Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome back The Kliq. This is another famous case of the infamous group of wrestlers apparently ruining someone's career because they didn't like him all that much. Vader made his WWE debut at the Royal Rumble in 1996. After the required few months of monster-establishing, Vader met then-WWF Champion Shawn Michaels at Summerslam. Rumours claim that Vader was originally booked to beat Michaels, but Shawn was unhappy about the finish and insisted that it changed. In the end, Vader beat Michaels by count-out (so didn't win the title) before the match was restarted and he beat him by disqualification (so didn't win the title) before the match was restarted and he lost. So didn't win the title. Vader moved on to other feuds, notably a few with The Undertaker, but didn't really take off. The Kliq, not only concerned with guys they're feuding against, continued their dislike for Vader and their backstage politicking eventually led to him leaving the company in 1998. Would Vader have made it huge without the backstage influence of The Kliq? Who knows. Probably not. Monster heels never last long. But The Kliq's insistence on the weak booking of the supposedly monstrous Vader certainly did him no favours. While Vader is remembered fondly by a handful of wrestling fans, the WWE audience-at-large so fondly named the "WWE Universe" doesn't really know who he is.
Michael Palmer is a contributor at whatculture.com and thelineofbestfit.com, and he probably likes WWE slightly more than most people would call "healthy".
