He's honored in Japan. Before WWF and WCW (I think) he defeated Inoki's streak in NJPW , despite how it crowd was despised it at the time, it grew a massive respect.
Vader was an excellent wrestler because he was so talented and gifted he alone made the WCW a must watch promotion. Vader did not fail the WWE they failed Vader because they abuse and misuse talent.
Even as a huge Sting mark, Vader won me over for just how impressively he mauled my hero. It's pretty incredible that WWF was the one major company that never made the most of him. Shawn could have had a perfect nemesis to overcome if his ego and attitude didn't get the better of him.
@@mattjindrak Nah, I love the Rock but Vader was an absolute monster in the ring and anytime I see him walk down the aisle I get excited to see him tear a man to pieces.
Vader in WCW is one of my earliest memories of watching wrestling as a child. He holds a very special place in my heart, and is very likely the reason I gravitated so much to my favorite wrestler, Sting (who is still my favorite wrestler to this very day, always has been).
I always have and will be a Fan of Big Van Vader. His matches against Antonio Inoki, Sting, and Mitsuharu Misawa are Legendary. To this day, I can't get over how the WWF wasted some of Vader's prime years because of backstage politics. RIP, Leon "Big Van Vader" White.
Yeah, that’s one thing about Vader that I think is greatly underrated about him as a wrestler. For being such a gigantic and imposing figure, he was eerily well-spoken when he wanted to be.
He wasn't a WWF creation so he had to be buried , that's the WWE's favorite game to play with outside guys. Oh you like this guy fuq him , let's make him a joke ....
@@themadviking5746He was on the way to being a champion until Shawn ruined things. The kliq were some of the most negative people for wrestling we have ever seen
@@themadviking5746Austin & HHH were WCW guys too. But they came in during their late 20's & early 30's. Vader was middle aged and out of shape when he got to WWF. He got lost in the youth movement that was going on at the time.
I met Vader at a local indy show near where I live sometime in the 2000's after he had come home from Japan. My friend and I got to chat with him for quite some time. I can honestly say, that in real life, he was absolutely nothing like who he was in the ring. He was super nice and respectful. He was constantly checking with the younger fans, asking them if they were having fun. He was one of the friendliest and nicest wrestlers I ever met, and he didn't mind hanging out and chatting with fans. If you had met him outside the ring, without knowing his job, it probably would have been a stretch to envision him as the terrifying monster that he was in the ring. He was that much different than who he was in the ring.
His matches against Misawa and the 2 against Kenta Kobashi are some of the greatest matches of all time, fucking awe inspiring. Exhausting honestly to witness, you can feel both dudes just draining themselves in there, amazing stuff. Feels like an actual fight, a legit athletic contest. It is incredible he so quickly went on to deliver those performances after how lame his time in WWF ended. One of the biggest, "fuck, did we mismanage or not see the treasure we had on our hands?" type of situations in wrestlign history
Vader was just one example of talent not being used right or being taken seriously in the WWF/E. It didn't help that Vince didn't take talent seriously which was why a lot of them ended up in WCW or some other kind of bs
The 2 years Vader spent at All Japan is the best run he had in Japan in my opinion, the match when he beat Misawa & became the triple crown heavyweight champion was so awesome especially that post match promo, Vader in Japan is just 10 times cooler than Vader in the US
This was damn amazing. I was always a HUGE fan of Vader, even when he was jobbing in the fed, his Matches with Sting rent constant space in my memory. Very good video, kudos sir.
@Geoffrey Walsh His matches in NOAH and All Japan are all over the internet, even on UA-cam. If you've seen them by now tho then I hope you've enjoyed!
Thank you for this video. Even as kid in the early 90's Vader was one of my favorites. His look was like no one else. Like he looked so strong, but moved like a cruiserweight sometimes. So awesome.
I think the writing was on the wall for Vader after that Michaels title shot, apart from some sporadic highlights like his match with Owen Hart, the stiff fest with Shamrock, the match against Kane, and a not bad match against an unusually motivated Sid (who carried himself well but was a lazy worker as soon as the bell rung.) But both Shawn and Bret hated working with him, the matches with Taker were mostly unmotivated slogs, not helped by the fact Taker was coming off a vicious feud with Mankind where that sort of violence hadn't been seen in WWF in a while, and then that feud with The Artist Formely Known As Goldust. Outside things like the Kuwait incident, I think he became unmotivated because of backstage politics, whereas Sid just kind of waded through it and stayed on the top guys good side, kept his character and got over naturally with the audience despite being 100th of the worker Vader was. It's almost a shame for Vader that Foley was an out and out heel at the time, because renewing their WCW feud could've been exactly what the Vader character needed. It was a blessing going back to Japan and dealing with the likes of Kawada, Misawa, Kobashi and Taue who had earned their stripes by getting beaten up by Hansen, grumpy Tsuruta, grumpy Tenryu, Gordy and Dr Death Steve Williams.
Ah that Vader promo. Brian Zane did a great vid about Vader's time in the WWF and i loved the part that while Vader is cutting that promo, Brian is doing the burying thing. The most accurate way to describe that promo. Honestly, if he's gonna cut a promo like that, the least you can do is keep him off TV. Maybe have the story that he's trying to build himself back up again and retrain. I don't know, SOMETHING.
I needed this. I always felt like Vader got dealt a shit hand, but this made me feel a lot better. Thank you man. RIP to the best big man to ever do it.
Vader was world champion in WCW AJPW he became a job or in WWF later in his career but that man was a world champion and companies for years before WWF got him
Extremely underrated! I remember seeing him as a kid on TV and thought it was the most intimidating presence I had ever seen from a wrestler. His skillset was impeccable.
Definitely not underrated... Everyone praises him for being one of the best big men to ever grace the ring. The fella in the video even said that modern big men always get compared with Leon
Kawada was originally my favorite of the 4 Pillars when i first TRULY grabbed on and could find tapes of AJPW in 94 . Then the more i watched i grew to eventually gravitate to others . Thank God for the internet and youtube ! I didnt have to spend hundreds of dollars to keep up ! But Ive been a fan since 85 and i love NWA , WCCW , Memphis and all in between . Nothing beats AJPW from the mid 80s till the exodus .
When kane cracked him with that huge wrench i legit was worried for vader as a kid, a guy that big with a giant wrench? Kane was straight up scary back then.
You forgot to mention he was the first wrestler to win triple crown, IWGP heavyweight championship and UWF-i world title. Vader mentioned that on his interview with the media after he won the triple crown.
I think the match between Kane and Vader at No Way Out 1998 is a fucking outstanding affair, it makes Kane look such a badass, it's a shame it's at an expensive of Vader and Kane getting fed to Undertaker constantly.
Great video I've watched 3 times already but there's a couple of parts you got wrong, when Vader first left WCW in September '95 his first choice was to go back to New Japan but after working 2 shows Inoki didn't have any spots open. So Vader decided to use that opportunity to take some much needed time off to repair his shoulder and manage his real estate properties, but he had an incompetent agent who made a botched deal with the WWF that wasn't in Leon's favor at all. Vader wanted to make his WWF debut after Wrestlemania to give his shoulder time to heal, but Vince wanted Vader to show up at Royal Rumble and his agent didn't stand firm which was an inconvience for Vader. Fast forward to All Japan in '98 the May 1st show wasn't inter-promotional with AJPW and WWF, there was a clause in Vader contract where he could work one show a year in Japan and Stan reached out to Vader to work that show so Vader was able to exercise that clause. After that show Baba was so impressed with Vader's performance he had Stan to call him with the offer to join All Japan, but Vader turned it down bc Vince promised him a world title run, which he lied and still had Vader jobbing in the mid-card, in August of '98 baba extended another offer to Vader and this time he took it. This time Vader stood firm and negotiated his own release and as a result Vince had him to job on his way out, but gottdammit it was worth it bc he accomplished more in 6 moths in Japan than he did the entire 2 1/2 years in WWF.
Great video and great channel. I read about a lot of this stuff back in the day but never saw most of it and this does a great job catching me up on what I missed.
It blows me away, thinking about how WWF/WWE completely wasted Leon's talent. 😢 But we know they are known as the company that turns monsters into jokes. It's sad.....
He was one of the only wrestler action figures I ever had as a kid. His battles with Earthworm Jim and Jurassic Park dinosaurs though unknown were epic indeed.
That entrance with the steam spitting helmet was the t!ts. Blew my mind that he didn’t do it more. I know he didn’t wanna carry the mask everywhere and other issues with it, but damn, that entrance alone was money.
There's a lot of nostalgia here for me. That Vader-Kobashi match VHS, which also had a lot of the buildup (including that brutal Kawada-Misawa match and Baba's funeral) was the first tape I ever imported from Japan. I opened my first checking account to buy it.
This was a really good video, I didn't know all this stuff about Vader in new Japan, I definitely subscribed to your channel for more videos like this or other videos you make in the future
LOVED this vid ! And your last statements i agree without a shadow of a doubt ! Thank you . Such a great in depth vid . I really appreciate it . Sorry i commented so much !!!
This video was great. Real eye-opening look at a career I've always been interested in but never deep dived into. I'll definitely have to check out the rest of your videos
My favorite super heavy weight. All of the various video game and anime characters inspired by him just further shows how popular he was in Japan back in the day. It was always fun to see him pop up in other media, like when he was on Boy Meets World and his appearance in the Fist of the North Star movie.
I'll always be in awe of wrestlers who push 350+ pounds, and are able to have 20 minute barnburners, really makes you question the human body. As for Vader himself, he's one of my fave wrestlers ever, I've once downloaded 40+ GB of his matches, from 80s AWA, his entire NJPW and WCW runs, some great WWE and NOAH matches as well. But nothing comes close to the 98-99 AJPW run, coincidentally one of my favorite eras for any wrestling promotion ever. Thank you so much, Mastodon, I hope you're trampling opponents beyond the Pearly Gates for all eternity ❤🖤
Vader didn't get his title run because Shawn Michaels and the kliq buried his carrier there because Michaels refused to drop the title (and his ego, for that matter).
Vader was the FIRST wrestler as a kid he literally SCARED the dog p*ss out of me! He still does now as an adult, dude was a Kodiak bear that could moonsault and suplex you BEYOND "SUPLEX CITY"!
I was very lucky to be on the Internet in 1999 or else I would have had no idea what happened to Vader after watching him get jobbed out in the WWF in 1998. I remember watching In Your House: Breakdown with some friends and we just couldn't believe Vader got whipped by Bradshaw of all people. Bradshaw was a total nobody at the time. Vader was gone soon after that. I got to follow Vader's career in All Japan online and it was awesome to see him be a beast again like he should have been in the WWF the whole time. I'm glad he got that moment on Raw in 2012. He came out and the fans had no idea who he was. He was so impressive that the crowd was all over him when it was over. I heard rumors they offered him a deal to come back but knew he was too old for the grind again. RIP Vader.
Its kinda sad that the HBK match is only a small notion in that video even though Michaels running to Vince afterwards and crying about Vader was the beginning of his burrial (confirmed by HHH, Jim Cornett and Bruce Prichard)
That fateful Summerslam 1996 is what did Vader in. Here we have a legend in Japan who is the prototypical final boss monster heel and...he is treated like a chump by a pretty boy who was half his size. The Vader of Japan and WCW would have squashed HBK like an insect.
Damn man, great video! Thank you for making it :D Loved Vader, I'm just mad I only got to see him during the end of his WWE run. I knew he was YUGE in JP, so much so he had a parody of him n a fighting game from SNK, but sadly, I've never got to see any of those matches. I know of some places to look, just unsure if I can find a "All Vader, All JP" content pack.
shamrock was a former king of pancrase you dont even mention that when talking about his experience he knew quite a bit about pr wrestling catch wrestling and amature wrestling waaay more than mark henry...
This is a great comeback story for Vader. Didn't follow much of his post-WWF run back then but loved his WCW & NJPW runs so much of this was pretty new to me (especially him and Steve Williams winning the tag titles....that's a hell of a duo!). When Vader first came to WWF it seemed like they were really going to push him as the beast he had been in the previous companies but sadly it fell apart later on. Great to see him having got his swagger back in All-Japan. He's in my top 5 big men of all time in wrestling. R.I.P. to a legend.
I remember being 5 years old going to my uncles house playing wcw pro wrestling on the NES. My uncle calling the hotline on his phone for tips to bear the final boss vader. Damn I feel old.
@Elim Garak that's right. I'll never forget that. The hotline told us to use sting, and do the running bulldog after he does his flip off the top ropes. Run to the ropes grab him and do a running bulldog. My uncle is a real MVP
I remember when wwf came to kuwait. I was such a great memory.i don't any of the wrestlers will be in any trouble because of the good relationship between kuwait and the American army.
Go ed Kim. I knew you would eventually end up doing a bit more wrestling on the side. Didn't expect a seperate channel though. Stupid algorithms have appeared to have stopped bringing your videos up as much as it used to, so i will get a good binge on the go. All the best mate. Hope you had a good christmas ✌️
Vader was rarely in a dole match, he was very skilled for a big man. I've been watching wrestling for 40 years and most promotions around the world and Big Van Vader is the greatest big man of all time.
I remember suffering Vaders WWF run just thinking wtf during most of it. He was awesome in WCW, and was just not utilized at all in WWF, then he just vanished. To get my Vader fix after that I basically had to resort to Fire Pro Wrestling 6 Men Scramble on Sega Saturn lol. I was not aware at the time that he went to All Japan Pro Wrestling until late 2000 when I got a hold of a copy of Giant Gram: All Japan ProWrestling 2 for Dreamcast, which is basically the same time I stopped watching WWF at all.
It's amazing how bad the WWF blew it with Vader, the guy was money everywhere he went but Vince wanted to call him the Mastodon and have Shawn Michaels beat him up instead of using him as an unstoppable monster heel like they should have.🤦. It's VADER TIME, R.I.P. Leon.🙏✝️
Vader was the first guy I ever saw throw real looking punches in wrestling. I thought the guy was a killer when I was a kid. Truly believed noone can take him
WWF didn't let him wrestle his style. HBK especially ruined his chances at being a top guy in wwf. Vader in wcw and especially Japan beat people up, and as a true giant should made his opponents fight him. When Flair figured that out, his matches with Vader got really really good.
He's honored in Japan. Before WWF and WCW (I think) he defeated Inoki's streak in NJPW , despite how it crowd was despised it at the time, it grew a massive respect.
“Despited how it crowd was despised”
What in the actual fuck did you just try to say?🤣🤣🤣 did you have a stroke while typing your comment?🥴🥴😂😂😂😂
@@aye_its_karate6169 I don’t know, I typed it fast, I guess editing will help.
Vader was an excellent wrestler because he was so talented and gifted he alone made the WCW a must watch promotion. Vader did not fail the WWE they failed Vader because they abuse and misuse talent.
Ah yeah , the day NJPW fans turns into ECW fans
Vader was kept down by Shawn Michaels who thought he was a threat to his career and did not like how stiff Vader was
May you rest in peace Vader Leon White
I thought RIP stood for “Rot In Piss”🤣🤣💦💦🍆
Nobody cares about his real name nobody is impressed you Wikipedia it
He lost both legs before he passed.
@@Turnheadcoughthat is so SAVAGE and I like it.
I’m sure he really appreciates you saying that on a UA-cam comment about his declining career, very thoughtful of you
Even as a huge Sting mark, Vader won me over for just how impressively he mauled my hero. It's pretty incredible that WWF was the one major company that never made the most of him. Shawn could have had a perfect nemesis to overcome if his ego and attitude didn't get the better of him.
He is really the perfect "Final Boss" on wrestling
Nooooo it's The Rock 🙄
@@mattjindrak Nah, I love the Rock but Vader was an absolute monster in the ring and anytime I see him walk down the aisle I get excited to see him tear a man to pieces.
Gifted Glen Gilbertti was the true goat
@@EdyimeHow is he gifted?
Vader in WCW is one of my earliest memories of watching wrestling as a child. He holds a very special place in my heart, and is very likely the reason I gravitated so much to my favorite wrestler, Sting (who is still my favorite wrestler to this very day, always has been).
Sting!! Where are you sting!?
I always have and will be a Fan of Big Van Vader. His matches against Antonio Inoki, Sting, and Mitsuharu Misawa are Legendary. To this day, I can't get over how the WWF wasted some of Vader's prime years because of backstage politics. RIP, Leon "Big Van Vader" White.
Love how Vader handled the interview to be honest
Yeah, that’s one thing about Vader that I think is greatly underrated about him as a wrestler.
For being such a gigantic and imposing figure, he was eerily well-spoken when he wanted to be.
It’s kind of a shame that he didn’t unleash some of that Kuwait fury on Shawn Michaels.
Couldn’t agree more
The WWE neutered Vader, everywhere else he was a huge star and champion.
Shawn Michaels got in Pat Patterson's ear. After Pat got into Shawn's ***.
Is it true that that’s how Shawn blew up ?
He wasn't a WWF creation so he had to be buried , that's the WWE's favorite game to play with outside guys. Oh you like this guy fuq him , let's make him a joke ....
@@themadviking5746He was on the way to being a champion until Shawn ruined things. The kliq were some of the most negative people for wrestling we have ever seen
@@themadviking5746Austin & HHH were WCW guys too. But they came in during their late 20's & early 30's.
Vader was middle aged and out of shape when he got to WWF. He got lost in the youth movement that was going on at the time.
Vader's run in Japan was incredible, a real unstoppable monster, and that metal helmet was cool as hell
I met Vader at a local indy show near where I live sometime in the 2000's after he had come home from Japan. My friend and I got to chat with him for quite some time. I can honestly say, that in real life, he was absolutely nothing like who he was in the ring. He was super nice and respectful. He was constantly checking with the younger fans, asking them if they were having fun. He was one of the friendliest and nicest wrestlers I ever met, and he didn't mind hanging out and chatting with fans. If you had met him outside the ring, without knowing his job, it probably would have been a stretch to envision him as the terrifying monster that he was in the ring. He was that much different than who he was in the ring.
His matches against Misawa and the 2 against Kenta Kobashi are some of the greatest matches of all time, fucking awe inspiring. Exhausting honestly to witness, you can feel both dudes just draining themselves in there, amazing stuff. Feels like an actual fight, a legit athletic contest. It is incredible he so quickly went on to deliver those performances after how lame his time in WWF ended. One of the biggest, "fuck, did we mismanage or not see the treasure we had on our hands?" type of situations in wrestlign history
Yes sir ! I wish more fans that dont know , could see these gems ! If all they knew was WWE and WCW could see this ? It would blow their minds !
Vader was just one example of talent not being used right or being taken seriously in the WWF/E. It didn't help that Vince didn't take talent seriously which was why a lot of them ended up in WCW or some other kind of bs
Wow! You can say Japanese names! So cool! You are a real Mark💯💯
@@aye_its_karate6169 That's so low effort trolling. Do better
@@aye_its_karate6169 im a mak because i know their names ? Im a mark for great wrestling ! No shame there .
The 2 years Vader spent at All Japan is the best run he had in Japan in my opinion, the match when he beat Misawa & became the triple crown heavyweight champion was so awesome especially that post match promo, Vader in Japan is just 10 times cooler than Vader in the US
I always felt this way back in the day as well. In Japan, Vader was really able to show off what kind of story he was capable of telling.
This was damn amazing.
I was always a HUGE fan of Vader, even when he was jobbing in the fed, his Matches with Sting rent constant space in my memory.
Very good video, kudos sir.
i'm not telling Ryan.
Vader & Sting are two of my favourites, and their feud in WCW was amazing. I definitely need to find his All Japan run.
@Geoffrey Walsh His matches in NOAH and All Japan are all over the internet, even on UA-cam. If you've seen them by now tho then I hope you've enjoyed!
Thank you for this video. Even as kid in the early 90's Vader was one of my favorites. His look was like no one else. Like he looked so strong, but moved like a cruiserweight sometimes. So awesome.
I think the writing was on the wall for Vader after that Michaels title shot, apart from some sporadic highlights like his match with Owen Hart, the stiff fest with Shamrock, the match against Kane, and a not bad match against an unusually motivated Sid (who carried himself well but was a lazy worker as soon as the bell rung.) But both Shawn and Bret hated working with him, the matches with Taker were mostly unmotivated slogs, not helped by the fact Taker was coming off a vicious feud with Mankind where that sort of violence hadn't been seen in WWF in a while, and then that feud with The Artist Formely Known As Goldust. Outside things like the Kuwait incident, I think he became unmotivated because of backstage politics, whereas Sid just kind of waded through it and stayed on the top guys good side, kept his character and got over naturally with the audience despite being 100th of the worker Vader was. It's almost a shame for Vader that Foley was an out and out heel at the time, because renewing their WCW feud could've been exactly what the Vader character needed.
It was a blessing going back to Japan and dealing with the likes of Kawada, Misawa, Kobashi and Taue who had earned their stripes by getting beaten up by Hansen, grumpy Tsuruta, grumpy Tenryu, Gordy and Dr Death Steve Williams.
Shawn Michaels is everything I hate about wrestling. Vader deserved better.
Writing was on wall when he broke down and sobbed like a baby at two events and locker room.
Good video. Be careful with njpw stuff they are brutal.
Shove. It. Maaaaaaaaaaaan!
*A wild slapnuts appears*
Double J, Jeff Jarrett
I was one of your super early subscribers, congrats on the all the success!!!
“OH ITS TIME, ITS TIME, ITS VADER TIME” still give me chills to this day
Ah that Vader promo. Brian Zane did a great vid about Vader's time in the WWF and i loved the part that while Vader is cutting that promo, Brian is doing the burying thing. The most accurate way to describe that promo. Honestly, if he's gonna cut a promo like that, the least you can do is keep him off TV. Maybe have the story that he's trying to build himself back up again and retrain. I don't know, SOMETHING.
It's awesome you put such a great tribute together for the big guy!
Vader legit scared me when I was young. I honestly believed he walked around with that mask on just beating people up.
I needed this. I always felt like Vader got dealt a shit hand, but this made me feel a lot better. Thank you man. RIP to the best big man to ever do it.
Vader was world champion in WCW AJPW he became a job or in WWF later in his career but that man was a world champion and companies for years before WWF got him
Extremely underrated! I remember seeing him as a kid on TV and thought it was the most intimidating presence I had ever seen from a wrestler. His skillset was impeccable.
Definitely not underrated... Everyone praises him for being one of the best big men to ever grace the ring. The fella in the video even said that modern big men always get compared with Leon
Lmao, someone else that doesn't know what underrated means. 😂
Kawada was originally my favorite of the 4 Pillars when i first TRULY grabbed on and could find tapes of AJPW in 94 . Then the more i watched i grew to eventually gravitate to others . Thank God for the internet and youtube ! I didnt have to spend hundreds of dollars to keep up ! But Ive been a fan since 85 and i love NWA , WCCW , Memphis and all in between . Nothing beats AJPW from the mid 80s till the exodus .
When kane cracked him with that huge wrench i legit was worried for vader as a kid, a guy that big with a giant wrench? Kane was straight up scary back then.
You forgot to mention he was the first wrestler to win triple crown, IWGP heavyweight championship and UWF-i world title. Vader mentioned that on his interview with the media after he won the triple crown.
Vader was literally the only person that counts them, and certainly the only one who cares.
I think the match between Kane and Vader at No Way Out 1998 is a fucking outstanding affair, it makes Kane look such a badass, it's a shame it's at an expensive of Vader and Kane getting fed to Undertaker constantly.
Vader had a great run in WCW as well.
yeah, until Hogan got there
Great video, it was worth the watch. Vadar never received the love he deserved in the WWE.
Great video I've watched 3 times already but there's a couple of parts you got wrong, when Vader first left WCW in September '95 his first choice was to go back to New Japan but after working 2 shows Inoki didn't have any spots open. So Vader decided to use that opportunity to take some much needed time off to repair his shoulder and manage his real estate properties, but he had an incompetent agent who made a botched deal with the WWF that wasn't in Leon's favor at all. Vader wanted to make his WWF debut after Wrestlemania to give his shoulder time to heal, but Vince wanted Vader to show up at Royal Rumble and his agent didn't stand firm which was an inconvience for Vader. Fast forward to All Japan in '98 the May 1st show wasn't inter-promotional with AJPW and WWF, there was a clause in Vader contract where he could work one show a year in Japan and Stan reached out to Vader to work that show so Vader was able to exercise that clause. After that show Baba was so impressed with Vader's performance he had Stan to call him with the offer to join All Japan, but Vader turned it down bc Vince promised him a world title run, which he lied and still had Vader jobbing in the mid-card, in August of '98 baba extended another offer to Vader and this time he took it. This time Vader stood firm and negotiated his own release and as a result Vince had him to job on his way out, but gottdammit it was worth it bc he accomplished more in 6 moths in Japan than he did the entire 2 1/2 years in WWF.
Great video and great channel. I read about a lot of this stuff back in the day but never saw most of it and this does a great job catching me up on what I missed.
Super job in the journalism of this video. This is the best Japan wrestling channel in UA-cam
Thank you for your effort
He was WcW champ and NJPW chamb before going to WWF so the dude already was made
Thank you for making this video, really really enjoyed it.
Vader time
Great awesome video! The story of Vader is truly one of the greatest redemption stories in wrestling history.
Please do a video on Japanese Shoot Style. It doesn't get that much coverage in the West and it's my favorite facet of Japanese wrestling.
Since this channel thinks Vader was a jobber in the WWF, are they really the goofs that you want to do a video about Japanese wrestling?
Great mini documentary on Vader, keep up the awesome work
I was unaware of this incredible All Japan run. Great video!
It blows me away, thinking about how WWF/WWE completely wasted Leon's talent. 😢 But we know they are known as the company that turns monsters into jokes. It's sad.....
Up until the table flip, Vader did a great job expressing his point. Never seen that part of the interview before.
Defending kayfabe.
He was one of the only wrestler action figures I ever had as a kid. His battles with Earthworm Jim and Jurassic Park dinosaurs though unknown were epic indeed.
Vader and Hansen appeared in Ultimate Muscle (kinnikuman)
Your videos are so easy to watch, hats off to you my friend
Thank you for the video. It made me appreciate Vader even more.
32:34 Damn... ECW champion Big Van Vader just sounds good
Vader was the first ‘nimble’ big man in wrestling - and he rarely gets the credit he deserves.
That entrance with the steam spitting helmet was the t!ts. Blew my mind that he didn’t do it more. I know he didn’t wanna carry the mask everywhere and other issues with it, but damn, that entrance alone was money.
Yeah, like he's really going to travel with that thing to use it in front of 1500 people. 😂
Anybody remember when Vader used to sometimes come out wearing is ring gear back to front 🤣
That's how he originally wore it in WCW
@@rdtworld9720 doesn't stop the fact that it was being worn the wrong way around
There's a lot of nostalgia here for me. That Vader-Kobashi match VHS, which also had a lot of the buildup (including that brutal Kawada-Misawa match and Baba's funeral) was the first tape I ever imported from Japan. I opened my first checking account to buy it.
This was a really good video, I didn't know all this stuff about Vader in new Japan, I definitely subscribed to your channel for more videos like this or other videos you make in the future
Vader deserved the WWF title . Shawn should’ve been told to do his job or he won’t have one .
😂😂😂
Vince was in love with HBK for some reason
This is a great video. Well done. I love the commentary.
LOVED this vid ! And your last statements i agree without a shadow of a doubt ! Thank you . Such a great in depth vid . I really appreciate it . Sorry i commented so much !!!
Incredible video!!! If the rest of your content is like this then this is quite the heavily underrated channel! Easily earned a sub from me👍🏼
This video was great. Real eye-opening look at a career I've always been interested in but never deep dived into. I'll definitely have to check out the rest of your videos
My favorite super heavy weight. All of the various video game and anime characters inspired by him just further shows how popular he was in Japan back in the day. It was always fun to see him pop up in other media, like when he was on Boy Meets World and his appearance in the Fist of the North Star movie.
WWF really did Vader dirty. Thank goodness AJPW gave Vader a well-deserved run
This ruled. I can't wait to watch your other two videos and hope you continue making content.
Man, having to keep redoing this video must have given you so many headaches - hope it finally stays up 🤞
That stiff hard-hitting style was perfect in Japan, he was a victim of the backstage politics during his WWF run
I'll always be in awe of wrestlers who push 350+ pounds, and are able to have 20 minute barnburners, really makes you question the human body.
As for Vader himself, he's one of my fave wrestlers ever, I've once downloaded 40+ GB of his matches, from 80s AWA, his entire NJPW and WCW runs, some great WWE and NOAH matches as well. But nothing comes close to the 98-99 AJPW run, coincidentally one of my favorite eras for any wrestling promotion ever. Thank you so much, Mastodon, I hope you're trampling opponents beyond the Pearly Gates for all eternity ❤🖤
Great video mate 👍🏼. I look forward to more.
How humble he is in Japan. Amazing
Vader was both a monster from your nightmares, but then you hear how others and contemporaries view and respect him you know that he was a true legend
Great documentary on a guy who I’m a huge fan of great job!!!!!!
I gave a thumbs up....but I always try to comment on your vids... So, I came back for a second watch! Cheers bro! Love your content!
Vader didn't get his title run because Shawn Michaels and the kliq buried his carrier there because Michaels refused to drop the title (and his ego, for that matter).
Excellent & Thorough Documentary
21:42 what a beautiful finish 😮
Just in time for the holidays. Love your content.
Vader's hook felt real. Like Leon was tired of Shamrock's stiff kicks so he just hauled off and punched him to teach a lesson
great vid.
do bam bam next.
Merry Christmas Wes.
Quickly becoming my new favorite channel
Vader was the FIRST wrestler as a kid he literally SCARED the dog p*ss out of me! He still does now as an adult, dude was a Kodiak bear that could moonsault and suplex you BEYOND "SUPLEX CITY"!
How did you have dog urine inside of you?
I was very lucky to be on the Internet in 1999 or else I would have had no idea what happened to Vader after watching him get jobbed out in the WWF in 1998. I remember watching In Your House: Breakdown with some friends and we just couldn't believe Vader got whipped by Bradshaw of all people. Bradshaw was a total nobody at the time. Vader was gone soon after that. I got to follow Vader's career in All Japan online and it was awesome to see him be a beast again like he should have been in the WWF the whole time. I'm glad he got that moment on Raw in 2012. He came out and the fans had no idea who he was. He was so impressive that the crowd was all over him when it was over. I heard rumors they offered him a deal to come back but knew he was too old for the grind again. RIP Vader.
Its kinda sad that the HBK match is only a small notion in that video even though Michaels running to Vince afterwards and crying about Vader was the beginning of his burrial (confirmed by HHH, Jim Cornett and Bruce Prichard)
That fateful Summerslam 1996 is what did Vader in. Here we have a legend in Japan who is the prototypical final boss monster heel and...he is treated like a chump by a pretty boy who was half his size. The Vader of Japan and WCW would have squashed HBK like an insect.
Damn man, great video! Thank you for making it :D
Loved Vader, I'm just mad I only got to see him during the end of his WWE run.
I knew he was YUGE in JP, so much so he had a parody of him n a fighting game from SNK, but sadly, I've never got to see any of those matches. I know of some places to look, just unsure if I can find a "All Vader, All JP" content pack.
Rip Vader wrestling Legend God bless you.
shamrock was a former king of pancrase you dont even mention that when talking about his experience he knew quite a bit about pr wrestling catch wrestling and amature wrestling waaay more than mark henry...
Awesome video. I watched from beginning to end and was not disappointed 😎.
This is a great comeback story for Vader. Didn't follow much of his post-WWF run back then but loved his WCW & NJPW runs so much of this was pretty new to me (especially him and Steve Williams winning the tag titles....that's a hell of a duo!). When Vader first came to WWF it seemed like they were really going to push him as the beast he had been in the previous companies but sadly it fell apart later on. Great to see him having got his swagger back in All-Japan. He's in my top 5 big men of all time in wrestling. R.I.P. to a legend.
Keep up the great work Kim Justice !
Flash Funk took a better Kane bump than Kane on Triple H's pedigree. 8:11
Another example of how Vince hurt the business and talent, way more than he actually helped.
This video is amazing, please keep up the great work.
Your videos are getting treated like Vader in the WWF right now by those copyright holders
😂 unbelievable
I remember being 5 years old going to my uncles house playing wcw pro wrestling on the NES. My uncle calling the hotline on his phone for tips to bear the final boss vader. Damn I feel old.
Your uncle cool af
@Elim Garak that's right. I'll never forget that. The hotline told us to use sting, and do the running bulldog after he does his flip off the top ropes. Run to the ropes grab him and do a running bulldog. My uncle is a real MVP
Never knew I needed The Leprechaun narrating a video about Vader's post-WWF run.
I remember when wwf came to kuwait. I was such a great memory.i don't any of the wrestlers will be in any trouble because of the good relationship between kuwait and the American army.
Go ed Kim. I knew you would eventually end up doing a bit more wrestling on the side. Didn't expect a seperate channel though. Stupid algorithms have appeared to have stopped bringing your videos up as much as it used to, so i will get a good binge on the go. All the best mate. Hope you had a good christmas ✌️
Vader was rarely in a dole match, he was very skilled for a big man. I've been watching wrestling for 40 years and most promotions around the world and Big Van Vader is the greatest big man of all time.
I love Jim Woss and Ken Shamwok...
He was the best athletic big man I've ever seen I would have loved to seen Vader in his prime take on Brock Lesnar
I remember suffering Vaders WWF run just thinking wtf during most of it. He was awesome in WCW, and was just not utilized at all in WWF, then he just vanished. To get my Vader fix after that I basically had to resort to Fire Pro Wrestling 6 Men Scramble on Sega Saturn lol. I was not aware at the time that he went to All Japan Pro Wrestling until late 2000 when I got a hold of a copy of Giant Gram: All Japan ProWrestling 2 for Dreamcast, which is basically the same time I stopped watching WWF at all.
It's amazing how bad the WWF blew it with Vader, the guy was money everywhere he went but Vince wanted to call him the Mastodon and have Shawn Michaels beat him up instead of using him as an unstoppable monster heel like they should have.🤦. It's VADER TIME, R.I.P. Leon.🙏✝️
Vader was the first guy I ever saw throw real looking punches in wrestling. I thought the guy was a killer when I was a kid. Truly believed noone can take him
WWF didn't let him wrestle his style. HBK especially ruined his chances at being a top guy in wwf. Vader in wcw and especially Japan beat people up, and as a true giant should made his opponents fight him. When Flair figured that out, his matches with Vader got really really good.
Amazing video man,you should make more of these