Jim Ross On Reports Vader Was Promised a WWE Title Reign in 1996, Why He Never Got a Title Run

– On the latest Grilling JR, Jim Ross addressed reports that Vader was promised a WWE Championship reign in 1996. The rumor at the time was that Vader was promised a reign when he returned to WWE earlier that year, and that the In Your House: It’s Time PPV was supposed to feature him headlining. JR shot down those reports and discussed why they never would have made such a promise.

Highlights from the discussion are below, along with the full podcast:

On reports that Vader was promised the WWE Championship: “That never happened. S**t, no. When I brought Leon in, Leon was never promised the title. Leon was promised an opportunity to work in the main events. And that’s what he wanted. So he had runs with Shawn Michaels. And Shawn, of course, had some issues with Leon. You know, Leon sometimes would forget to wash his gear and leave it in his bag over the weekend. Then by the time he got back to TV and was gonna hook up with Shawn, it could get a little bit stanky, if you know what I’m saying.”

On Vader’s issues that prevented him from being a champion: “So Leon had some issues we had to deal with. And he was getting older, and his football body, his wrestling body from All Japan and the Japan scene was breaking down. I loved Leon. I would hire Leon again ten times over. But we never promised him the starting job, we never promised him even the MVP of the Super Bowl. We promised him that he would work on top and we’ll see how things go. Which means if you get over, we’re not stupid. We’ll use you as much as you get over. But we can’t predict that right now, but we’re gonna give you the chance to work in the main event. So never [promised] the champion. He was too old. He had too many injuries, and we knew that he could not withstand the schedule that it would require of the champion in that era to fulfill.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Grilling JR with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.