Amazing interview with Vader

[Phoenix]

Highlights:

* High School All-American football player (offensive lineman sounds like)
* Played on the Super Bowl-winning Los Angeles Rams; has a SB ring
* Wrestler for many, many years, 20-time World Champion
* Preseason NFL game against the DALLAS COWBOYS, went against the Manster for 3 quarters and shut him down (according to him)
* During a grueling match in Japan, HIS EYEBALL POPPED OUT and he shoved it back in and kept fighting. Boggle. I can't even begin to comprehend this.



(some snippets below; full link at bottom)



By Raj Giri | September 24, 2014
http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2014/0924/581336/vader-talks-getting-his-start/#disqus_thread
I recently spoke with Leon "Big Van Vader" White. White is a former WCW world heavyweight champion, former IWGP heavyweight champion, Triple Crown heavyweight champion and was recently ranked by WWE.com as #5 on the list of "30 best big men in wrestling history." Vader also is a former NFL player, who played for the Los Angeles Rams NFC championship team.
In part one of the three-part interview below, Vader discussed his NFL career getting cut short, getting his start in pro wrestling, The Ultimate Warrior almost getting the Vader gimmick and much more.

Going from Colorado and then obviously to Los Angeles where I played in the Super Bowl and I'm the proud owner of a Super Bowl ring because I was a member of that team. I didn't play long. I had a career ending injury—ruptured a patellar tendon on a sweep against the Dallas Cowboys in a pre season game. Got to play against the Hall of fFamer Randy White and had a great game against him. I shut him out for three quarters; no tackles, no sacks and then I came home back to Boulder and I started doing real estate.



I think I'm considered by most as the most dominant champion in the history of professional wrestling, at least from '85 to up until present time. There's a guy named Brock Lesnar right now who is pretty dominant, so I think my reign might be over. He's ragdolling people. He just ragdolled Undertaker and [John] Cena. That was impressive.



Wrestling INC: You were starting to make a name for yourself early on in AWA but you really started to take off in New Japan as Big Van Vader. Is it true that Ultimate Warrior was originally groomed for that gimmick? How close was that to happening?

Vader: Yeah! This is just my understanding, but I heard that Sid Vicious was also up for it. And [Antonio] Inoki had designed this thing and he was going to put this helmet on somebody and pay him a lot of money. They brought the Warrior over and—let's face it…may he rest in peace and with all due respect—he looked fantastic, he had a lot of energy, he's a Hall of Famer, but athletically, he was limited; in other words, he was a little stiff. In other words, I don't think he could play a real good game of basketball. I'm not trying to be disrespectful but I believe the best wrestlers are also athletic in nature. Look at someone like Sting who is a tremendous athlete. Look at Undertaker, who is just a fabulous athlete. A guy like Shawn Michaels, who is a smaller athlete but…tremendous athleticism. I think Ultimate Warrior and Sid, although they looked fantastic, athletically I don't think they'd have been given college scholarships to play football or basketball or something like that.


But again, if you watch Sid in the ring, he's kind of stiff. He kind of reminds me of Kane. Kane is stiff. He moves… that robotic kind of thing. Not real fluid. And you compare Kane to the Undertaker and I think that'd be a fair analogy. Kane gets up to the top rope and he comes off and it's kind of difficult for him and it's kind of awkward. The Undertaker walks up backward gracefully and comes of the top rope and there's just a difference in athletic ability. Don't get me wrong; Kane's a Hall of Famer and he's going to do great but I'm trying to make a point here.


Wrestling INC: You had that really famous match with Stan Hansen at that All Japan/New Japan Supercard where your eyeball popped out in the middle of the match. What happened there?

Vader: Well, Stan is a friend of mine now and certainly before the match and Stan is the real deal. Fantastic big man. Not just good, great. He was all business. He was stiff. I mean, I'm stiff but he's the stiffest guy in the history of professional wrestling. We had 80,000 people in the Tokyo Dome, we were one of the main events and I came out and I had this mask on—a full mask, not this mask I have now but a full, Japanese, lucha libre mask and that helmet weight about 60 pounds with the engine in it.




He was a little older and I had him in the corner and I was like, "Hey, I'm just going to finish this off." I gave him a couple of good shots to the shin. I was like, "Hey, you hit me in the face with that steel thing and now we're back" and so I eased off and stepped back and I'm like, "Now we're even" and he didn't understand and he stuck his thumb in my eye. That's on tape and I've watched it 100 times and I don't care. But it broke my nose, it broke eight bones in my orbit and my eye popped out of my cheek. I lost a lot of vision and I've had four surgeries on the eye. But you know what? Back then, I just shoved it in and the swelling just kind of swelled around it. I shoved it back in and kept fighting. We did another 27 minutes. That was a hell of a match.

Read more: http://www.WrestlingInc.com/wi/news/2014/0924/581336/vader-talks-getting-his-start/#ixzz3ELTSZ3LZ

 

[Manwiththeplan]

Los Angeles Rams never won a superbowl

 

[big dog cowboy]

Nice write up. The shoving the eye story......well it's pro wrestling.

 

[RonSpringsdaman20]

vader, always a good interview

 

[Yakuza Rich]

One of my favorite wrestlers to watch. His matches were about as real as it gets in pro wrestling. This was when Bill Watts headed up WCW and I actually really enjoyed the product. Unfortunately, Watts' legacy at WCW was the 'can't use the top rope' rule although there were plenty of top rope moves under Watts, he just used it as a way to create some heat for the heels.

I thought WCW was really onto something as they were re-creating what separated them from Vince...much more athletic and hard hitting in-ring action and less cartoonish gimmicks. As kids growing up my friends and I would often talk about wrestling and while we watched the WWF, the perception was the NWA was better because it was more real. That was back in the 80's. With Vader coming along the action just became even more real.

Unfortunately, Watts was shipped out and WCW didn't have their act together and Vader left for the WWF where Vince didn't know what to do with him and Shawn Michaels hated working with him. But for a moment there I thought he could have been a major catalyst in the WCW taking over the WWF.

And his matches against Cactus Jack were one of the few matches that made me feel uncomfortable watching them as a wrestling fan.




YR

 

[CashMan]

One of my favorite wrestlers to watch. His matches were about as real as it gets in pro wrestling. This was when Bill Watts headed up WCW and I actually really enjoyed the product. Unfortunately, Watts' legacy at WCW was the 'can't use the top rope' rule although there were plenty of top rope moves under Watts, he just used it as a way to create some heat for the heels.

I thought WCW was really onto something as they were re-creating what separated them from Vince...much more athletic and hard hitting in-ring action and less cartoonish gimmicks. As kids growing up my friends and I would often talk about wrestling and while we watched the WWF, the perception was the NWA was better because it was more real. That was back in the 80's. With Vader coming along the action just became even more real.

Unfortunately, Watts was shipped out and WCW didn't have their act together and Vader left for the WWF where Vince didn't know what to do with him and Shawn Michaels hated working with him. But for a moment there I thought he could have been a major catalyst in the WCW taking over the WWF.

And his matches against Cactus Jack were one of the few matches that made me feel uncomfortable watching them as a wrestling fan.




YR

I totally agree. I know there is an interview on youtube, that pretty much Michaels was going to tell Vince to fire him, and Vader was crying. I guess he is a big teddy bear. Vader was a MONSTER in WCW, then when he went to WWF, he wasn't used well. The only way I can describe it, it was more corporate.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I totally agree. I know there is an interview on youtube, that pretty much Michaels was going to tell Vince to fire him, and Vader was crying. I guess he is a big teddy bear. Vader was a MONSTER in WCW, then when he went to WWF, he wasn't used well. The only way I can describe it, it was more corporate.

Vince isn't really into wrestlers that don't have great physiques. He's never been into that 'big guy that has fat on him, but is legitimately scary' type of wrestler. Especially back when Vader was in the WWF.

Mick Foley got over, but had to go above and beyond in terms of becoming popular and then Vince finally pushed him towards main event status, but it was under the guise that he wasn't going to hold the title for very long and in the end he was going to put other guys over.

The other issue was that Vader legitimately worked very stiff. It was interesting to see the interview with Steve Austin on his training where he had to work with Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen when he first started wrestling and thought that you were supposed to hit that hard because that is the way Brody and Hansen worked with him. In the WWF, when they had 300+ day schedules, it was going to be hard to keep a guy like Vader around and have him pound so hard on the wrestlers.

The other issue is that Vader and the Vader name was not a Vince created gimmick. Vince could still make money off the name because Vader was so well known, but Vince prefers (particularly back then) to use his own gimmicks so he can own the rights.

So when you combine all of that, you get a lackluster push and it was clear that Vince didn't know how to use Vader effectively.








YR

 

[CashMan]

Vince isn't really into wrestlers that don't have great physiques. He's never been into that 'big guy that has fat on him, but is legitimately scary' type of wrestler. Especially back when Vader was in the WWF.

Mick Foley got over, but had to go above and beyond in terms of becoming popular and then Vince finally pushed him towards main event status, but it was under the guise that he wasn't going to hold the title for very long and in the end he was going to put other guys over.

The other issue was that Vader legitimately worked very stiff. It was interesting to see the interview with Steve Austin on his training where he had to work with Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen when he first started wrestling and thought that you were supposed to hit that hard because that is the way Brody and Hansen worked with him. In the WWF, when they had 300+ day schedules, it was going to be hard to keep a guy like Vader around and have him pound so hard on the wrestlers.

The other issue is that Vader and the Vader name was not a Vince created gimmick. Vince could still make money off the name because Vader was so well known, but Vince prefers (particularly back then) to use his own gimmicks so he can own the rights.

So when you combine all of that, you get a lackluster push and it was clear that Vince didn't know how to use Vader effectively.








YR

I know.

My problem with Vince, was/is, he doesn't know how to use guys, period.

People like Vader, who was a monster challenging for the WCW title, Luger who was doing the same, goes to WWF, and isn't even a mid carder. He did however sorta use Sid. Which worries me about Sting, and how he will be used.

 

[RonSpringsdaman20]

Those Vader Sting matches were awesome

 

[Yakuza Rich]

I know.

My problem with Vince, was/is, he doesn't know how to use guys, period.

People like Vader, who was a monster challenging for the WCW title, Luger who was doing the same, goes to WWF, and isn't even a mid carder. He did however sorta use Sid. Which worries me about Sting, and how he will be used.

Vince pushed the hell out of Luger. And had the entire Lex Express deal going on.

The problem is that Luger sucks.

Even Crockett struggled to see that. They had an angle in NWA where Luger would turn on the 4 Horsemen at the Bunkhouse Brawl battle royal. The crowd was really hot thru the entire card and when Luger turned face on the Horsemen, it fell flat...in Greensboro which was about as hot of a wrestling venue as you could get.

And the Crocketts kept pushing him. And then he goes to the WWE and they try to push him as well. Luger had the look, was a decent promo and a lousy worker (but that never matter *that* much). He was just a guy that had enough things going for him that made bookers want to push him and just enough things working against him that prevented him from being as over as they would like.





YR

 

[DallasCowpoke]

* Preseason NFL game against the DALLAS COWBOYS, went against the Manster for 3 quarters and shut him down (according to him)

That'd be a pretty good trick, considering DAL and LA never played during the 78 or 79 preseason.

Also, I don't really see co-SB MVP/Pro Bowler, Randy White playing "3 quarters" of a preseason, game, EVER!

​

 

[Phoenix]

That'd be a pretty good trick, considering DAL and LA never played during the 78 or 79 preseason.

Also, I don't really see co-SB MVP/Pro Bowler, Randy White playing "3 quarters" of a preseason, game, EVER!

​

Yeah I thought that was kind of odd too.