15 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Vader
7. Vader Cried In Hospital Visiting Joey
Mick Foley remembers Leon going to see Joey in hospital to try and apologise for what happened. According to Thurmond, White didn't exactly say sorry at all, but instead meekly asked if the enhancement worker was alright. That's when Joey says he “unloaded on him” and called Leon everything under the sun. Vader was crying, but Joey says he “couldn’t have cared less” because docs had told him he’d never get in the ring again.
His dreams had been shattered by somebody who was unable to differentiate between work and reality. This harks back to Leons inability to find that "off switch". Once he got going, he was unstoppable, but he really should've been more considerate towards his peers. Job guy or not, Thurmond was a fellow wrestler, but apparently that didn't matter to Vader in the heat of the moment.
In hindsight, it's kinda fascinating that WCW turned this into a semi-storyline by having Ricky Steamboat mention it during promos with Vader later. Footage was shown of that on 'Dark Side', and Thurmond's gimmick name Thurman was even said on television. This was a risky move, obviously, because Joey could've pursued legal action against Leon and the company.
He'd never wrestle again, and here they were using real life misfortune to present Vader's TV character as menacing. That was more than a bit cold, truth be told, and it doesn't seem like Thurmond gave the promotion permission to do it.
Debra chimed in to say that her then-husband cried a lot. He was deceptively sensitive. Fair enough, but there was nothing sensitive or caring about his actions during that Worldwide taping, and it was somebody else who paid the price.