The Undertaker went on a PR tour recently ahead of his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame and during one of his interviews, he recalled the infamous incident he had on KTV with fellow wrestler Vader and Kuwait TV host Bassam Al Othman. WWE (previously WWF) was performing in Kuwait back then and both wrestlers went on KTV’s Good Morning show to be interviewed by Bassam. During the interview, Bassam asked Undertaker and Vader if wrestling was fake. In response, Vader flipped over the table they were sitting at and grabbed Bassam by the tie, asking him if it seemed fake while using foul language. If you haven’t watched that old interview before, I’ve embedded it below.
According to The Undertaker in his recent interview with SHAK Wrestling (video below at 14:50 minute mark), they actually ended up arresting Vader after the incident:
“I remember them whisking me out,” he said. “When everything broke down, I remember Jerry Brisco grabbing me and like, ‘let’s get in a car, we’re getting out of here.’ I look back and I see Leon like, ‘Take, what do I do?’ I was like, ‘I’ll see you at the hotel, brother.’ Because I am getting pulled, I am physically getting pulled to get into the car before everyone gets arrested. We just didn’t know. I knew that was going to be a bad decision right away and it was. He didn’t leave with us, he had to stay there for a week or so after we all left.”
I never knew Vader was arrested but I found another show on KTV that discussed the aftermath of the incident and supposedly, after the interview, the Good Morning show host ended up pressing charges on Vader at the police station. Two scrawny cops then went and arrested Vader who was put under house arrest for a couple of weeks until the WWE eventually managed to get him out.
The anniversary of this incident is actually in a few days since it took place on April 12th, 1997. Good times.
15 replies on “The Undertaker Recalls Infamous 1997 Interview with Vader in Kuwait”
hahahaa.. you made my day man.
I am glad that he pressed charges on Vader. It was unprofessional what Vader did. You can draw comparisons to what will smith did to chris rock.
Chris rock should do the same
But it’s the WWF! That’s how their personalities are, they’re dramatic. You can’t take it personally.
The issue is that the producer of the show asked Vader to do that, and the presenter was not in it. Blame the producer, not Vader
Don’t think producer was involved, they don’t mention anything about that in either of the interviews.
Here you go, Vader speaking about the incident in detail: https://youtu.be/ANZluwn81Ng
Yeah I had seen that before but since Undertaker doesn’t mention this nor do the Kuwaiti hosts, and the fact that Vader supposedly got fired because of this incident makes me think he just made that part up so he doesn’t come off bad.
Vader did not get fired for this and in fact was in the WWF for another year and a half. However, he was significantly pushed down the card.
My dad had the fortune of meeting The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ahmed Johnson and the others when the WWF was touring Kuwait and I believe they were put up at Hotel Le Meridien at Safat Square where he worked then. Those pictures are one of his prized possessions! 🙂
That was pretty crazy, never knew that happened in Kuwait. Poor tv reporter 😅
Hahahahahahahaha man thanks for the laugh 😹
The funniest part was the Yanni music in the background while Vader went all bat sh*t crazy 🤣
It was all part of the show, an act. The presenter obviously didnt like it but the two wrestlers did this as a kind of stunt for TV, that’s their persona.
Theres an interview with Vader done not too long ago where he says the producer did prank the presenter with this question and he and Vader was told to do that. What wasn’t expected was the police report being filed.
Vader said the only thing that happened was his flight was pushed 2 days because there was a holiday or a weekend and the thing dragged on and he got to spend them in a 5 star resort stuffing his face 😂
I remeber the whole event in Nadi El 3arabi…it was one of the best shows ever!!
the producer that was in charge of the WWF side during the incident said in a recent podcast that the Kuwaiti presenter was asking for several thousand $ to drop the charges. bruce Prichard was his name I think