15 Biggest BURIALS Wrestlers Never Recovered From
5. Vader (By Shawn Michaels)
If you peer a little deeper into the reality of the time, there's an argument to made that Vader wasn't quite the force he'd been sold as by the summer of 1996, but wrestling's a work and Shawn Michaels alongside WWE writ large could have done more to work people into believing the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion was a clear and present danger to the 'Heartbreak Kid'.
His best night in WWE was his first one, and he found himself spending more time after that working through/recovering from shoot injuries than inflicting worked ones on others. He was undeniably the right opponent for 'HBK' for SummerSlam, but their would prove decisive in making sure that his maiden Big Four pay-per-view main event with the company was also his last.
Michaels infamously fumed mid-ring at Vader for a couple of flubs, and ended up winning the match via clean pin after the Challenger had him beat twice earlier in the contest. The bollockings were of course the most unprofessional way to try and prove a point about his colleague's professionalism, but that was Michaels' way, safe and assured in the knowledge that by holding the belt, he had the power. He had the power of veto with Vader going forward too; a planned title switch at the Survivor Series that would have led to a San Antonio rematch at the Royal Rumble was switched to Sid, robbing 'The Mastadon' of those two massive paydays as well as headlining an In Your House: It's Time pay-per-view initially branded in his image.