10 WWE Opponents That Shawn Michaels Refused To Do Business With

2. Vader

For anybody who saw Big Van Vader in WCW, you€™ll remember him as a brutal, hulking monster of a man who legitimately put the willies up many a young wrestling fan. Simply put, the Harley Race-managed Vader was an unstoppable machine and one of the most intimidating grapplers on the planet, much like how he was in Japan before then. Then came his 1996 WWF run. Having dodged a name change to The Mastodon, Vader would eventually find himself challenging for Shawn Michaels€™ WWF Championship at SummerSlam €™96. The initial plan called for Vader to win the gold and then the pair were to feud over the belt before Shawn regained the strap as the hometown hero at the San Antonio, Texas-held Royal Rumble. Michaels famously had a tantrum about working with Vader due to his stiff style, refused to drop the belt to him, and then was seen verbally berating him throughout their SummerSlam match (which Shawn won). Michaels would lose the gold to Sycho Sid at Survivor Series and then win it back at the Rumble. As for Leon White, The Man They Call Vader soon became The Man They Call Jobber as he plummeted down the card before leaving the company in 1998.
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.