Vader is one of the all time great big men in wrestling and has held many title in a number of different organizations. In 1985, after playing football for the Los Angeles Rams for five years, Leon White wanted to become a wrestler. In 1986 White also started wrestling in Austria and Germany for Otto Wanz' Catch Wrestling Association. In July 1987 Vader won the CWA title.
New Japan offered White a spot in late 1987. They knew that they needed to package White with an appropriate identity and Big Van Vader was born. On April 24, 1989, a tournament was held to declare the new IWPG Heavyweight Champion. In the final Vader faced Shinya Hashimoto, and after a fantastic match Big Van Vader was declared the new IWPG Heavyweight Champion. Vader then went back to Germany and won the CWA title for a second time, and then won the UWA title in Mexico, meaning he held the world title in three different federations on three different continents.
Vader wrestled held the IWPG title three times and the CWA title three times.
Vader then made a move to WCW and had great success, winning the world title on three occasions, and the U.S title. He had great matches with Ron Simmons, Cactus Jack and Sting, which was one of the great feuds of the early nineties.
In 1994 Vader traveled back to Japan and won the UWFI title and the 'Best in the world' tournament.
In January 96 Vader made his debut in the WWF. His arrival was heavily hyped. After a feud with Yokozuna, Vader was given a main event push against Shawn Michaels, however he failed to win the world title. After a series of feuds between 96-98 against the likes of Psycho Sid, Kane, and the heel Bret Hart, Vader’s profile in the WWF dropped, and he gradually lost his place in the ranks and repeatedly jobbed for lesser opponents. In his last WWF PPV appearance he had to do the job for Justin Bradshaw.
Vader then returned to Japan and had great success again, he won the Triple Crown heavy weight title on two occasions and the AJPW tag titles with Steve "Dr Death" Williams.
In January 2002 Vader made his debut with the RWA. He immediately went after the RWA title and feuded with Christian. Although Christian has had the upper hand so far it would seem that this feud is far from over and anything can happen when Vader's involved.
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