Rest in Peace Big Van Vader

RIP to the only wrestler who legit scared me as a kid (aside from when Jake had a cobra eat Randy's bicep)

His work with Bam Bam in NJPW was awesome.
Dude, same here. Vader was the only guy I was legitimately afraid of as well as the whole cobra angle.

And yes, him and Bam Bam were awesome. Like Vader but even more so, Bam Bam was and is so underrated. RIP to these two big monsters
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RIP to the only wrestler who legit scared me as a kid (aside from when Jake had a cobra eat Randy's bicep)

His work with Bam Bam in NJPW was awesome.

Dude, same here. Vader was the only guy I was legitimately afraid of as well as the whole cobra angle.

And yes, him and Bam Bam were awesome. Like Vader but even more so, Bam Bam was and is so underrated. RIP to these two big monsters
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It's a real shame that there isn't a good quality version of their match with the steiners.
 
It's a real shame that there isn't a good quality version of their match with the steiners.
I have it on VHS lol...although I have not watched touched my AJ/NJPW tapes since 2012. I should check to see if they still work.

PS, thinking of Vader makes me think of Bam Bam. Look at the agility and speed of Bam Bam

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Man, that hurts. I knew he'd been having heart problems for awhile but he seemed to be fighting hard. Total fucking legend, it must be Vader Time in Heaven now.

 
I have it on VHS lol...although I have not watched touched my AJ/NJPW tapes since 2012. I should check to see if they still work.

PS, thinking of Vader makes me think of Bam Bam. Look at the agility and speed of Bam Bam

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@Good Ole Stannis's BBQ , here's some decent gifs of Vader & Bigelow vs Steiners
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That's cool, we pretty much used our ones to tape every raw and ppv. Watching live wasn't really an option. Everything got taped over really, didn't think about saving any unfortunately. We still have royal rumble 2002 at my parent's house though. I stuck out the daily motion version even if the buffering got a little annoying. Yeah bam bam was great could have been a world champion in either of the big two in my opinion.
 
RIP.

At first I thought: 'didn't he die a while back?'. Then I realized it was Bam Bam Bigelow.
 
Vader was one of my favourite heel wrestlers ever. He looked like what you thought a World Champion wrestler should be and was great in the ring. Vader's ongoing fued with Sting in WCW was legendary. Many of his matches with Steamboat, Ron Simmons and Flair were great too. I later saw his matches Japan on Youtube and saw how great of a star he was internationally .

RIP Leon White aka Vader.
 
The man is a damn Hall of Famer, fuck Vince McMahon.

RIP Vader, one of a kind.

This.

He announced he had two years to live around two years ago, and WWE confidently skipped inducting him into the WWE both last year and this year.

In many circumstances I can excuse many of Vince McMahon's percieved slights to the talent he's employed, but this is unexcusable and unforgivable.

Fuck Vince McMahon.
 
Oh, and if WWE now suddenly wants to induct him into the HOF, I hope his family replies 'Go Fuck Yourselves."
 
This.

He announced he had two years to live around two years ago, and WWE confidently skipped inducting him into the WWE both last year and this year.

In many circumstances I can excuse many of Vince McMahon's percieved slights to the talent he's employed, but this is unexcusable and unforgivable.

Fuck Vince McMahon.
Honestly, when he first announced it, I figured he was over exagerating and just looking for a payday when he said he had 2 years as did a lot of people I knew. Then as the stories came out that he was healthy and not made you wonder whether it was true or not.
 
Honestly, when he first announced it, I figured he was over exagerating and just looking for a payday when he said he had 2 years as did a lot of people I knew. Then as the stories came out that he was healthy and not made you wonder whether it was true or not.

Its not much of a paycheck.
 
Sad to hear - big fan of his when I was into Wrestling
 
Well 63 is a good run for a big wrestler like him.
 
its just a shame that he didnt get a credible run in the wwf. i didnt watch a ton of wcw, but was aware of him and how awesome he was there. then he came to wwf and i assumed it would be more of the same. unfortunately he never did much.
 
He came into the WWE at the worst time possible in 96 when the Monday Night Wars were starting to pick up and he was a WCW guy. Add the whole debacle with Shawn when he had all the power was just a recipe for disaster. He’s the epitome of a monster heel with the size, the look, and the in-ring work as well. Never got a fair shake in the WWE but his WCW and Japan runs really highlight Vader at his peak when used properly.

He’s definitely deserving of the HOF and he pushed for it too and it sucks that now he’s gone, the WWE might finally put him in.
 
Oh, and if WWE now suddenly wants to induct him into the HOF, I hope his family replies 'Go Fuck Yourselves."
I agree with the a big F U to the WWE, Vince, and HHH but if I were Jessie, I would have to accept it. It was all Vader wanted when he was given his 2 years time. Waltman talked about how Vader wanted to be in the HOF and Foley’s message also showed how important the WWE HOF was to him and how he and Foley didn’t understand why he wasn’t in the Hall. It’s a shame that an all time great heel personality and in-ring talent and a great draw in Vader never got his due.

Here’s Foley’s tribute to Vader he wrote as the foreword to Vader’s book:

“I had a unique problem in the spring of 1993 for which there was really only one solution. I had become a babyface - a good guy for Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling (WCW) - a few months earlier, and things were going fairly well with one exception; it was difficult for me to get sympathy from the fans. As a heel, a bad guy, I’d been portrayed as a guy who thrived on pain, maybe even liked it - which helped create a very interesting wrestling villain persona. It did not, however, make for a terribly sympathetic portrait as a good guy.

I requested a meeting with WCW booker Dusty Rhodes, and together we came up with a plan to combat the sympathy problem. Quite simply, I would wrestle Vader. Two matches, twenty stitches, a broken nose, and a memorable ambulance ride later, my sympathy problem was a thing of the past. Vader had cured it.

It was almost impossible not to feel a sense of sympathy for an opponent of Leon White during his career as Vader. To me, he was the most believable, most talented “monster” wrestler of his generation. No one was better at being the immovable object, that inpenetrable wall than Leon White. Eventually - if you worked hard enough, and if it was in the interest of doing business - the object would move and the wall would crumble in spectacular fashion. But if you were his opponent, he’d make damn sure that you were the very best irresistible force you could possibly be - or he’d eat you alive. The price you paid to be the best you could be against Vader was high - but the rewards for going places you didn’t know you could go, until he helped you get there, were even higher.

Every year fans wonder if Leon and White will finally be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and every year, most of those HOF slots are filled by wrestlers who didn’t draw a fraction of the money, or contribute to the wrestling business on nearly the level that Leon White/Vader did. I’m not belittling the importance of the WWE Hall of Fame. Indeed, being inducted was one of the personal highlights of my career. But the selection process is more than a little subjective in nature. In the event that he continues to be overlooked, let me put forth my criteria for which Leon White should not only be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, but be considered one of the greatest, most influential wrestlers of his generation.

1) He drew more money, with a wider variety of opponents, for different promotions, on a global basis, than just about any of his contemporaries. Basically, until WWE tried to fix something that wasn’t broken, Vader was money everywhere he went.

2) He brought out the best in his opponents. Vader “paid it forward” by bringing out the very best in some of the greatest stars of his time, and of all time.

3) His matches stand the test of time. No matter what trends the business may go through, Vader’s believable brawling, combined with his impressive athleticism will never go out of style.

4) He was able to turn a 6’4, 300 pound maniac with a love for pain into a sympathetic underdog.

Who’s the man? Leon White was, and always will be.”
Rest in peace, my friend.”
 
i remember hearing he might not have long to live, but its still a shame hes died.
 
Well that sucks. Dude seemed to have a genuinely kind soul.

RIP
 
It's too bad he didn't have a better run in the WWE in the 90s. He was such a monster and I wanted so bad for him to be the guy because he had it all but they didn't really seem to use him right. The most memorable moment he had there was that promo where he called himself a fat piece of shit lmao.

RIP
 

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