6 Ups & 4 Downs From Vader's Legendary Wrestling Career
3. 48 Hours
One of the finest character introductions during a time of barren star creation and utterly pathetic character construction, Vader's Royal Rumble debut and post-pay-per-view assault on WWE President Gorilla Monsoon made him a main eventer with the group in the same time it took Shawn Michaels to murder his prospects later that year.
Pitched by the rarely-wrong Mr Perfect as a potential winner before the battle royal, Vader steamed in with reckless abandon, toppling everybody in his path, including Camp Cornette member Yokozuna. A red-hot Shawn Michaels tipped both bulls over the top, but a livid 'Mastadon' reentered and obliterated him for daring to even get involved. Let off the leash the next night, a Savio Vega squash triggered intervention from Monsoon that saw him flattened with a Vader Bomb. The 'suspension' allowed Vader to heal from injuries, itself building anticipation for the next time he'd turn the company on its head.
The only thing the entire presentation lacked was the scary metal headpiece he'd initially introduced during his Japanese tenure. Considering the fact that Vince McMahon delivered the original version of Mantaur with an enormous cow head one year earlier, this was both shocking and disappointing non-development.