WWE Hall of Fame: Making a Case for Big Van Vader
Every year near the time of WrestleMania – the WWE starts to name off their inductees for the Hall of Fame. And every year there is always some names that all wrestling fans disagree with going in and a group of stars who are not going in.
More from Daily DDT
- It’s time for Adam Cole and MJF to drop the ROH tag team titles
- Tom Lawlor talks MLW return, AEW opportunity, CM Punk’s WWE return and more
- Eddie Kingston stands to gain the most from the AEW Continental Classic
- Trish Stratus on WWE NXT would help elevate that women’s division
- Randy Orton signs with SmackDown to go after The Bloodline
This article I will focus on one of the most dominant super-heavyweights in professional wrestling history: Big Van Vader!
Now for fans who primarily focus on WWE wrestling and know of Vader from his mid 90’s run with the WWE – what you saw was a very watered down version of the Mastodon – not by his fault but for how he was booked by management and other wrestlers using their pull.
Vader did have a good run in the WWE, but he should have been the dominate force in the company. To know the best years of Big Van Vader you have to go to his days in Japan and his run in WCW.
Finding much of his early success while under the New Japan Pro Wrestling flag – Vader would have some brutal and bloody matches. The most talked about of those would be his infamous match versus Stan Hansen.
In a scuffle as Vader was getting into the ring – the rope caught him flush in his face. While that hurt and would be enough to cause a normal person to stop – it was nothing compared to what would happen next.
During their match in a wild exchange one of Hansen’s fingers would catch Vader in his eye, popping it out of its socket. Thankfully for Vader the eyeball was being held into place by his eyelid thus giving him a chance to take off his mask (then he wore a more traditional wrestling mask than his current multiple opening mask) and he was able to push the eye back into place.
With his eye swollen considerably he finished the match with Hansen. Considering how truly tough the man is and how much of a professional he is – there isn’t many men who could have done that.
This performance would garner the attention of management at WCW and he would strike a deal with the company.
While in WCW – he was a monster among men. When Vader was crowned WCW World Heavyweight Champion – he would dominate his opponents. Because of a knee injury, he would lose the title – if not for that knee injury – who knows how long he would have held on to the title.
He had a number of classic feuds in WCW with names like Cactus Jack, Sting, Ric Flair, Nikita Koloff, and Hulk Hogan.
In his WCW run he would become the World Champion three times, the U.S. Champion, and the Battle Bowl winner in 1993.
While in the WWE he would get a quick push after destroying then President of the WWE and Hall of Famer Gorilla Monsoon.
His WWE feuds would include Michaels, Undertaker, Yokozuna, Mankind, Goldust, and Kane. While never held on to any of the titles in the WWE – his mark was set as still a dominate big man who could mesh styles with anyone including guys less than half his size.
For a man who stood at 6′ 5″ and weighed in at over 400 lbs. – the man moved around the ring like he was half that size. The agility he showed throughout his career with moves like his top rope moonsault, dropkicks, sunset flips, and top rope leaping splashes – he defined gravity pulling these moves off flawlessly.
As far as brawling and his power goes – not many, if any, did it better. My favorite was always seeing him get a guy in the corner and just lay whirlwind rights and lefts with his forearms, boxing the opponent’s ears off.
His tackle when a guy would come charging at him and he just held his arms out and jumped into the opponent was like the guy ran into a brick wall.
He had the most devastating clothesline that anyone could deliver – and that is saying something considering he was around in the same era has Stan Hansen and Nikita Koloff – both known for their lariat’s.
But probably what he is best known for as far as his move-set was his power bomb and his Vader bomb. He literally broke the back of one wrestler named Joe Thurman.
A lot of fans debate who had the better power bomb – he or Sid. I still say Vader. Sid would release the wrestler – which was original and powerful in its own way but Vader followed through with his and putting his full body into the finish of the slam.
Live Feed
FanSided
His list of accomplishments over his career will include: Two-time All-Japan Triple Crown Champion, AJPW tag team Champion (with Dr. Death), IWGP tag Champion (with Bam Bam Bigalow), Three-time IWGP World Champion, GHC tag team Champion (with 2 Cold Scorpio), and Pro Wrestling Illustrated Wrestler of the Year, along with a number of other championships with other federations.
Granted the WWE Hall of Fame is a different kind of honor than in baseball, football and so on – there are many other political and personal circumstances that are always considered before asking if someone would like the honor. But Vader was at this year’s ceremony, he made a wrestling appearance 3 years ago – I would say everyone is on good terms.
With all due respect to André The Giant and many other big men I say this: In my opinion – he is the best big man in all of professional wrestling history. With that said – it’s time…..it’s Vader’s time to go into the WWE Hall of Fame.