10 Origin Stories Of Awesome Wrestlers
4. Big Van Vader
The perception of Vader among some wrestling quarters is that of a crotchety, out-of-touch old man. Judging a fifteen minute-plus match on the basis of a ten second GIF doesn't exactly position him as an authority on the state of modern wrestling.
But Vader, in his nineties pomp, was one of the best acts the sport had to offer - a legitimately scary behemoth who embodied the crucial concept of suspension of disbelief. His origin story was appropriately bad a**.
Vader was a creation of the Japanese, in whose land the Mastadon ravaged as one of puroresu's most successful ever gaijin imports. The character was inspired by a tale from their deep reservoir of folklore. His horned headgear and defensive shoulder pads were once donned by a character who fought a battle to the death, contested on an island by the strongest men from a collective of warring villages. Vader, victorious, was bestowed the title of "Emperor's Warrior". His own emperor, Antonio Inoki, symbolised Big Van Vader's aura with his distinctive pre-match apparel.
It was Vader himself who conceptualised the iconic red mask underneath - inspired to design it as a series of interconnected V-shapes, to reflect his alliterative avatar.