6 Ups & 4 Downs From Vader's Legendary Wrestling Career
3. Heartbreaker
WWE.com
A terrifying heel in WCW before the aforementioned Hogan humbling, Vader's growls and bellows weren't bullsh*t - he was 'The Man'.
Thought to be a dream pickup for WWE in January 1996 after talents had begun flocking in the opposite direction, the rechristened 'Mastodon' was destined for a summer run with white meat babyface titleholder Shawn Michaels. Unfortunately, he fell afoul of the temperamental WWE Champion after his character's unnecessary roughness bled over into their matches together.
According to a first-hand account from manager Jim Cornette, 'HBK' wasn't comfortable with Vader's hard-hitting style, even threatening to have him fired after a particularly tight hair-pull during a meaningless house show clash. It played into the myriad of chemistry concerns the pair already head following a SummerSlam main event peppered with botches earlier that year. The planned Vader title run was scrapped in favour of the softer and safer Sycho Sid shutting down Shawn at November's Survivor Series.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
