RIP Professional Wrestler Leon "(Big Van) Vader" White
June 20, 2018 9:46 AM   Subscribe

Professional wrestler Leon White, better known as "Vader" has died at the age of 63.

After a brief career in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams, Leon White began his wrestling career in the mid-80s in the American Wrestling Association under his real name, billed as "The Baby Bull" (here vs. Bruiser Brody)

However, his career really took off in Japan, where he was given the gimmick of "Big Van Vader", the ultimate monster heel (villian), who came to the ring in an elaborate costume

White, under the Vader gimmick, came back to the US in the early 90s, wrestling for WCW and holding their version of the world title on multiple occasions. He famously feuded with Sting, Mick Foley (Vader famously ripped Foley's ear off, for real, in a match), and Hulk Hogan, among others.

In 1996, Vader made his WWF (now WWE) debut,famously attacking WWE legend (and at the time storyline WWF "President" Gorilla Monsoon). While Vader's WWF run was not as successful as some would have imagined, he did headline SummerSlam 1996 again Shawn Michaels

Vader also famously appeared in an episode of Boy Meets World
posted by The Gooch (18 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
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posted by Fizz at 10:03 AM on June 20, 2018


He was one of the absolute best ever, and my mind boggles that he was never that successful (in the U.S.). He should have been the Brock Lesnar of his time -- show up, annihilate everyone, disdain his competition, fight only on the biggest cards, be the Big Boss that you could spend years building a babyface to finally topple.

RIP, big man. You scared the shit out of an entire generation around the world.
posted by Etrigan at 10:22 AM on June 20, 2018 [5 favorites]


I didn't watch much wrestling during his peak but even in the little I watched he stood out as an absolute monster. RIP big fella from 'parts unknown'
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:30 AM on June 20, 2018


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posted by deezil at 10:31 AM on June 20, 2018


I never really saw him in WWE, but I definitely remember him from WCW, where he just destroyed everybody. I remember his run feeling like longer than apparently it was.

He had an eye get knocked out of socket during a match. He popped it back in and finished the match.

In the old WCW Nintendo game, the big boss at the end was a large masked “WCW Master.” At the time, we assumed it was supposed to be Vader, but it turns out in the original Japanese version of the game, Vader (with mastodon helmet!) was a playable character, and the WCW Master was Andre the Giant.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 10:42 AM on June 20, 2018 [1 favorite]


I missed a lot of Vader's run, but having watched some of it since, he could really move when he wanted to, and was just so huge and terrifying. I also really enjoyed his appearance on the Art of Wrestling podcast.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:12 AM on June 20, 2018


in lieu of words, I offer, humbly:

Louisville punk band Vaderbomb's ode Vader Time

Vader, when he inducted longtime story rival Stan Hansen into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016, making fun of the time Hansen once knocked his eye out during a match with grandpa-tier humor: turning away for a moment, and turning back wearing googly-eye glasses.

Mick Foley, who's advocated for years to get Vader into the WWE Hall of Fame, wrote a forward for an upcoming Vader autobiography (Facebook link) where he describes how a match with Vader solidified his early career with WCW and what Vader meant to the business in general.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 11:39 AM on June 20, 2018


He was one of the absolute best ever, and my mind boggles that he was never that successful (in the U.S.). He should have been the Brock Lesnar of his time -- show up, annihilate everyone, disdain his competition, fight only on the biggest cards, be the Big Boss that you could spend years building a babyface to finally topple.

One possible explanation here (See #7, make sure you watch the video with Jim Cornette for a fuller explanation).

Oh, and I famously really like the term famously
posted by The Gooch at 11:40 AM on June 20, 2018


Vader didn't yank Foley's ear off. The ear was already in rough shape, and Foley did one of his standard "flip into the ropes and end up throttling yourself between the top and middle" and when he went to extricate himself from the ropes, the ear just came off.
posted by Billiken at 11:44 AM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


I have heard it does not take much force to rip off an ear; we seem to be a little light on Internet tough guys here, lately, though, so I don't know if anyone can confirm that.
posted by thelonius at 11:54 AM on June 20, 2018


Video evidence says Vadar (possibly)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:02 PM on June 20, 2018



He had an eye get knocked out of socket during a match. He popped it back in and finished the match.


Now that's showbiz!

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posted by lalochezia at 1:24 PM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


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posted by Samizdata at 1:44 PM on June 20, 2018




I watched the Mick Foley bio-pic on Netflix, which is a surprisingly good watch, despite being a WWE marketing piece, and Mr. White was in a very well tailored suit, and his normal speaking voice is sweet and high with a lot of gravel, and he's very earnest and polite and beams niceness away from kayfabe. I understood why he needed the mask - when it was stripped off in the Cactus Jack match above, he had the face of a stern uncle upset the kids let the dog out of the yard AGAIN. Of course you can still have cake, it's a cookout, but, WOW, you kids! I keep telling you!

Also, he did acrobatic stunts usually associated with Lucha Libre technicos. At 400lbs or so. No one before or since.

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posted by Slap*Happy at 7:20 PM on June 20, 2018 [2 favorites]


(Well, Bam Bam Bigelow could, but his thing was more super-speed rudo moves.)
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:05 PM on June 20, 2018


It was time. It was Vader time.

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posted by ejoey at 10:07 PM on June 20, 2018


If you have an hour or so to spare, my favorite wrestling podcast, the 6:05 Superpodcast, just released a special episode dedicated to Vader, which includes a lot of great memories, historical info, and an interview with Vader’s WWF manager, Jim Cornette.
posted by The Gooch at 5:42 PM on June 21, 2018


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