5 WCW Legends Who Never Appeared On Monday Nitro

by John Bills

1. Big Van Vader

Big Van Vader WCW
WWE.com

Big Van Vader was one of the first great heels of the 1990s. Vader was a big dude who had no problems beating the ever-loving tar out of anyone and everyone, pulling off impressive feats of athleticism along the way. Vader employed the double-tough Harley Race as his manager, forming one of the most iconic manager-client duos in WCW history.

Vader dominated the early years of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, with three of the first 10 reigns of that championship belonging to 'the Mastodon'. Vader battled Ric Flair, Sting, Cactus Jack and more in matches that live long in the memory of wrestling fans worldwide. He was a megastar, to say the least.

Big Van Vader was even featured in the title video of the first ever episode of WCW Monday Nitro. Only four wrestlers were given that honour (Vader, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage ,and Sting), but a backstage brawl with Paul Orndorff weeks prior meant that Vader was released.

The big man was actually scheduled to face Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on the second episode, but being fired made that somewhat difficult. Lex Luger took his place, and a few months later Vader turned up at the Royal Rumble.

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Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.