10 of WCW's dirtiest scandals.

Scandal #3: Big backstage brawl between Paul Orndorff and Big Van Vader

Would you bet on 450 pounds of mean machine to beat up an aging veteran with a crippled arm? Well, you'd probably lose your money!

Back in the early days of WCW, the biggest babyface was unquestionably Hulk Hogan. He had joined the company while filming his Thunder in Paradise syndicated program, eschewing a return to WWE. It was only natural that he feud with the biggest heel under contract with WCW, Big Van Vader.

In fact, bookers had scripted Hogan to lose the WCW world title to Vader on the second episode of Monday Nitro! However, a simple miscommunication resulted in wrestling history changing forever.

At the time Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff was still an active wrestler but spent most of his time as an agent for WCW. An agent's job is to make sure the wrestlers get to the shows and promotional events on time, and know the run down of what they are expected to do. When he couldn't find Vader for a photoshoot, Mr. Wonderful assumed that Vader was shirking his responsibilities and made some comments about the Mastodon.

Vader was actually late because he was at a different photoshoot that ran long, but when he hit the building gossip about Orndorff's comments reached his ears. Vader strode up to Mr. Wonderful and pushed him, calling him several vulgar names. Mr. Wonderful responded by punching him with his badly atrophied arm and knocking the Mastodon to the concrete. Paul Orndorff then proceeded to stomp on Vader's head until the big man was bloody.

Since Vader had been the instigator, Eric Bischoff fired him on the spot. Vader wound up in WWE, and Hogan held on to the title for longer than originally planned. Mr. Wonderful would later say that he could have handled the matter better, and Vader would say that he was afraid to beat up 'an old man.'

Vader can be seen explaining the the situation in the video below: