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Wrestling Inc recently spoke with Leon "Big Van Vader" White, a former WCW world heavyweight champion, former IWGP heavyweight champion, Triple Crown heavyweight champion and wasranked by WWE.com as #5 on the list of "30 best big men in wrestling history."
Here are some of the questions:
Wrestling INC: So when you signed with WWE, or WWF at the time, your shoulder was bothering you even before you joined?
Vader: Well no, I told Vince upfront that I needed surgery. And that's what I did. I did the deal with Gorilla Monsoon and then the next day I was off to the hospital. My agent agreed for me to come back in ninety days and I needed ten months and that was my deal. I said, "I need ten months, that's the deal. This is the money I want, this is the deal I gotta have, ten months after the opening." And it didn't happen so that whole first year with the WWE, I couldn't... you know, I come out, I'm bench pressing six hundred, I come out of surgery, I can't bench press hundred pounds and can't do a pushup, can't raise my hand over my head, yet I'm in the ring with the WWE? And really, let's face it, this is the stiffest competition of my career. But if all of a sudden, I come back to the WWE healthy, Vader, at four hundred pounds, dominant, but I think the same outcome happens, it just... I couldn't raise my hand. I'm three-seventy instead of four-oh-five and I'm fat. I'm a fat three-seventy and wasn't a big, powerful four hundred, so it was a bad time in my career.
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But you know what, as far as the WWE goes, I made money. I drew money, and [when it was] time to get out, I asked Vince for my release, and we parted friends. I think he respected that, and I've never said anything bad about him. As far as I know, he's never said anything bad about me and I moved on, went back to Japan. Two weeks after I got back to Japan, I was world champion again and life was good. It didn't take me long once my shoulder was well to get back on top.
Wrestling INC: You had surgery but you were still in the title picture for pretty much the entire year. You had the feud with Shawn Michaels and then you had the feud with Undertaker.
Vader: You know what, the title was promised to me two times. I was supposed to be a two-time heavyweight champion. If I did the job for Shawn at SummerSlam, and then something would happen and I'd get it then give it to somebody else, take it back and then give it back to Shawn in San Antonio. Instead, somehow that got changed around.
Anyway, Sid took that run and then I had a really great opportunity, Vince said to me, "You're not just a good worker, you're a great big man and there's this guy coming in here called The Rock. Just take him under the arm about ninety days and just beat the hell out of him. I want you to teach him how to wrestle but be rough on him." The Rock was just "Yes, sir, no, sir" to me and for ninety days, I beat him every night, but I made him listen. You know, "Hit me harder," and "Do this," and "This psychology and that psychology," and the last night, he beat me and we shook hands and he went on and I think I did a pretty good job. He had a whole lot to work with. And then, for that, [Vince] said "We're going to give you a run at the Intercontinental and then that never happened.
Wrestling INC: Speaking about the WWE Hall of Fame, have you ever been approached for it?
Vader: There's been mention and talk, and, you just never know. It's a very tough club to get in to. I don't know. I guess that's my answer, I don't know. I hope so. I think I've earned it. I think that my representation from Europe, you know, from the AWA to Europe, I had three World titles and an Intercontinental title over there in Europe, the largest wrestling company in Europe, a legitimate, recognized world title at the time, the CWA, three of those and an Intercontinental over there, and then coming back to Mexico, I had three World titles down there, and three with the WCW and the United States title. In Japan I just blew it up over there, twelve tag titles, and Intercontinental titles, World titles. I think a lot of stuff that I've done has been historic, I mean the match with Inoki... I mean they had to shove an eye back in my face and keep wrestling. That's just crazy, in front of eighty-thousand people, it never crossed my mind to stop, I just instinctively just did it. And I think back and I go "Wow, why didn't I just stop and we could reschedule this thing, skip a few months and get well." You know, I think so.
It's a big deal, let's face it, WWE, to me… I've been to so many award banquets, All-American this, All-American banquet here, the All-American teams and the All-Conference teams and all these award banquets… to me, that would be, as much as I love football, and even my Super-Bowl ring, this would be the most meaningful thing in my life. I hope it happens. If it doesn't, I'll be disappointed, but life goes on. I think I've earned it, I really do. I don't think you can argue with my accomplishments and just the matches, the work.
