From having his eye popped out of his skull via Stan Hansen's brutally violent assault in Japan to a series of matches against Sting and Cactus Jack in WCW that set a new standard for hard-hitting wrestling in America, Vader's likely not the best guy to have a discussion regarding whether or not pro wrestling is "real." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYL6tD-TmgQ Appearing on "Good Morning Kuwait" during an April 1997 WWF tour of the country, the program's host asked the "400-pound Mastodon" if wrestling was "real." Vader immediately flipped over the table they were sitting at and accosted the host. Afterwards, Vader was put under house arrest in Kuwait, and in December of 1997, fined $164 (American).
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.