Big Van Vader told by doctors he has two years to live.
Told by 2.heart Drs at this time that my heart is wore out from footbal&wrestling I have 2 yrs to live , conjestive hesrt failure reality
- Big Van Vader (@itsvadertime) November 15, 2016
When I was a kid back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, just getting my start watching pro wrestling on TV, I will freely admit that Big Van Vader scared the absolute living shit out of me. The way he would just shrug off chair shots and throw Sting around like a ragdoll was terrifying. Sting, at that point in time, was as hugely popular as Hulk Hogan, at least for me. Then to have this huge monster come in and just kick his ass like it was nothing was pretty amazing and scary. And then, in a textbook David vs Goliath feud, Sting ultimately prevailed, defeating the monster Vader.
This was still back before it was common knowledge that pro wrestling was staged (I won't say fake), when kayfabe was still Serious Fucking Business™, so it was especially chilling to me as a kid. Now, though, I know that what this meant is that Leon White is awesome and knew how to do the job right. I agree with Mick Foley, another guy who had some great feuds with Vader (and who got his ear legitimately ripped off by Vader by accident). Get this man into the WWE Hall of Fame as soon as possible. It's actually surprising to me that Vader isn't already in there.