7 Best Ever NJPW Gaijin Wrestlers

These days, the man they call Vader is more famous for his comments on the work of guys like Will Ospreay and Ricochet (as well as his complete failure to use Twitter correctly) than he is for his in-ring exploits. To a great many fans, he's just some bitter guy in a dodgy mask living in the past and would do well to stay away from his keyboard.

Those fans should do themselves a favour and revisit Vader's prime years in WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. The Mastodon made his NJPW debut in the most effective way possible, downing the untouchable Antonio Inoki in just under three minutes on 27 December 1987 inside Sumo Hall. That was a huge deal then, a foreigner coming into New Japan and beating Inoki clean in such one-sided fashion in a major venue. The result caused the pro-Inoki crowd to riot, and New Japan were temporarily banned from running in the building.

From then on, Vader was one of the most well-protected wrestlers on the planet, rarely losing and winning many major matches, including many handicap matches. Over the next few years Vader wrestled primarily in Japan and made frequent trips to Europe. He won his first IWGP Heavyweight Title by defeating Shinya Hashimoto in a surly match on 24 April 1989 inside the Tokyo Dome, but his most famous New Japan match would go down in 1990.

On 10 February of that year, Vader collided with another gaijin great, Stan Hansen, on a joint All Japan/New Japan card inside the Dome. The match is famous, or rather infamous, for the horrific injuries that the Boulder, Colorado native suffered before and during it. As Hansen was making his entrance, he struck Vader with his cowbell, breaking his nose. Then, during one of their exchanges of punches, Hansen poked Vader in the eye, causing it to pop out of its socket in gruesome fashion.

Vader finished the match (it went to a double countout) and wrestled on after getting a metal plate surgically inserted under the eye. Yes, he is one tough motherf*cker. He continued to work regularly for New Japan until 1992, winning titles and putting on awesome matches, forming a formidable tag team with another super-agile big man gaijin, Bam Bam Bigelow.

His work in the orient caught the attention of WCW and WWE, who entered into a three-way bidding war (along with New Japan) for his services in 1993. Vader chose WCW and another Japanese promotion, UWFi, who paid him handsomely - Vader was one of the top earners in all of wrestling in those days. His final New Japan matches were a one-off Tokyo Dome loss to Inoki in '96 and a couple of random tags in 2006.

He may have sullied his reputation with his performances in later years, but there's no doubting the incredible force that was Vader in the late '80s and early '90s. He conquered Japan and forged a legacy that very few can compete with.