IT'S TIME: How Vader Went From WWF Jobber to AJPW Champion

Comments · 698

• PH

  @philipdefibaugh5683 · 3 years ago

  The WWE neutered Vader, everywhere else he was a huge star and champion.

  245

• SA

  @SagatHyoga · 3 years ago

  He is really the perfect "Final Boss" on wrestling

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• AK

  @akumaku7930 · 3 years ago (edited)

  He's honored in Japan. Before WWF and WCW (I think) he defeated Inoki's streak in NJPW , despite how it crowd was despised it at the time, it grew a massive respect.

  408

• LA

  @Law-Rougarou8128 · 3 years ago

  May you rest in peace Vader Leon White

  479

• MR

  @mrf19741 · 3 years ago (edited)

  I always have and will be a Fan of Big Van Vader. His matches against Antonio Inoki, Sting, and Mitsuharu Misawa are Legendary. To this day, I can't get over how the WWF wasted some of Vader's prime years because of backstage politics. RIP, Leon "Big Van Vader" White.

  128

• AN

  @anonluxor470 · 1 year ago

  Thank you for mentioning aja Kong she is literally the female vader

  26

• BL

  @BlackburnBigdragon · 2 years ago

  I met Vader at a local indy show near where I live sometime in the 2000's after he had come home from Japan.   My friend and I got to chat with him for quite some time.  I can honestly say, that in real life, he was absolutely nothing like who he was in the ring.  He was super nice and respectful.  He was constantly checking with the younger fans, asking them if they were having fun.  He was one of the friendliest and nicest wrestlers I ever met, and he didn't mind hanging out and chatting with fans.   If you had met him outside the ring, without knowing his job, it probably would have been a stretch to envision him as the terrifying monster that he was in the ring.  He was that much different than who he was in the ring.

  90

• ER

  @ericYg909 · 3 years ago (edited)

  Vader's run in Japan was incredible, a real unstoppable monster, and that metal helmet was cool as hell

  51

• GU

  @guitarguru.3572 · 2 years ago

  It’s kind of a shame that he didn’t unleash some of that Kuwait fury on Shawn Michaels.

  194

• MA

  @maldust7438 · 3 years ago

  Vader legit scared me when I was young.  I honestly believed he walked around with that mask on just beating people up.

  18

• MI

  @michaeldickens4184 · 1 year ago (edited)

  Vader was already big in Japan, he was 3 time New Japan world champion before he joined WCW, after getting jobbed out to Soma Michaels in WWF he went back to Japan.

  14

• MA

  @markwrenn5965 · 3 years ago

  Vader in WCW is one of my earliest memories of watching wrestling as a child. He holds a very special place in my heart, and is very likely the reason I gravitated so much to my favorite wrestler, Sting (who is still my favorite wrestler to this very day, always has been).

  62