šŸ¤¼ā€ā™‚ How Good of a Wrestler Were They Really? šŸ¤¼ā€ā™€ #18 BIG VAN VADER šŸ˜·

Sports
#2

Match:

  • Leon White, Greg Gagne & Ray Stevens vs Larry Zbyszko, Mr. Go & Super Ninja (AWA San Francisco, Feb '87)
  • Big Van Vader vs Stan Hansen (WCW WrestleWar '91)
  • Big Van Vader vs Keiji Mutoh (NJPW G1 Climax Day 3, '91)
  • Chamber of Horrors Match! (WCW Halloween Havoc '91)
  • Big Van Vader vs Sting I (WCW World Heavyweight Title Match, The Great American Bash, '92)
  • Big Van Vader vs Sting II (WCW Starrcade '92)
  • Big Van Vader vs Sting III (Strap Match, WCW SuperBrawl III '93)
  • Big Van Vader vs Davey Boy Smith (WCW World Heavyweight Title Match, Slamboree '93)
  • Vader vs Cactus Jack (Texas Death Match, WCW Halloween Havoc '93)
  • Vader vs Ric Flair I (WCW World Heayweight Title Match, Clash of the Champions XXV, '93)
  • Vader vs Ric Flair II (WCW World Heavyweight Title Match, Starrcade '93)
  • Vader vs Ric Flair III (WCW World Heavyweight Title Thundercage Match, SuperBrawl IV '94)
  • Vader vs Dustin Rhodes (WCW Clash of the Champions XXIX '94)
  • Vader vs Hulk Hogan (WCW World Heavyweight Title Match, SuperBrawl V '95)
  • Vader vs Hulk Hogan BAYWATCH MATCH (WCW World Heavyweight Title Cage Match, Bash at the Beach '95)
  • Big Van Vader vs Antonio Inoki (NJPW Wrestling World, Tokyo Dome '96)
  • Royal Rumble 1996
  • Vader, Owen & Bulldog vs Ahmed Johnson, Jake Roberts & Yokozuna (Wrestlemania XII)
  • Vader vs Razor Ramon (WWF In Your House 7)
  • Vader, Owen & Bulldog vs Ahmed Johnson, Shawn Michaels & Psycho Sid (WWF In Your House 9)
  • Vader vs Shawn Michaels (WWF World Heavyweight Title Match, Summerslam '96)
  • Royal Rumble 1997
  • Vader vs Bret Hart vs Steve Austin vs The Undertaker (WWF World Heavyweight Title Fatal Four-Way Elimination Match, In Your House 13)
  • Vader & Mankind vs Owen & Bulldog (WWF Tag Titles Match, Wrestlemania 13)
  • Vader vs Ken Shamrock (No Holds Barred, WWF In Your House 15)
  • Royal Rumble 1998
  • Vader vs Kane (WWF No Way Out of Texas '98)
  • Vader vs Kenta Kobashi (AJPW Budokan Hall '99)
  • Vader vs Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW Triple Crown Title Match, Giant Baba Memorial Show '99)
  • Vader vs Jun Akiyama (AJPW Triple Crown Title Match, New Year Giant Series '00)
  • Vader & Scorpio vs Jun Akiyama & Kentaro Shiga (NOAH Departure '01)
  • Vader & Scorpio vs Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito (GHC Tag Team Ttitle Match, NOAH Navigation Uprising Spirit '02)

0 voters

:men_wrestling: How Good of a Wrestler Were They Really? :women_wrestling: #17 Eddie Guerrero :mexico:
#3

Shame his WWF run was so troubled - his WCW and Japan stuff is stellar.

Such an amazing big guy with undeniable presence and charisma.

5

Also I like the running joke of putting Chamber of Horrors in every poll

1 Like
#4

Welcome :joy:

#5

I really need to watch his New Japan stuff, itā€™s always sounded so good. His WWF run was a bust BUT I love his match (Cornette just did a really good watchalong on it recently) but the Final Four is one of my all time faves, such an underrated banger)

#6

They started well with Vadar and he got a couple good matches but sadly (even just before ā€˜the incidentā€™) he was seen internally as unreliable so they just decided to cool him off. It was also accelerated by the introduction of Kane who basically replaced him

1 Like
#7

Also as Jim Cornette delights in telling everyone Shawn was running around threatening to quit if Vader pulled his hair too hard again :roll_eyes:

2 Likes
#8

Ahead of his time really wasnā€™t he, a true monster big guy who was doing flips and dives. Undoubtedly athletic and a heck of a worker but Iā€™ve never really got into him really. His promos were lacking and outside of Sting and Ron Simmons he not a ton of standout feuds unfortunately. Will go for a maybe harsh 3.

1 Like
#9

also :joy:

1 Like
#10

His helmet with the steam was good

1 Like
#11

Just realised I neglected to say ā€œShawn Michaelsā€ there after ā€œmatch withā€

#12

caused a riot on his new japan debut when he beat inoki for the first time in years. his wwe debut was great too, where he destroyed gorilla monsoon. real shame his fed run didnā€™t work out, although thereā€™s still some good stuff in there. gonna give him a 4 i think

1 Like
#13

I also went 4 for posterity

#14

is the stan hansen match in the poll the one where his eye pops out? could never bring myself to watch that. fair fucks to the guy for popping it back in and just carrying on

#15

it doesnā€™t look like youā€™d think. very odd.

looks the same colour as his skin in the stills Iā€™ve seen, as if his eyelid is swollen or something

2 Likes
#16

I believe so, yes

1 Like
#17

Loved a bit of Big Van Vader in WCW. He was everything you would want from a big man really, especially at the time. Surprisingly havenā€™t ever really got around too much of his NJPW stuff which this thread may prompt me to do. As mentioned above he didnā€™t have too many actually amazing feuds but he was certainly capable of putting out engaging matches and he had an aura that made him pretty watchable all the time.

#18

Bloody left it open again didnā€™t I? And forgot to bump yesterday! Jesus, only 11 voters.

Alright Iā€™ll leave this open while I build the next one, in the meantime here is poll:

  • Ron Simmons/Farooq
  • Davey Boy ā€œBritish Bulldogā€ Smith
  • Dustin ā€œGoldustā€ Rhodes
  • Hulk Hogan
  • Antonio Inoki
  • Owen Hart
  • Jake ā€œThe Snakeā€ Roberts
  • Ahmed Johnson
  • Yokozuna
  • Scott Hall/Razor Ramon
  • Shawn Michaels
  • Psycho Sid Vicious
  • The Undertaker
  • Kane
  • Ken Shamrock

0 voters

#19

Having some technological issues causing a delay in starting the new thread (my laptop is having issues)

So in the meantime letā€™s enjoy some more Vader content

#20

Well, my laptopā€™s fixed but I might wait until tomorrow to do the next one now. Oof, just 3.17 for Big Van Vader, a wee bit harsh that but given the small number (12) of votes, perhaps not.

#21

letā€™s get the flame on