Remembering Vader
Vader: The Alpha & Omega.
By Ross Berman
NJPW ended Dominion, headed for what new-President Harold Meij called “a new level.” Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, The Young Bucks, and others accounted for all of the heavyweight championships in the promotion. Never before had this many foreign talents, or gaijin, held this much of New Japan’s gold. The western expansion of NJPW seemed complete. However, before Omega, before AJ Styles, before Brock Lesnar, before Scott Norton and all the gaijins that held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, there was Vader.
While New Japan has had foreign talents dating all the way back to Rhodes, & Brisco, Karl Gotch, and even Hulk Hogan, the first westerner that they trusted with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship was Vader. Vader was a big man with ugly, bloodletting strikes, and a pretty moonsault. His debut beatdown of living myth Antonio Inoki caused riots. Originally part of the Takeshi Puroresu Gundan, Vader eventually broke out on his own. After losing an IWGP Title tournament final to Tatsumi Fujinami in 1988, Vader went on to beat Shinya Hashimoto in a similar tournament to win his first IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He would go on to hold the belt a total of 3 times. He is the only western wrestler to win the belt that many times.
In the early-90s, Vader went on to carry WCW during its lean years. He held the WCW Championship 3 times during his tenure. After WCW, he went on to a difficult tenure with the WWE (then the WWF). Creative differences with Shawn Michaels saw Vader slide down the card by 1998, when he left the company, declaring “I’m just a fat piece of s***.”
After the WWF, Vader regained some of his lost glory in All Japan Pro Wrestling. There he held the Triple Crown Heavyweight Title twice, defeating AJPW legends like Akira Taue & Mitsuharu Misawa. Vader also worked for TNA and other independent promotions. His last high profile feud was with current NJPW wrestler Will Ospreay. Vader took exception with Ospreay’s acrobatic match with Ricochet. The two met in a match that saw Vader victorious over the former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
Without Vader, there is no Kenny Omega. Without Vader, there is no Will Ospreay. Without Vader, there is no Harold Meij. Vader laid the first stone in the path that NJPW is taking to their “next level” of western expansion.
“So fill to me the parting glass, goodnight and joy be to you all.”
-The Parting Glass, Traditional
Leon White. May 14th, 1955 – June 18th, 2018.
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