15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Vader
8. Thurmond’s Terrifying Tale
Joey Thurmond was brought in as a talking head for the episode and tasked with reliving one of his worst experiences. To reiterate, he was a mere 20 years old when he worked Vader in a squash match for WCW. According to Joey, Leon was friendly enough behind the scenes - he told the rookie it’d “be quick” and asked if he was “good with the powerbomb”.
"Something changed" once the bell sounded.
As Vader, Leon was like a completely different person. That might sound obvious 'cause he was in character, but this went far beyond somebody just playing a wrestling gimmick. White barked at Joey, “You better jump you little motherf***er” before a choke slam, then added: “C’mere, you little piece of s***” before the powerbomb. On 'Dark Side', Thurmond said, “The carelessness is obvious”.
He took a brutal bump for both moves, and the latter powerbomb left Joey numb. Bizarrely, Vader barely even touched Thurmond during the pin, and he started to show concern for him as soon as the match was over. That's when Joey told the referee he couldn’t feel his legs.
Later, he’d find out that his back was broken in two places. Doctors told him the trauma was so great that it almost severed his spinal cord in a heartbeat. Apparently, Leon felt bad about that once he came to his senses again, but he'd been outrageously reckless during the actual match itself.
Thurmond can understand somebody wanting to lay it in and live up to their aura as one of the most dangerous wrestlers ever, but he was right to expect that somebody so seasoned would take care of his body and make sure he could work again.