would be sacked over the incident and go on to a poorly-booked, forgettable run with the WWF, as they were back then. Should have stayed in Japan.