Vader in WCW from 1996-1998

[fg]

Did you ever picture what it would be like if Vader stayed in the company during the NWO angle from 1996-1998 and was a part of team WCW? I can imagine he would be probably be buried worse than he was in WWE especially since Hulk was in the NWO. Vader would look like a product of a bygone era compared to the cool, hip heel faction I think.

[Deleted]

He would've been better off. It was ridiculous how he was treated from 97-98.

[GuyOfOwnage]

Honestly, he would've been better off either going back to Japan or having a Bam Bam-esque ECW stint. We saw what happened in the WWF and you know damn well he would've been used as canon fodder for the nWo.

[chazraps]

Interesting question. I think he probably would have taken the proper time off to let his shoulder heal after the attempted shooting star press and probably would have benefitted physically.

I wonder if he would have joined nWo Japan so he could spend more time overseas with some great paydays.

Side note, would have been amazing to have Mongo calling a Vader match.

[CMWaters]

Have him take sometime rebuilding himself in Japan, then sometime before Halloween Havoc in 1998 (to not remove a title match that happened there)...Vader returns and attacks Goldberg.

Yeah, Goldberg has never been the BEST in the ring, but I'm sure something good could have come out of that kind of match.

[Mozenrath]

I feel like he'd have probably been fed to the nWo for the most part. Giant already would have cramped Vader's style, and while I could maybe see him getting some shine occasionally, it'd probably be about on part with his WWF run or maybe below it. He was hurt, he was relatively old news, and he wasn't the most popular guy to work with, being being stiff and smelling foul because he almost never washed his gear. He'd have been thoroughly undermined.

I sometimes forget Vader and Mankind never won the tag belts in WWF, from their brief teaming.

[Thunderbolt]

Vader and Ray Traylor getting beat down by the NWO every freakin week.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

He'd have been a face in the early days of the NWO, job to Hogan at a PPV, turned heel to join them then headed to Japan to be a monster heel in NWO Japan. He would have had a one off appearance in ECW once his WCW deal expired, quickly leaving once that first cheque bounced and he's not jobbing to Tazz for free.

[hassanchop]

Would WCW encourage him to lose weight? And would they succeed?

[Mozenrath]

Sept 18, 2021 14:08:42 GMT -5 hassanchop said:

Would WCW encourage him to lose weight? And would they succeed?

They'd likely try, and they'd succeed about as well as WWF did, which is to say, not at all.

[The Rick Jericho]

He would be spray painted often. I do wonder how a Nash vs. Vader match would've been.

[fortknox]

Makes me wonder how different his Boy Meets World episodes would be with him still in WCW.

[Aceorton]

Not to go too far down the "what if" rabbit hole, but you could argue that if Vader hadn't gone to the WWF (where they were setting him up to be THE monster heel later in the year), it could have affected the way Nash was booked in such a way that Nash wouldn't have left for WCW, and the nWo wouldn't have become the massive thing it did. Without Vader, heel Nash (going after HBK for the belt) becomes a more critical piece for Vince to keep.

[Phosphor Glow]

Sept 18, 2021 16:36:09 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

He would be spray painted often. I do wonder how a Nash vs. Vader match would've been.

Speaking as a big fan of both Nash and Vader, that match probably would've sucked. A lot. Like really bad. Nash has never been tremendous in the ring; he's stylish but his moveset is small and he works best in a tag team situation. Vader is a tremendous talent but I don't think Nash would've allowed Vader to carry him to that great match. I think it would've been dogshit, unfortunately.

[Mozenrath]

Sept 18, 2021 23:53:51 GMT -5 Phosphor Glow said:

Sept 18, 2021 16:36:09 GMT -5 The Rick Jericho said:

He would be spray painted often. I do wonder how a Nash vs. Vader match would've been.

Speaking as a big fan of both Nash and Vader, that match probably would've sucked. A lot. Like really bad. Nash has never been tremendous in the ring; he's stylish but his moveset is small and he works best in a tag team situation. Vader is a tremendous talent but I don't think Nash would've allowed Vader to carry him to that great match. I think it would've been dogshit, unfortunately.

I think Nash would probably give a little bit, but I don't imagine he'd be keen on being slammed around too much, and vice versa for Vader. Nash wasn't really going to be keen on getting roughed up a lot in a way that might diminish him, and Vader would be even harder to powerbomb than Giant was. I'm picturing a pretty crummy match ending with interference, maybe a big boot. It's just two tastes that would not work in harmony, like if someone poured gravy on Golden Grahams.

[Squirrel Master]

Why not Vader as WWF Champion for this entire timeframe?
He steamrolls Shawn Michaels and goes forth as a tweener with successful defenses.

[Deleted]

It's fun to imagine the possibilities, but I have to concur that Vader would have probably done worse in WCW. Hogan had already diminished the brightness of his star, and Vader had nowhere to go but face down with spray paint on his back.

[Deleted]

Vader vs. Goldberg would've been very... entertaining, to say the least.

[koreycaskets]

Vader in the original nWo coulda been kinda cool. Him and the Giant beating down the roster with Hogan, Nash, Hall and Waltman standing behind laughing.

[THE FVNKER]

I said before, possibly even in a thread that I started, that I've always felt the best use of Vader's time, stateside during this time period would've been in ECW. He would've been a mega-draw and could easily have used his violent style as a way to endear himself to anyone who just saw him as a guy who worked for WWF/WCW and didn't know how we was.

Vader vs Awesome, Taz, Bigelow, Sabu, RVD, maybe even Sandman and Dreamer could've been amazing.