"He looks like he cuts my grass" - Superstar was removed from big WWE storyline after Triple H's remark to Vince McMahon

Freddie Prinze Jr. recently revealed how Triple H played a part in Vince McMahon canceling plans for Hade Vansen to face The Undertaker.

Vansen, an English wrestler in WWE’s Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) developmental system, made cryptic remarks about The Deadman in vignettes on SmackDown in December 2008. The short-term storyline was designed to give the WWE icon someone to work with before facing Edge.

Speaking on Wrestling With Freddie, Prinze Jr. said vignettes had already started airing when Triple H raised concerns during a production meeting:

“We’re all committed to this, or so we think, and all of a sudden out of nowhere Hunter says, ‘Are we seriously going with this guy?’ … Vince goes, ‘What do you mean? What’s the problem?’ and he says, ‘He looks like he cuts my grass, man.’ Vince laughed and literally all the air went out of the room. Everybody just went, ‘Nooo.’”

According to Cagematch.net, Vansen was billed at 6'1'' and 196 pounds. The Undertaker, by contrast, is 6'10'' and weighed 299 pounds for the majority of his career.

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Vince McMahon agreed with Triple H and immediately dropped the storyline

As the person who created the Vansen vs. Undertaker idea, Prinze Jr. feared the abrupt cancelation of the storyline would look embarrassing for the company.

He went on to recall how Kevin Dunn, WWE’s Vice President of Television Production, found Triple H’s comment amusing. Moments later, Vince McMahon suddenly decided to go in another direction.

“Vince laughs and then Hunter laughs and then Kevin Dunn laughs,” Prinze Jr. said. “You would have thought it was the best joke ever. So I’m like, ‘Ah, man, we’re dead, we’re dead.’ And Vince goes, ‘All right, dump it.’ And now it’s not just your idea that’s gone… whatever, our ideas get crushed. Now I gotta go talk to homeboy [Vansen].”

Following the meeting, Vansen’s vignettes stopped airing and he never received another opportunity on WWE’s main roster.

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Please credit Wrestling With Freddie and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.