10 Wrestling Careers That Bombed After Their Biggest Match
9. Vader
1996 Shawn Michaels may have been fantastic in the ring, but 1996 Shawn Michaels was an insufferable prick. The Heartbreak Kid had Vince McMahon wrapped around his little finger, and careers were made and broken on the whims of a pilled up HBK.
It is a stretch to say that Vader's career was broken by Shawn Michaels, but his WWE run never recovered from the main event of SummerSlam 1996. Vader was a made-man before arriving in the 'Fed, an 11-year veteran who had made his name in Japan and spent a good few years as the big bad heel of WCW. His best days were behind him before he got to Vince McMahon, but the outcome of the match with Shawn ensured that there would be no more good days to come.
The match between the two at SummerSlam was more than adequate, but the complaints of Michaels during it and after were enough to put the kibosh on Vader's push in WWE. He moved slowly down the card, becoming more of an afterthought with each defeat, a tumbling that reached its apex with that famous self-loathing promo at Over the Edge in 1998. Vader Time was over.