Prichard believes Vader “could never get his groove back” following the incident with Orndorff, and the fact that he added a few pounds and struggled with knee issues only fast-tracked his WWE departure. 

“He was breaking down,” Prichard said of Vader. “All of a sudden, he realized that, ‘Oh, it’s a little different when you’ve got guys as big as you and they’re hitting back.’ It’s all good when you’re in there bombarding people and they don’t hit back. You think Undertaker is going to take that? Nah. He was younger, stronger, and faster, and was not going to get pounded on [by Vader].”

At this point, podcast host Conrad Thompson clarified if the perception of Vader — among WWE executives — changed because of his incident with Orndorff, or if there was more to the story.

“No, I’m saying Vader changed,” Prichard clarified. “The human being changed. He didn’t have the same swagger. There was a fairytale that he was this big, bad, tough guy that couldn’t be beaten. And he did — he got beat up.”

Prichard, admittedly a big fan of Vader’s work in WCW and Japan, was shocked to see the former WCW World Heavyweight Champions struggling with not just weight and injury issues but also “bad hygiene” during his WWE run. Furthermore, Prichard noted that Vader had significantly lost his athleticism and was “sloppy” during his matches, ingredients that made him “a bad fit” with the WWE.

In conclusion, Prichard believes Vader “felt exposed” following his brawl with Orndorff, and began to doubt his own toughness and mental fortitude. 

“The audience never saw that [fight] but they witnessed the change after the fact,” Prichard said. “They knew something was different — something was wrong, he wasn’t the same. They couldn’t put their finger on it because they don’t know what happened.”