Big Van Vader dead at 63

[Bandit]

One of my childhood favorites.

It's bullshit he didn't go in the HOF when he was alive. But we got fucking Godfather and Rikishi.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

RIP Vader

[Bandit]

It was funny Vince fired him because "he couldn't work" in 1998.

Then he went to All Japan and became the same guy he was in the early 90s tearing it up.





The moral of the story is don't make a guy call himself "a fat piece of shit" and put him in a feud with New Blackjacks era JBL and expect magic.

[Big Boss Man]

That really sucks, always was a Vader fan. His WWF run should have been much much better than it was. Vader was great in WCW and Japan where they played to his strengths. Definitely deserves a HOF place. Sadly it will have to be post-humous induction now. RIP

[Big Boss Man]

[Bandit]

That really sucks, always was a Vader fan. His WWF run should have been much much better than it was. Vader was great in WCW and Japan where they played to his strengths. Definitely deserves a HOF place. Sadly it will have to be post-humous induction now. RIP

Vader only had one night in the WWF where he was used correctly, the Raw where he destroyed Gorilla Monsoon and had huge heel heat. He should have been destroying everybody, including Shawn Michaels for the WWF title. Then he brags he's left the WWF in ruins and nobody can stop him. Then Undertaker's bells hit, he gets in the ring and they stare down to set up Wrestlemania 13.

[Big Boss Man]

That would have been great. His matches with Sting, Cactus and showed he could work on the big stage. I do think Japan showcased him the best. He was booked as a monster there and came across as legit.

[Bandit]

It was originally booked to happen. But Shawn completely refused to work with Vader again at Survivor Series 96 so they had to go with Sid at the last minute. But he was booked to destroy Jose LotharIo to end his WWF run and take out Shawn to give him off for a few months then work Taker where he'd lose the title.

[Big Boss Man]

Yea I heard how Shawn treated Vader and that era HBK was a real POS. No wonder Bret was so pissed off about working with him. Vader would have made a great WWF champion. He had that believability. Plus you could revisit his angle with Cactus. Then there's Taker, Bret, Owen he could have worked against. I guess because of Shawna attitude that changed Vinces opinion. I'm assuming he was a JR hire as he knew how good he was from WCW. But again I do believe like Bruiser, Doc & Gordy, Stan they worked much better in Japan. WCW has its naysayers but they realised how good Vader was and Terry & Steve and booked them as they should. A Dr Death and Vader team in the WWF would have been cool to see too.

[Bandit]

[Ocelot]

One of my all time favorites, ever - easily in my top five. I'll never forget seeing him and Sting tear it up at a house show and Sting look at me all disappointed-like because I was the only one yelling for Vader to kill sting while my grandfather sat there and laughed his ass off.

Gonna watch some Vader matches tonight, y'all.

This hits hard.

[Big Boss Man]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]

They put Ken against Vader because they wanted somebody who could give it right back to him if Ken worked too stiff. Ken later told everybody Vader didn't know how to punch, which shocked them since they all thought Vader was the hardest hitter in the world. But Ken had fought Maurice Smith and Bas Rutten so he wasn't impressed.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

[Bandit]

In the thing he did with Vince Russo I laughed when Ken used this to throw shade at Shawn Michaels being a pussy about being hit. "At least he didn't go out to the floor and have a temper tantrum" (referring to Summerslam 96.)

Also I think Ken was lying about not respecting his punches. That was an "oh shit!" look on his face when he was down on the mat if I ever saw one.

[Bandit]

Oh fuck off. Hogan treated Vader like garbage and you two were too young to know him. Nick wasn't going backstage with Hulk until the Hollywood Hogan days and Brooke didn't go until she had to for Hogan Knows Best.

And what street is Nick a legend on? The one where he turned a guy comatose for the rest of his life?