Vader was still great to watch, scary as a kid. Very athletic for a big man, feuds with Sting were great. Just very misued in WWF and WCW version of Vader would of been a great WWF champion. RIP big man. Thanks for the memories 🙏

@brainhakker7133

2 жыл бұрын

His Japanese marches were fantastic, was over like Brody and Hansen .

@Davepool-hs7vr

2 жыл бұрын

You can thank Shawn Michaels and Vince McMahon for that

@JGQ01

2 жыл бұрын

Shawn Michael’s had him black balled bc of what happened during their match at Summer Slam 96’

@LumpyAdams

2 жыл бұрын

@@JGQ01 Happened even before that. Vader was supposed to win the title that night. It was Vader beating him up at house shows that did it.

@JayJackson1981

2 жыл бұрын

Fuck WWF. Vader doesn't need WWF to have a HOF career.

Vader is one of the most believable heel world champions of all time

@JayJackson1981

2 жыл бұрын

Right! Vader was super badass. Americans were ready for that strong style that Japan used back then.

He was like a freight train with wings! Big, fast and scary!

Vader was incredible..him and Sting was GOLD

Big Van Vader was so misused in WWF! He could've gotten over there too!

Yep, when Vader got famous, I couldn't believe this huge man's agility!

I loved that black Japanese Samurai/Elephant mask Vader wore. I remember Vader said that mask weighed upwards of around 65 lbs. with all of the canisters and remote controls to make the steam shoot out of it. Just bad ass!

@dondemmeljr1765

2 жыл бұрын

In reality it weighed about 35 lb the canisters together we're only about 3 lb...💯

Something that does not get mentioned much is that Vader broke into the business at 30 years old. He was only 5 years in when he made it to WCW but you could not tell from the way that he worked. He was very well trained and picked up wrestling quickly.

@sstrykert

2 жыл бұрын

Football=explosiveness

@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi

10 ай бұрын

You could tell though by some of the potatoes he used to throw. He got away with it in WCW, but in the big leagues, they didn't appreciate that.

24th pick in 3rd round. Picked as a center

Vader was a 3rd round draft pick of the rams at center. He had bad knees. He have five knee surgeries in two seasons. But in his second season, he got to play in a super bowl.

Rick flair saying your retired is not an unlimited thing, it only happens one time.

Just watched Ric thanking Hogan for being there when he needed him.Awesome brother 💪

I don't know why but I could have sworn Vader wrestled Liger in WCW back in the early 90s. I turned it into a feud on the Fire Pro Wrestling games over the years. Watching those AI matches was fun.

Go watch some of the Japanese matches on here with Vader. Very hard hitting and just brutal

I wish mark would bring his voice down a bit. He shouts everything!

From what I've heard the smell of his ring gear was more dangerous than he was.

@gianthand8130

2 жыл бұрын

Lol what!?

@bowserh2012345

2 жыл бұрын

Yep, it was well known he did not wash his gear very often. Also: he sometimes wore his gear backward without knowing it.

Shawn Michaels made poor Vader lose his smile 😀

Vader was such an intimidating wrestler. Too bad he was misused in the WWF, especially after his feud with Shawn. He should have beaten him for the Title at Summerslam 96 and kept it till Wrestlemania 13 where he would drop it to a top face. Imagine champion Vader, booked like he was in 93 in WCW, against challenger Undertaker at WM13.

@diggadirt393

2 жыл бұрын

I hated how WWF used him. He was one of the most legit scary looking monster heels ever. He looked like his reason for living was to hurt people and he was probably the most athletic big man in wrestling. WWF really messed up with him.

@amirpourghoureiyan1637

Ай бұрын

that was the plan but shawn politicked and got him sent down to the midcard

I know Vader wasn't easy to do business with in the ring but I really enjoy his shoot interviews and find him to be a delightful person.

@dondemmeljr1765

2 жыл бұрын

Do any form of business with him see how delightful he is! 🤔

Vader was fast for a big dude!

Yoooo**Rickster****+***man we sure enjoy you Brother****+

I hope Shawn feels at least a little bit of remorse for the way he treated Vader!

@dondemmeljr1765

2 жыл бұрын

Got a dose of his own medicine

Definitely my favourite two wrestlers!

If you ask guys like Cactus, Bret or Jake, Vader threw stiff jabs in the ring.

@brainhakker7133

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah he made it look real ..... That USED to be a Good thing... like being a Strong Man

I remember hearing Vader talking about his start in wrestling. He began as "Baby Bull" Leon White in the AWA, big ex-football linebacker, green as goose shit, and for the first three months of his wrestling career he was in the ring almost exclusively with Stan Hansen, Bruiser Brody, and Crusher Blackwell, all huge stiff as hell monsters. When Leon finally got put in a match with a regular sized guy, 30 seconds into the match the guy jumped out of the ring screaming at him "WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO, KILL ME??". Leon just looked at him, "What? This is what we're supposed to do."

@tomblevins4133

Жыл бұрын

Vader was a LINEBACKER? Do you mean LINEMAN?

@dondemmeljr1765

10 ай бұрын

He was a center not a linebacker

@FerretJohn

10 ай бұрын

@@dondemmeljr1765 I really don't care.

@dondemmeljr1765

10 ай бұрын

@@FerretJohn why you must you keep commenting

@FerretJohn

10 ай бұрын

@@dondemmeljr1765 I don't because like all the others, in trying to show how smart you are knowing what he did in football, you're completely missing the main point of my story which was what he was doing in the first few months as a wrestler.

That empty, echoey room doesn't befit a man like Ric Flair.

Is Mark Madden streaming from his kitchen?

Rick me and my daddy are from Richmond VA, I love you when I thought something bad would happen here in ATL a few years back with you it hurt my heart. Can you tell them WWE you and Vince WrestleMania 38???????

Without question, Vader liked firing live rounds in the ring, and the more "real" it was, the bigger and badder he would perform.

Vince McMahon sure misused Vader.

@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi

10 ай бұрын

Should've washed his mask and gear more regularly and learned how to throw real working punches. Shawn wouldn't have had a leg to stand on.

Thank you, NatureBoy. From a fan outside of the ring, Vader was definitely entertaining.

Vader is the first non Japanese iwjp world champion “FACT” , everywhere he lands this guy grab a world title 💪🏼

@larrysnelson9649

2 жыл бұрын

I’m certainly not saying this to argue (and if I did have an argument, it would be with NJPW), and God knows I’m no Hogan fan, but the fact remains, whether NJPW wants to recognize it or not, Hogan defeated Inoki in 1983 to become the very first IWGP World Champion (Vader’s reign wasn’t until 1987). Granted, that version of the title was only defended once a year, being the prize for winning a tournament called the “International Wrestling Grand Prix”, which later evolved into the G-1 Climax tournament and then the IWGP Title became a regular championship. But Hogan’s reign was legit. If NJPW wants to say they’re two different things, then they needed to come up with a different name for the current title. Anyway, the blame here is on NJPW for creating a “World” title that was only going to be defended once a year in the first place.

Best match of Flair’s storied career. Finally, his cowardly beg for mercy gimmick actually made sense as he was giving up well over a 100 lbs. And Flair actually was very offensive in this match - something he should have done more of throughout his career. That one was of my biggest gripes about what otherwise was a great Flair match: He always took too much care to get his opponent over to the extent that he made himself look overly buffoonish. A little of that oversell is okay, but the world champion should have been more aggressive like we saw when Flair wrestled Vader. 5 stars.

@ronfroehlich4697

2 жыл бұрын

I've often wondered if the Nature Boy was ever disappointed that he wasn't occasionally scripted to win matches in ways that made him look like he was World's Heavyweight Champion because he was really awesome at wrestling.

@JayJackson1981

2 жыл бұрын

Flair made his opponent good like a million dollars because he knew that he would make millions of his opponent was believable. He understood the game.

Not dangerous to Ric, but Vader hurt TV guys every week and was told every week to STOP hurting guys, but he didn't listen because he had NO respect for the guys that helped make him a star.

@dondemmeljr1765

2 жыл бұрын

You would be one hundred percent correct... cared about one thing in life... himself! 💯

I liked vader as the bad guy

This has to be a top 10 match of all time! (Vader vs Flair, starcade 93)

1st time I saw Vader he Totally destroyed Sting!! Like a father wrestling his kid son. Beat Sting pretty bad.

Yeah

if he wanted to be dangerous he would

Vader was a good big guy so agile ric flair beating vader for the wcw world heavyweight championship

Remember everyone said flair was done lol..

What was your experience working with Eddie Guerr i'm from el paso Texas a way to know you ever wear with Rolling

Vader is terrific to watch ric flair defeat Vader god bless ric 🙏

Best ring entrance: 1. Ravishing Rick Rude_2. The Undertaker with Paul Bear_ 3. Kane_4. Shawn Michaels.

@ronfroehlich4697

2 жыл бұрын

Road Warriors just running into the ring and beating the crap out the jobbers before the bell rang is probably my favorite ring entrance.

As always Ric Flair exaggerating facts a little bit. Vader was picked in the third round and was a second-team All-American... had a nasty disposition from growing up in a bad part of L.A.. that he carried through life. Took liberties with people at everything! He could be super nice or super nasty... Mother Nature's brainchild! 🤔💯

@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi

10 ай бұрын

Yes, many people don't know that. Vader was born in Lynwood, lived in Compton and South Central LA for a while before finally moving.

In my opinion big Van Vader was the best big man ever in wrestling I mean the guy was over 400 lb and could do Moon salts and those forearm shots he would give to his opponents in the corner where devastating. but thanks to Shawn Michaels crying to Vince McMahon like a little b**** Vader never got the push that he deserved in WWE.