8 Legendary Tales Of Badassery From Steve Austin And Ric Flair
5. Paul Orndorff Takes Down Vader
This tale has been told many times from several differing perspectives, but its a heck of a story regardless. In the 1990s, there were few men more feared inside the squared circle than Leon White AKA Big Van Vader. Vader was a monster with deceptive athleticism and a penchant for losing his temper. Hes also considered one of the stiffest workers ever and is notoriously tough, even finishing a match after having his eyeball almost completely removed from the socket in a bout with Stan Hansen. But Vaders bully act wasnt tolerated by everyone, and he learned that the hard way when he encountered the man Steve Austin referred to as The Brandon Bull. The two men ran afoul of each other backstage at a WCW show and legend has it that Orndorff dropped Vader with a punch and then followed up with a few swift kicks to the head, and the only thing that saved Vader from life-threatening injuries was that Paul was wearing flip-flops. Flair speaks gleefully about the conflict, saying that he didnt actually witness it firsthand because he was right next door, but both men continue to espouse the toughness of Orndorff, with Austin adding the caveat that he loves Vader and the story isnt meant to disparage him in any way, to which Flair agrees. For his part, Vader contends that he didnt try to fight back against Orndorff, both because the retired wrestler was suffering from a badly injured left arm that forced him to hang up his boots as well as the fact that he knew beating up a member of the office would jeopardise his position in the company.
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
