6 Ups & 4 Downs From Vader's Legendary Wrestling Career

1. Bleeding For His Art

With a nod to the Apter Mag formula, the May/June 1997 edition of WWE Raw Magazine focused on the grisly after-effects of Vader's absorbing display in February's Final Four pay-per-view main event. It presumably sold like the hot cakes the company later scripted him to eat before his quiet exit, too.

Thankfully, these were more dangerous and dynamic days.

Repeated close-ups of his closed left eye after getting hurled into the ring steps during the epic WWE Title match alongside Bret Hart, The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin were used during and after the match, in a concerted effort to marry up Vader's toughness on the night, with the audience similarly complimentary appraisal of his efforts in the match.

Vince Russo's involvement in both the magazine and the television output would later allow for dynamite synergy between the two products, and Vader was twice a beneficiary of it, having garnered attention for the Gorilla Monsoon assault a year prior. 'The Mastadon' was sadly phased back yet again on Monday Night Raw though, due in-part to his Kuwait arrest.

His gutsy and violent graft in the B-show headliner was a brief reminder of what the company had yet sadly never elected to deploy with any consistency.