5 Best WWE Stars Who Played College Football

2. Van Vader, Colorado

Big Van Vader actually never held a championship in the WWE. But that wouldn’t stop any fan from calling him one of the most influential wrestlers of all time.

Not only did Vader have a consistent main event run with the then-WWF throughout the mid-’90s, he’s returned multiple times to the company since, wrestling as recently as 2012. His feud at the time with The Undertaker still brings back memories and his brutish credibility helped provide the burgeoning Attitude Era with a veteran anchor.

Vader earned many other wrestling accolades around the world, including three heavyweight titles apiece in New Japan and WCW. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter inducted Vader into its Hall of Fame as far back as 1996, and Pro Wrestling Illustrated named him its Wrestler of the Year in 1993.

But, before all that, Vader did his best work on the gridiron as Leon White.

As a member of the Colorado Buffaloes, White was named team captain as a senior, a year he also earned first-team All-American status. White lettered as a guard, tackle and center, which Colorado claims is the only time in old Big Eight conference history someone did so at all three positions. He was also named a Playboy Preseason All-American, UPI second-team All-American, and was selected to play in the East-West Shrine Game after his senior year. White’s various college success led him to be picked in the third round by the Los Angeles Rams in that year’s NFL Draft.

Oh yeah, and he could do a top-turnbuckle moonsault weighing 400 pounds.