Professional wrestling legend and two times WWE Hall of Famer Booker T who is a former 5 times WCW World Heavyweight Champion and a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion recently talked about the Hall Of Fame induction of the late great professional wrestler Big Van Vader.
Leon White started his professional wrestling career back in 1985 and he has been one of the biggest legends of WCW. He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship for a total number of three times. He was one of the biggest attractions of WCW before he joined WWE back in 1996.
Booker T Reflects On The Hall of Fame Induction Of Vader
Leon White was destined to be a big star in WWE and the officials had the same plans as well. But things changed a lot after he officially joined WWE and he could never be a WWE champion. However, he remained on the main event picture for a long time. It is believed that Shawn Michaels played his role so that he never get his main event push.
After he left WWE in 1998 he could never find the success he had in WCW. He worked in a lot of professional wrestling promotions after is WWE departure including the independent circuit and he worked in Japan as well. But he failed to find success. In 2018 he passed away at the age of 63 only.
Booker T who is a former 5 times WCW World Heavyweight Champion and a former WWE World Heavyweight Champion recently spoke on his Hall of Fame podcast where he talked about the Hall Of Fame induction of the late great professional wrestler Leon White. He said;
“He definitely was one of those guys that made an impact on me. Because it was before I ever got into wrestling, but I was watching NWA back in the day, and then I got the chance to see Vader come out. You know, he came from Japan, he had the big Mastodon helmet, the smoke would come out of it. It was definitely revolutionizing the business. Vader was always high on the list, one of the first big guys that would go out there and pull the moonsault off. So, Vader was definitely Hall Of Fame material.”
“Definitely high praise to Vader. Like you say, one of the best big men to ever do it. I’ve got to throw the Big Boss Man in there too though. Big Boss Man can move, as well as Mr. Hughes, Mr. Hughes could move.”
“Vader, he passed away from heart complications. But let me tell you man, he fought man, he fought to the end. He actually said, ‘I can beat this,’ he was working in matches all the way up to the end. I think he had an angle going on with somebody. Will Ospreay, exactly. That’s what wrestlers do, to the end they push themselves. Definitely one of the all-time greats, Big Van Vader.”
H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.