7 Wrestlers Who Were ELITE Everywhere Except WWE

Vader is a permanent part of any conversation about the best big men in the history of pro wrestling. Imposing, intimidating, and enormous, Vader's eye-watering physicality and ability to manhandle anyone who dares to cross his path are the stuff of legend. Watch any clip of anyone, anywhere taking the Vader Bomb and it remains a thrilling, devastating sight.

His matches with (future WWE legend Mick Foley as) Cactus Jack in WCW, including a brutal 'Texas Death Match' at Halloween Havoc 1993, were superb. He held that company's World Title 3 times, and he was trusted to have feuds with the company's biggest names in Sting and Ric Flair. Vader is such a legend in NJPW, that he earned the honour of becoming the first non-Japanese wrestler to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

What makes this one of the most egregious entries on the list is how superior he was to most of the WWE roster at the time he was with them.

WWE was a cartoonish mess in the mid-90s, and Vader should have been a villain to build the whole main event scene around when he signed on the dotted line in 1996. Instead, he would irk Shawn Michaels during HBK's most famously difficult years. Then, Vader consequently lost the faith of Vince McMahon and WWE creative, and was used as a stepping stone for superstars from that moment on. What a travesty it is that, much like Dusty Rhodes, Vader is a legend whose WWE burial casts a shadow over his overall legacy.