Post by Steveweiser on Feb 24, 2013 15:43:08 GMT -5
Taken from Greg Lambert's really good book, "Holy Grail: The True Story of British Wrestling's Revival", available HERE and at several online outlets. It's also available as an e-book in a few places, including Amazon and Google Play.
If you ever wondered what happened to Hade Vansen, the man who made one appearance with a promo on SmackDown, and was reported to be wrestling The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25, here it is...
If you ever wondered what happened to Hade Vansen, the man who made one appearance with a promo on SmackDown, and was reported to be wrestling The Undertaker at WrestleMania 25, here it is...
"I don't credit the FWA [Frontier Wrestling Alliance] with getting me a shot with WWE, I credit Kat [Katie Lea Burchill/Winter] with getting me a try-out and then I credit myself," said the ever-modest Hade, reflecting on the experience [of signing with WWE].
"At the time there were talks going on about WWE setting up offices in the UK and they wanted to sign a bunch of British guys. Sheamus, Drew McIntyre and Wade Barrett were all at the same try-out as me. But I'm the only Brit who got signed the first time they saw me..."
Hade went to WWE's training ground in Florida and at first, had the time of his life in the Sunshine State.
"I was 26 and being British definitely helped with the ladies, if you know what I mean. I was out all the time... it was like being back at university!"
Then in 2008, Hollywood movie star turned WWE scriptwriter Freddie Prinze Jr. sat the former FWA and All-England Champion down at a SmackDown TV taping, and gave him some life-changing news.
"They were going to put me in a big storyline with The Undertaker.
"I was going to lead a gang of X-Men style mutants. Every week, I would send one of these guys after The Undertaker. After he had beaten them all, he would eventually face me at WrestleMania 25.
"It was f****** incredible. Freddie was really excited about the idea, he'd cleared it with Stephanie McMahon and she loved it."
On December 13th 2008, Hade made his debut on SmackDown, cutting a shadowy, sinister and cerebral speech. It was supposedly the first of many to set up his mega-money feud with the legendary Dead Man, one of the biggest superstars in American Wrestling of the past 20 years. As far as I [writer Greg Lambert] was concerned, my old buddy performed extremely well for a debutant, showing all the verbal confidence and charisma I'd always known he possessed in abundance.
But then?
"Then they told me they were putting the storyline on hold.
I went home for Christmas, and within a week I had been let go. They fired me."
Hade's is the most frustrating story, and a perfect example of the fickle and unforgiving nature of the wrestling business and especially its market leader, the global beast that is World Wrestling Entertainment. He left British Wrestling and seemed to have it made in American Wrestling. But in the end, American Wrestling chewed him up and spat him out.
Vansen was always a survivor though, with a "que sera sera" attitude to life which served him well after this heartbreaking rejection.
"Nobody ever gave me a reason why I'd been released, but there is one story that keeps doing the rounds, and I don't know if this is true or not, and that is Vince McMahon saw me backstage and thought I was way too small to be hanging with The Undertaker.
"But I wasn't devastated. When Freddie first told me about The Undertaker feud, although half of me had fireworks going off inside, the other half thought: 'Hang on a minute, this is too good to be true, you're not at WrestleMania yet, boy!'
"So when they said they had nothing for me, I decided to shrug my shoulders, have a cup of tea, and move on."
Shawn Michaels ended up taking Hade's spot as Taker's Mania opponent, not a bad substitute at all. Meanwhile the South City Thriller quit wrestling altogether and went to seek his fortune in sunny Los Angeles, the ideal home for his Hollywood looks. The real-life Hadrian Howard still lives in LA and has no intention of coming home, or returning to the squared circle, any time soon.
"I'd been wrestling for ten years and kind of gone as far as I wanted to go.
"I didn't want to work on the American independent circuit and wait for WWE to come along, pat me on the head and give me another go. So I thought I would be my own boss.
"I've done some acting in commercials, small film roles and appeared on Days of Our Lives, and I run a head-shot photography business as a sideline.
"I have my own flat in LA, I'm 20 minutes from the beach, the sun is always shining and you can't beat the women in California. I'm living the American Dream!"
"At the time there were talks going on about WWE setting up offices in the UK and they wanted to sign a bunch of British guys. Sheamus, Drew McIntyre and Wade Barrett were all at the same try-out as me. But I'm the only Brit who got signed the first time they saw me..."
Hade went to WWE's training ground in Florida and at first, had the time of his life in the Sunshine State.
"I was 26 and being British definitely helped with the ladies, if you know what I mean. I was out all the time... it was like being back at university!"
Then in 2008, Hollywood movie star turned WWE scriptwriter Freddie Prinze Jr. sat the former FWA and All-England Champion down at a SmackDown TV taping, and gave him some life-changing news.
"They were going to put me in a big storyline with The Undertaker.
"I was going to lead a gang of X-Men style mutants. Every week, I would send one of these guys after The Undertaker. After he had beaten them all, he would eventually face me at WrestleMania 25.
"It was f****** incredible. Freddie was really excited about the idea, he'd cleared it with Stephanie McMahon and she loved it."
On December 13th 2008, Hade made his debut on SmackDown, cutting a shadowy, sinister and cerebral speech. It was supposedly the first of many to set up his mega-money feud with the legendary Dead Man, one of the biggest superstars in American Wrestling of the past 20 years. As far as I [writer Greg Lambert] was concerned, my old buddy performed extremely well for a debutant, showing all the verbal confidence and charisma I'd always known he possessed in abundance.
But then?
"Then they told me they were putting the storyline on hold.
I went home for Christmas, and within a week I had been let go. They fired me."
Hade's is the most frustrating story, and a perfect example of the fickle and unforgiving nature of the wrestling business and especially its market leader, the global beast that is World Wrestling Entertainment. He left British Wrestling and seemed to have it made in American Wrestling. But in the end, American Wrestling chewed him up and spat him out.
Vansen was always a survivor though, with a "que sera sera" attitude to life which served him well after this heartbreaking rejection.
"Nobody ever gave me a reason why I'd been released, but there is one story that keeps doing the rounds, and I don't know if this is true or not, and that is Vince McMahon saw me backstage and thought I was way too small to be hanging with The Undertaker.
"But I wasn't devastated. When Freddie first told me about The Undertaker feud, although half of me had fireworks going off inside, the other half thought: 'Hang on a minute, this is too good to be true, you're not at WrestleMania yet, boy!'
"So when they said they had nothing for me, I decided to shrug my shoulders, have a cup of tea, and move on."
Shawn Michaels ended up taking Hade's spot as Taker's Mania opponent, not a bad substitute at all. Meanwhile the South City Thriller quit wrestling altogether and went to seek his fortune in sunny Los Angeles, the ideal home for his Hollywood looks. The real-life Hadrian Howard still lives in LA and has no intention of coming home, or returning to the squared circle, any time soon.
"I'd been wrestling for ten years and kind of gone as far as I wanted to go.
"I didn't want to work on the American independent circuit and wait for WWE to come along, pat me on the head and give me another go. So I thought I would be my own boss.
"I've done some acting in commercials, small film roles and appeared on Days of Our Lives, and I run a head-shot photography business as a sideline.
"I have my own flat in LA, I'm 20 minutes from the beach, the sun is always shining and you can't beat the women in California. I'm living the American Dream!"
