Hade Vansen, a former developmental talent, was pitched a WrestleMania match against The Undertaker by ex-WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr.
Vansen appeared only once on WWE television in a vignette on the December 12, 2008 episode of SmackDown, where he apparently targeted an immortal being who thrived on the power of darkness.
At the time, Freddie informed Vansen that he had presented this fantastic idea to Stephanie McMahon, and not only had The Billionaire Princess approved the storyline, but she also greenlit it for WrestleMania XXV.
However, following Vansen’s inaugural promo on Smackdown, the whole idea was scrapped.
Appearing on the Developmentally Speaking podcast, Vansen reflected on the storyline Freddie had pitched for him back in the day.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
Hade Vansen on Triple H not liking him taking on The Undertaker: “It was only since listening to Freddie’s podcast that I learned a few more details about it and how they aired it and then it got in front of Vince, and it was Hunter who took exception to the vignette and myself going up against The Undertaker and decided that it wasn’t something they wanted to go with. To be as objective as I can, I understand from their perspective why they wouldn’t want some unknown dude who’s come up from FCW, who isn’t a monster, to go up against The Undertaker leading into whatever pay-per-view they were going to funnel it into, like, I totally get why that maybe slipped through the net of Vince and Hunter and to protect their business, they made a business decision. So I understand that.”
On pitching an X-Men type group of heels for WWE: “[Freddie] tells a story. He was there in the room. It was his idea. It was his baby, the whole thing. This is what he told me. What I remember is that he was going to have me as the leader of a faction, a sort of X-Men-type bad guys. So kind of cool. You know, I’m not gonna have actual superpowers, I guess, but we have that kind of vibe. Every week, I would send one of my dudes to try and wear down The Undertaker. This is how [Freddie] sold it to me. It was going to lead to The Undertaker and myself at WrestleMania. I remember thinking when he sat me down and we were at some venue somewhere. I’m just thinking he was telling me this, and I was like,’ Uh huh. Okay, buddy. This is too good to be true, but whatever. I’m along for the ride.’ Turns out, it was too good to be true. ”
On Kevin Thorn being unhappy about the idea: “Kevin Thorn, I think he was pissed at the company because that gimmick, that whole leader of a sort of X-Men bad guy faction, was his idea, I think. I think he was going to lead this faction. This was a gimmick that he came up with. Then they switched him out for me, I think. I believe that I’ve seen an interview where he was he was kind of saying this himself. He was really pissed at the company. I think this may have been one of the reasons why he left the company because they gave that gimmick to me. I could be wrong, I could be talking out of my ass, but this is the nature of wrestling, it’s all so amorphous, and there are so many different sides of the story.”