Monday, August 31, 2009

Big Van Vader

Here is Big Van Vader's Japan debut from 1987 against the legendary Antonio Inoki. Most impressive was that Inoki was so taken with Vader's (Leon White) potential and talent he let Vader end his long winning streak to help put him over with the fans.

Vader had been a rookie only 2 years before in the AWA. He was trained by Brad Rheingans and had a title match with Stan Hansen just before leaving and traveling to Japan to gain invaluable experience that would help elevate him to the top spot in New Japan Pro Wrestling withing the next year. He would go on to be WCW World Champion on 3 occasions and have memorable fueds with Cactus Jack and Sting.
His most famous match occured in Japan against rival Stan Hansen when he was hit with a stiff punch that knocked his eye out of the socket, seen below in 3 parts:


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