Dirtbag Era Barry Windham Concludes; Dirtbag Era Vader Commencing?

Barry Windham vs. Vader WWF Raw 5/11/98

ER: You wanna talk dirtbags, kid, then you're going to want to talk about this match. Barry Windham and Vader were each ensconced in their own individual dirtbag eras, riding out contracts neither seemingly wanted to be underneath any longer. Windham doesn't so much look like a dirtbag as he looks like a man who is permanently sleeping one off, forced to come into work on his day off after a night spent as a man who didn't have to work the next day. Vader still has that unmistakeable Vader charisma - you watch him burst out on that entrance stage and throw in an unnecessary-but-Absolutely Necessary twirl as he's hyping up fans in several sections of the arena with V hands and tell me this man isn't the greatest big man ever - but he is also wearing Vader gear that is tantamount to those old Halloween costumes that had a picture of the character you were supposed to be on the pajama shirt that came with the plastic mask. Obviously I am C-3P0, you can tell by my shirt that has C3P0 on it and also says "C3P0". Vader is not so much in dirtbag mode as he is in Pajama Jams Vader mode, wearing the sleeveless t-shirt version of his own Vader Time singlet. Vader is a man wearing his own character's pajamas. Barry Windham was just woken up from a 7 hour nap minutes before this match. Vader has just finished brushing his teeth before bedtime, and for two guys visibly mailing it in they sure do have a cool match. 

Vader and Windham had several years of overlap in WCW and WWF, more than enough time to give us a Vader/Windham singles match, but somehow this match is it. The only one! We got several instances of them teaming in 1993 WCW, but can you imagine a 10 minutes singles match between them in 1993? My god. This 2 minute singles match in 1998 is not that 10 minute match in 1993 that I made up and got upset about, but I like this era of clock punching big men in their own Spirit Store costumes. Windham looks like a man who wouldn't be able to keep food down but moves as fast as his 1988 self. He weathers Vader's attacks and ducks fast under a super low Vader clothesline swing, throws his diving lariat with real impact and I love that despite a physique that looks like he hasn't lifted a weight since Clinton's re-election, Windham actually holds Vader up and drops him with a back suplex. Windham also absorbs a ton of Vader's weight in really painful ways, pulling Vader butt first onto his chest with a misguided sunset flip and apparently not learning his lesson in any way and trying it again later, this one Full Ass and punctuated with a Vader eye roll. Vader is either tired of This Shit, or recognizes how foolish Barry was to try that exact same thing a second time. Vader flattens him with a standing splash and drags him over for the Vader Bomb, which Windham sells perfectly. Barry rolls to his side clutching his guts as Vader lands, the way a man would reel when a 400 pound man just laid out from 5 feet up, like the world's heaviest mattress just got thrown onto him from the window of a three story walk up.