Big Van Vader

StoneColdSteveAustin said:
Vader was a great big man. He was so damn talented for a guy his size.

He should’ve been pushed harder in the WWF
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Seems like he'd be a Vince guy based on size but I think the behind the scenes stuff was too tough to deal with. As a kid I was terrified and enamored with his character.



I loved watching him squash 2 jobbers at the same time lol.
 
Vader's matches with Mick Foley are so underrated and rarely ever talked about, they had some very intense and crazy matches pre WWF Vaders career, they were brutal and so bloody. Foley lost his ear in one of them and they use to both take bumps
 
Maybe the greatest fat guy wrestler of all time (not counting Andre) a very good big man but not top tier. Id put him decidedly below Taker, Kane, Sid, Andre, Big Show, Nash, even though was better in some ways than all of them. Couldn’t quite pull it together as well.

Among big fat guys though, he’s a definite step above BamBam, Earthquake, Bundy, Yoko, Mabel, and the next tier down is even worse.
 
drstrangelov said:
Maybe the greatest fat guy wrestler of all time (not counting Andre) a very good big man but not top tier. Id put him decidedly below Taker, Kane, Sid, Andre, Big Show, Nash, even though was better in some ways than all of them. Couldn’t quite pull it together as well.

Among big fat guys though, he’s a definite step above BamBam, Earthquake, Bundy, Yoko, Mabel, and the next tier down is even worse.
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What metrics are you using to have Sid ranked so high?
Outside of the way he looked, he was terrible at everything
 
Pliny Pete said:
What metrics are you using to have Sid ranked so high?
Outside of the way he looked, he was terrible at everything
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Look is the biggest part of it, he’s in the running for GOAT in that department. Promo work is up there as well, he was better than Vader on the mic in my opinion. Once the bell rang, Vader was better. Sid was viable slot in main eventer anywhere he went for a decade, even not talking about big men, he was a generational draw just below taker and Andre.
 
Top 25 all-time and the best worker ever north of 350lbs. I'm not sure how much he actually weighed, but probably like 375lbs in his peak. WCW would announce him at 399lbs, lol.

He had a great peak. To me there's a case to be made that he was the best wrestler in the world in 92 and 93 and absolutely was the top guy in WCW not Sting. He always had awesome matches, even his shitty WWE reign, he had great matches with Bret, Shawn and Undertaker. He completely stole the show at the final four show in early 1997 where he bled buckets. JR talked about the match on his podcast. He sent Vader away to lose weight like Yokozuna. Yokozuna didn't and would sneak out to KFC and got fatter, Vader actually did lose like 75lbs.

He also had awesome matches after his wwe reign too with Kobashi and Misawa, it was sort of him proving a point. It sucked seeing him losing to Mark Henry and Bradshaw on heat in 1998. Don't piss off Shawn Michaels I guess
 
Red Beard said:
Seems like he'd be a Vince guy based on size but I think the behind the scenes stuff was too tough to deal with. As a kid I was terrified and enamored with his character.



I loved watching him squash 2 jobbers at the same time lol.
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Vince loved burying WCW guys
 
Prelimtapper said:
Top 25 all-time and the best worker ever north of 350lbs. I'm not sure how much he actually weighed, but probably like 375lbs in his peak. WCW would announce him at 399lbs, lol.

He had a great peak. To me there's a case to be made that he was the best wrestler in the world in 92 and 93 and absolutely was the top guy in WCW not Sting. He always had awesome matches, even his shitty WWE reign, he had great matches with Bret, Shawn and Undertaker. He completely stole the show at the final four show in early 1997 where he bled buckets. JR talked about the match on his podcast. He sent Vader away to lose weight like Yokozuna. Yokozuna didn't and would sneak out to KFC and got fatter, Vader actually did lose like 75lbs.

He also had awesome matches after his wwe reign too with Kobashi and Misawa, it was sort of him proving a point. It sucked seeing him losing to Mark Henry and Bradshaw on heat in 1998. Don't piss off Shawn Michaels I guess
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I totally agree with you about Vader's weight, he was a big guy but I think WWF made him out to be much bigger than he was.. they used to announce Vader weighing in at 458 Ibs officially.. but he didn't look anywhere near that.. I'd say at that time he was maybe 380. I think they added a lot extra lol.

WWF had this obsession of listing guys much taller than they really are and much heavier than they really are too.

Do you remember Matt Bourne who played Doink the Clown? well my dad has met him before, and he said in person he ain't that big.. they listed him at 6'1'' and 243 Ibs, but my dad said he was exactly same height as him, and my dad is 5'10''.
 
My favourite all time wrestler. Over in Northern Ireland only wcw was shown free on tv. While my mates with money grew up on wwf PPVs I grew up watching Vader vs Sting. Looking back that was far better.

Vader was the ultimate monster heel, he really looked like he was hurting people (and quite often he actually was!) anyone who can perform a Moonsault and a military press deserves credit!

His rivalry with sting has to go down as one of the greatest ever, especially as a child the shock of seeing the bad guy get the clean win.
 
Pliny Pete said:
What metrics are you using to have Sid ranked so high?
Outside of the way he looked, he was terrible at everything
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Yeah he was terrible at everything and also no showed major events. He got by on his size and Vince loved guys with his look he was an upper card guy.
 
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He was world champion pretty much everywhere he went barring the WWF. WCW, UWFI, New Japan, All Japan, Mexico, Germany, and UWA Mexico. No-one gets that kind of treatment if they aren't special.
 
HI SCOTT NEWMAN said:
I totally agree with you about Vader's weight, he was a big guy but I think WWF made him out to be much bigger than he was.. they used to announce Vader weighing in at 458 Ibs officially.. but he didn't look anywhere near that.. I'd say at that time he was maybe 380. I think they added a lot extra lol.

WWF had this obsession of listing guys much taller than they really are and much heavier than they really are too.

Do you remember Matt Bourne who played Doink the Clown? well my dad has met him before, and he said in person he ain't that big.. they listed him at 6'1'' and 243 Ibs, but my dad said he was exactly same height as him, and my dad is 5'10''.
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How about Raymond Stereo gaining three inches inbetween WCW and WWE? He was 5'2" in ECW and WCW, then suddenly 5'5" in the E.
 
Francis Rossi said:
He was world champion pretty much everywhere he went barring the WWF. WCW, UWFI, New Japan, All Japan, Mexico, Germany, and UWA Mexico. No-one gets that kind of treatment if they aren't special.
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To me, that carries incredible weight.

Francis Rossi said:
How about Raymond Stereo gaining three inches inbetween WCW and WWE? He was 5'2" in ECW and WCW, then suddenly 5'5" in the E.
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I read this...laughed...and read it again. Raymond Stereo should be the name of an electronics store in Brooklyn.
 
Red Beard said:
Where do you think Big Van Vader lands on the all-time greatest wrestler list? Below are his accolades throughout his career. He was a solid heel in Japan, had tag team and singles success, had an awesome big man move set (the Vader sault was amazing considering his size), and he regularly was put with the top face to put them over or destroy them.


He was a personal favorite of mine and I personally think he'd land somewhere in the top 20. I'd say 16-19 somewhere. His run in 1993 alone makes me think he deserved his spot. I can't think of too many super heavyweights that could hang with him. What say you guys?


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He's arguably one of if not the best big man of all time. It's almost a crime he didn't win the WWF title in 96 or 97. According to Jim Cornette it's Shawn Michaels fault that didn't happen.
 
I'm a firm believer that if you put Vader in any era of professional wrestling, you could build a company around him as the monster heel, and he would be a goddamn spectacle the entire time. That alone makes him an all timer to me. Credibility matters, and I know that's funny that i'm saying that as a fan in 2020. But there's a reason 52 year old Minoru Suzuki is still one of the top 3 wrestling characters, even if he's way out of his prime physically.
 
drstrangelov said:
Maybe the greatest fat guy wrestler of all time (not counting Andre) a very good big man but not top tier. Id put him decidedly below Taker, Kane, Sid, Andre, Big Show, Nash, even though was better in some ways than all of them. Couldn’t quite pull it together as well.

Among big fat guys though, he’s a definite step above BamBam, Earthquake, Bundy, Yoko, Mabel, and the next tier down is even worse.
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Sid and Nash weren't worthy enough to lace up Vader's boots . Vader was the champ everywhere except WWF and he should've been the champ there.
 
immyaxl said:
Sid and Nash weren't worthy enough to lace up Vader's boots . Vader was the champ everywhere except WWF and he should've been the champ there.
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He definitely shouldn’t have been the champ in WWF, that was not a good run. And as much as he could be a great monster, he didn’t have the total package, or even any one area where he excelled, to make him better than the guys I listed.
 
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