WWE Vault Appreciation Thread

[Chili]

Somebody call @CleetusVanDamme's Mama!!!

 

[CleetusVanDamme]

"I've been kicking people all over the world. When I came out, the doctor smacked me and I kicked him too!" He's not even trying and he's still putting most wrestlers smack talk to shame!

Hopefully this leads to the Holy Grail, Miller vs Smiley 2003 getting uploaded.

Edited February 11, 2025 by CleetusVanDamme

[Chili]

5 minutes ago, CleetusVanDamme said:

"I've been kicking people all over the world. When I came out, the doctor smacked me and I kicked him too!" He's not even trying and he's still putting most wrestlers smack talk to shame!

Hopefully this leads to the Holy Grail, Miller vs Smiley 2003 getting uploaded.

I was recently watching the WCW episode where he's getting interviewed by Mean Gene and they have this beautiful exchange.

 

 

[Chili]

HERE WE GO!!!!

 

[wandshogun09]

Speaking of that match, I saw this on Twitter earlier…

Always wondered why the poster had Sid and Shawn instead of Undertaker and Vader. Obviously that Royal Rumble to WrestleMania period in 97 was all up in the air and we know the plan at some point was Bret vs Shawn at Mania 13. So I wonder if these four were the original plan for this ‘Final Four’ match. The poster suggests that but it doesn’t tie in with how the match we eventually got came about, with it being Austin and the three guys he “illegally eliminated” at the Rumble. I love that mad few months of WWF TV though. Complete shambles but it made for wildly entertaining viewing.

The match itself is ace as well. Vader’s finest hour in the WWF. 

[Devon Malcolm]

Love that match. Just a long, mad, stiff fight. One I can watch over and over again.

[Chili]

27 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Love that match. Just a long, mad, stiff fight. One I can watch over and over again.

I like the extremely watchable but almost unorganized chaos of it. Everything looks rough as dogs but in a GREAT way. As said easily Vader's greatest WWF moment beyond, squashing Gorilla Monsoon, that One Night Only match with Owen, and that time he nearly took Ken Shamrock's head clean off. Love how when he gets busted open it actually makes his performance more intense and he starts just throwing bombs all over the place and chucks the stairs and shit. Brilliant, BRILLIANT match.

@wandshogun09at a guess, unless the poster is just random, I suppose you could have said Sid demanded a rematch and because Austin cheated and Bret was runner up they'd both get a shot too. Dunno, trying to untangle those few months of WWF is a silly Idea.

Edited February 16, 2025 by Chili

[SuperBacon]

1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Love that match. Just a long, mad, stiff fight. One I can watch over and over again.

Watched it recently. Just an absolutely brilliant match and everyone is hugely over.

[CleetusVanDamme]

I'll always vividly remember walking into a shop as an eight/nine year old, picking up a magazine that had  "censored: explicit content"-ish packaging around it and buying it without anyone batting an eyelid. Inside it was the Raw magazine with Vader's face from that match!

I never actually saw the match until much later. It lived up to the iconic image though.

[Olly1984]

On 2/11/2025 at 8:32 PM, Chili said:

Somebody call @CleetusVanDamme's Mama!!!

 

He wasn't lying  when he said Mortos made him there, what a fucking kick and as usual Kanyon made it look even better selling it like a champ! We need more Ernest Millers in the world!! 

[CleetusVanDamme]

46 minutes ago, Olly1984 said:

what a fucking kick and as usual Kanyon made it look even better selling it like a champ!

That was them just warming up, look at this one!

[tiger_rick]

18 hours ago, wandshogun09 said:

Always wondered why the poster had Sid and Shawn instead of Undertaker and Vader. Obviously that Royal Rumble to WrestleMania period in 97 was all up in the air and we know the plan at some point was Bret vs Shawn at Mania 13. So I wonder if these four were the original plan for this ‘Final Four’ match. The poster suggests that but it doesn’t tie in with how the match we eventually got came about, with it being Austin and the three guys he “illegally eliminated” at the Rumble. I love that mad few months of WWF TV though. Complete shambles but it made for wildly entertaining viewing.

The match itself is ace as well. Vader’s finest hour in the WWF. 

There's great stuff from around the time in John Lister's Slamathology books from his travelogues around the US watching wrestling in 96 and 97. He was at the PPV.

The match is the best multi-man in history. ECW popularised it but theirs are shit and don't hold up. Modern stuff is just appallingly constructed and can't possibly succeed to this degree. This is four guys beating the shit out of each other. The match is genius too because three top guys don't have to eat pins.

[Chris B]

15 hours ago, CleetusVanDamme said:

 

I never actually saw the match until much later. It lived up to the iconic image though.

Anyone have any idea what 'Vader, Bloody Vader" is referencing? Feels like it's a pun or a play on something famous, but I can't place it.

[WyattSheepMask]

Just now, Chris B said:

Anyone have any idea what 'Vader, Bloody Vader" is referencing? Feels like it's a pun or a play on something famous, but I can't place it.

The only thing that immediately jumps to mind would be Sunday Bloody Sunday. Really encapsulates the frustration of a Sunday- you wake up in the morning, you’ve got to read all the Sunday papers, the kids are running round, you’ve got to mow the lawn, wash the car and you think “Sunday, Bloody Sunday!”

[Chili]

It's a parody of Alan Partridge saying Sunday, Bloody Sunday as @WyattSheepMask pointed out. Vince was known to say Vader, Bloody Vader whenever he got negative updates about his management enforced weight loss.

Edited February 17, 2025 by Chili