Unquestionably one of the greatest big men in the history of professional wrestling (and conspicuous in his absence from the WWE Hall of Fame), Vader, real name Leon White, was one of the greatest monster heels that ever set foot in the ring. When opponents looked up and saw the distinctive red and black mask (or even the Satanic looking metal one that blasted steam into the crowd), they may have been mistaken for thinking that whatever God theyd been praying to was severely p!ssed at them. However, it wasnt just the mammoth-like physique, the MMA-style fighting gloves and the no bullsh!t attitude, all crammed onto a massive 450lb frame, it was the fact that Vader could, and would, hurt them in a thousand ways or more. If you only ever saw Vader squashing the wonderful Heath Slater on RAW a couple years back, then please do yourselves a favour and check the big man out. His matches with Cactus Jack in WCW are hardcore masterclasses (hes the guy indirectly responsible for Cactus famous auditory amputation) and his time in Japan marked him out as one of the greatest not to mention most successful - monsters the wrestling biz had ever seen. Although pretty much everybody agrees that Vader was (and is) a nice, sensitive sort of chap away from the ring, his work inside it was so stiff that many tough guy wrestlers were actively afraid to wrestle him. Go back and watch his super-stiff punches. Ouch. Heres Mick Foley, arguably Vaders greatest opponent, discussing the mans terrifying presence from a wrestlers viewpoint, Vader, the real life Leon White, was in 1994 the greatest monster in the business. Guys were terrified of him. His style was the stiffest in all of wrestling. Some guys have a style that looks like theyre hurting guys when theyre not, which is good. Some guys stuff looks like crap, but hurts like hell, which is bad. Vader left no room for error; his stuff looked like it hurt, and believe me, it did. Some of the newer guys used to actually leave the arena if they saw their name on the board opposite Vader. Other guys would hide until their evenings card had been drawn up and then come out of hiding if Vader wasnt their opponent. Also, Vader was capable of performing maybe the most impressive moonsault ever seen in pro wrestling. You wanna know what happens when a 450lb bowling ball of a Human being hurls himself 180 Degrees from the top turnbuckle and comes crashing down onto the chest of a prone opponent? He gets to number one on a list of stiffest wrestlers ever, thats what happens.
I am a professional author and lifelong comic books/pro wrestling fan. I also work as a journalist as well as writing comic books (I also draw), screenplays, stage plays, songs and prose fiction.
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Latcho Drom,
- CQ
