WWE showed a graphic at the star of Raw last week but it was odd that there was no video tribute to him, aside from the one shown exclusively on their social media platforms.
A decision was made, by Vince McMahon, not to mention Vader on Raw or Smackdown Live. It’s weird because there were names that passed away that were not at the star level as Vader and they got mentions on the show. Macho Man Randy Savage deservedly got a full tribute but he wasn’t on good terms with the company and Vader was. “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka, despite the baggage he had in his life with the 1983 murder allegations, was mentioned on Raw after his passing.
Dave Meltzer reported this week that WWE announcers were told not to mention Vader on the air. They did the same for Lance Russell but in his case, WWE at least can say that Russell never worked for them. In Vader’s case, he did work for WWE and they own all of the WCW footage where he made his name in the United States.
The decision not to mention him is even more curious because they brought him back a few years ago for a match with Heath Slater on Raw and he inducted Stan Hansen into the Hall Of Fame in Dallas.
For those of you that missed it, here is the Vader tribute that was posted on YouTube. This did not air on television.
