Leon White
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Leon White | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Baby Bull Bull Power Big Van Vader Super Vader Vader Big Slam Vader Big Slam |
| Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) |
| Billed weight | 450 lb (204 kg) |
| Born | May 14, 1957 (age 49) Lynwood, California |
| Resides | Boulder, Colorado |
| Billed from | Denver, Colorado Rocky Mountains |
| Trained by | Brad Rheingans |
| Debut | January 1985 |
Leon Allen White (born May 14, 1957), better known under his ring names Big Van Vader or Vader, is a professional wrestler, and was a top draw around the world in the 1990s. As a super-heavyweight wrestler capable of significant aerial maneuvers, he was a premier monster heel in several professional wrestling companies.
Contents |
[edit] American Wrestling Association
After failing a tryout with the Los Angeles Rams, Leon White headed for the Midwest, where he joined the American Wrestling Association. He first used the name Baby Bull, which he later changed to Bull Power, as White disliked being called a baby. He then headed abroad, traveling the world and developing the hard-hitting style he is identified with.
[edit] New Japan Pro Wrestling
Before starting with NJPW, White's name was once again changed from Bull Power to Big Van Vader. White also began to wear a mask (though not the red strap for which he is now famous). He was given the name Big Van Vader by promoter Antonio Inoki, though there is no connection to Darth Vader; "Big Van Vader" was a manga character created by Go Nagai, who had also created the Jushin Liger anime. He was introduced as the crown jewel of the Takeshi Puroresu Gundan stable managed (in storyline) by Takeshi Kitano. After a match in which Riki Chōshū had challenged Inoki only to lose, Vader demanded a match with the already worn-out Inoki, and thoroughly destroyed him. This led the audience to riot and got NJPW banned from the Sumo Hall, which was its home arena (the ban was rescinded in 1989).
Vader went on to feud with other Japanese legends, Tatsumi Fujinami and Riki Chōshū, over the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The impressive showings he gave and his stiffness quickly gained him the respect of the press and the fans. However, he was still unable to win the championship.
Finally, on April 24, 1989, a one night tournament was held for the title. In the first round of the tournament, Vader defeated a young Masa Chono. Tatsumi Fujinami, the man who had the title when it was held up for the tournament, was defeated by Vader in the semifinal. After a final match against Shinya Hashimoto, Vader was declared the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
On May 25, one month after being crowned champion, Vader lost the title to Russian suplex master Salman Hashimikov.
Hashimikov dropped the title to Vader's old rival, Riki Chōshū, on July 12. Vader continued to wreak havoc in NJPW until, on August 10, he was given an opportunity at Chōshū and the title. He defeated Chōshū and became a two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
Shortly after winning the title again, Vader traveled to Germany, again using the name Bull Power, to face Otto Wanz for the CWA Heavyweight Championship. Vader won the match and as a result held the Heavyweight Championship in two separate organizations at the same time. He continued to travel between Japan and Germany, defending his titles as needed.
In November, Vader traveled to Mexico to face El Canek in the Universal Wrestling Association for El Canek's UWA Heavyweight Championship. Despite his rival putting on a good battle, Vader's superior strength and significant size advantage gave him the win, and with that, he became the first man in history to hold three heavyweight championships in three separate organizations and continents: Europe (CWA, Germany), Asia (IWGP, Japan) and North America (UWA, Mexico).
His success and different style got him the attention of WCW, who convinced him to work for them while still the IWGP Champion and an active competitor in Japan.
[edit] World Championship Wrestling
Vader's first match under the WCW banner took place on July 9, 1990 at the Great American Bash. He faced Tom Zenk and crushed him with ease in under two minutes. Although the fans took notice of this in a fashion similar of his debut against Inoki in NJPW, he did not skyrocket in WCW as he had in Japan.
Around this time, Vader began a feud in with Stan Hansen in All Japan Pro Wrestling. They were both powerhouses and exceptionally stiff, so their feud led to the most famous episode in Vader's Japanese career. It took place at the New Japan vs. All Japan Supercard at the Tokyo Dome. During the match, Vader received several stiff punches to the face from Hansen. As a result, his right eye came out of its socket. As he was wearing a full mask at the time, he was forced to take it off to see clearly with his other eye. In front of the shocked audience, Vader pushed his eye back in and finished the match despite the injury. This was possible due to the fact that the abnormal swelling of his eyelid kept the eyeball in.
About two weeks later Vader went to Germany and defeated Rambo in a tournament final to reclaim the vacant CWA Heavyweight Championship (making Vader 3-time CWA Heavyweight Champion). In early 1991, Vader defeated Tatsumi Fujinami to earn himself a third IWGP Heavyweight Title reign.
This IWGP title reign was short-lived. On March 4 Vader lost the belt back to Fujinami. Rambo ended Vader's CWA Heavyweight Championship reign on July 6, 1991. Vader went on to defeat Fujinami for the CWA Intercontinental Championship but upon his signing of a WCW contract in 1992 the title was declared vacant.
At this point, WCW and NJPW were reaching a tentative working agreement. This benefited Vader as he could now have his schedule coordinated far more easily. This helped alleviate his difficulty in gaining notoriety in WCW, as his previously infrequent appearances did not allow the audience to see him very often.
On March 1, 1992, he and Bam Bam Bigelow won the IWGP Tag Team Titles as the team "Big, Bad, and Dangerous" from Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh. In May, Vader faced Mutoh, now known as the Great Muta, one on one and received a serious knee injury. This injury was a factor that caused "Big, Bad, and Dangerous" to drop the titles to the Steiner Brothers after almost four months as champions. This also signalled a decrease in his NJPW time as Vader began to focus almost entirely on WCW, the World Heavyweight Championship and one man in particular.
[edit] Sting
Vader was paired with a manager, former 7-time NWA world champion Harley Race, and the duo stalked the WCW Champion, Sting, seeking a title opportunity. Vader finally received one on April 12, 1992, but lost after punching out the referee. Sting cracked a pair of ribs in the match after a Vader splash, though he continued to compete infrequently while recuperating. Vader was placed in a feud with Nikita Koloff shortly afterwards.
Vader received a rematch with Sting on July 12, 1992 at The Great American Bash. At the close of the match, Sting missed a Stinger Splash (and hitting his head on the ringpost as a result) which led to a powerbomb by Vader for the three count, making Vader the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
This reign was short-lived, as a knee injury caused Vader to drop the title three weeks later to Ron Simmons. Vader was out of action for the fall as he was getting knee surgery. Upon his return, Vader sent Nikita Koloff into (kayfabe) retirement and legitimately broke the back of jobber Joe Thurman in the following weeks. At Starrcade, Vader lost to Sting in the finals of the "King of Cable" tournament. However, just two days later, Vader defeated Ron Simmons by taking advantage of a shoulder injury to regain the World Heavyweight Championship.
Vader and Sting wrestled each other on many occasions, with one of their most famous matches taking place at SuperBrawl on February 21, 1993. This encounter was a strap match, which Vader dubbed the "White Castle of Fear" in repeated taunts of Sting in the weeks prior to the event. Vader won the match but not without injuries; he sustained a lacerated back and a ruptured artery in his ear that required hospitalization.
On March 11, 1993, Vader lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to Sting in London, England. However, on March 17, Vader was able to defeat Sting and regain the title in Dublin Ireland. In subsequent weeks Vader was able to successfully defend his title against Davey Boy Smith, Sting, and Dustin Rhodes.
In late February 1993, Vader signed an eight-date agreement with the Union of Wrestling Force International (UWFi), where he competed as Super Vader due to legal issues that arose from the Big Van Vader name; by this time, he was simply known as Vader in the United States and Japan. He went on to work with the company for over a year. His greatest triumph under the UWFi banner was victory in the Best of the World Tournament, which started April 3 and ended August 18, 1994. Vader first defeated Salman Hashimikov, and then defeated Masahito Kakihara in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals Vader defeated Kiyoshi Tamura and he beat Nobuhiko Takada in the finals to win the tournament and the UWFi World Title. He later left the promotion in a financial dispute.
[edit] Feud With Cactus Jack
On April 6, 1993, Cactus Jack was able to defeat Vader via count out in a vicious match on WCW Saturday Night. However, Cactus suffered a broken nose and needed 27 stitches for wounds on his face. The match was heavily edited for broadcast, as WCW did not wish to show the severe bleeding within, though it is shown in full on Mick Foley's "Greatest Hits and Misses" DVD collection (in which Foley claims the viewer can literally hear his nose breaking due to a Vader punch). In a rematch on April 23, once again on Saturday Night, Vader powerbombed Cactus onto the concrete floor outside the ring. Cactus suffered a legitimate concussion and temporary loss of feeling in his left hand and leg. Vader believed he had sent him into (kayfabe) retirement, but Cactus later appeared in a bizarre series of skits involving his powerbomb-inflicted amnesia and a search for his past. (Foley actually requested time off for knee surgery and to be with his family.)
In the meantime, Vader began to feud with a new arrival to WCW, Davey Boy Smith. They met at Slamboree in May for Vader's WCW title, where Vader lost by disqualification when he hit Smith with a chair, though he retained the title. Vader and Sid Vicious then formed a partnership and called themselves "The Masters of the Powerbomb." They faced off with Smith and his new partner, Sting, at Beach Blast in July. The feud was also marked by a series of short movies featuring the four wrestlers on a beach and a boat being bombed.
Finally, Cactus Jack returned for October's Halloween Havoc pay-per-view to face Vader in a now-classic Texas Death Match. Cactus stood up to a series of devastating moves near the end of the match, which Vader was finally able to win when Harley Race stunned Cactus with a cattle prod that kept him down for the count of ten.
The infamous loss of Mick Foley's right ear occurred during a match with Vader in Munich, Germany on March 16, 1994. Foley's head became trapped in the ropes, which were under excessive tension, causing the ear to be torn off.
[edit] Ric Flair
Vader had originally been scheduled to face Sid Vicious at WCW's flagship show, Starrcade, in December of 1993. However, the real-life dismissal of Vicious after his stabbing of Arn Anderson in England forced WCW to find a quick replacement. Executive producer Eric Bischoff placed Ric Flair in the match, which was to be held in Flair's hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. In the storyline, Vader did not take Flair seriously until he agreed to put his career on the line against Vader's title. The match was dominated by Vader, but Flair capitalized on failed interference by Harley Race and Vader's weakened knees to win the match with a rollup and end Vader's third WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign. Vader continued to feud with Flair until SuperBrawl IV, where Flair once again defeated Vader, this time in a "Thundercage" match.
Vader then feuded with The Boss, defeating him at Spring Stampede 1994, and again faced Sting at Slamboree for the vacant WCW International World Heavyweight Championship. Sting requested the match rather than be awarded the title after an injury to his original opponent, Rick Rude, and was able to defeat Vader.
At Clash of the Champions XXIX Vader beat Dustin Rhodes and earned the opportunity to face then-United States Champion Jim Duggan. In the Starrcade 1994 title match, Vader easily defeated Duggan to win his only United States title.
Shortly afterwards, in January 1995, Vader (now alone due to Race having suffered a car accident that put him permanently out of WCW) confronted the World Heavyweight Champion, Hulk Hogan, and informed him that he could not avoid the monster. The two met at SuperBrawl V with Vader managing to kick out of Hogan's famous leg drop after a count of one. The referee was knocked out before Vader hit the Vader Bomb on Hogan. Ric Flair ran out, made the three count and attacked Hogan, resulting in Vader's disqualification.
A rematch was signed, a strap match for the inaugural Uncensored pay-per-view. However, once again Flair intervened and somehow managed to cost Vader the match by getting himself carried by Hogan as he touched all four turnbuckle pads.
After more violent attacks on wrestlers and officials, Vader was stripped of the United States Championship on April 23, 1995. However, Vader gained another opportunity to win the World title from Hogan at Bash at the Beach in a steel cage match. He conspired with Kevin Sullivan and the Dungeon of Doom to gain a psychological edge before the encounter, which Vader lost when Hogan escaped the cage.
He then resurrected his feud with Flair based on his frustration at Flair's constant interference in his title matches and Flair's annoyance at his inability to defeat Hogan. At Clash of the Champions XXXI, Vader defeated Ric Flair and Arn Anderson in a 2 on 1 handicap match.
Following the event, Hogan grew interested in Vader and asked for his assistance in his developing feud with the Dungeon of Doom. Vader complied but the situation never developed as a week or so later Vader was fired from WCW due to a locker room brawl involving Paul Orndorff.
[edit] The Paul Orndorff Incident/Post WCW
During an encounter backstage, Vader had allegedly showed up late for work, and comments from Orndorff ignited a brief fight. [1] The two were quickly separated, but the incident resulted in Vader's firing from the company, and he chose to take time off to heal lingering injuries.
On January 4, 1996, Vader had his first post-WCW match, facing the man whose four-year winning streak Vader had ended over seven years ago, Antonio Inoki. Inoki was over fifty years old and Vader managed to make a decent match that lasted nearly 14 minutes of Vader pummeling Inoki but Inoki got the win.
[edit] World Wrestling Federation
In the weeks leading up to the 1996 WWF Royal Rumble Vader's debut was heavily hyped. He made his first WWF appearance as a participant in the Rumble match. He entered at number 13 and fought with his kayfabe stable-mate Yokozuna. Vader was eliminated by Shawn Michaels before he re-entered the ring and started assaulting everyone including Michaels.
Vader defeated Savio Vega on the following Monday Night RAW, before assaulting WWF officials. Eventually, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon demanded that Vader cease his attacks, and received a Vader Bomb for his efforts. On television, Vader was suspended for his actions; in actuality, however, he was again taking time off to have surgery, this time to correct a shoulder injury.
Jim Cornette "campaigned" for Vader's reinstatement, and when Vader returned, Yokozuna had left Cornette's management. At February's WWF In Your House 6, during the Free For All match, Vader appeared and Cornette announced that he would make an impact. He did so during Yokozuna's match against the British Bulldog. Yokozuna was about to pin the Bulldog when Vader attacked him, putting him in handcuffs and delivering a severe beating.
This led to what was going to be a one-on-one encounter between Vader and Yokozuna at WrestleMania XII. However, the match became a six-man tag team match pitting Vader, Owen Hart, and the British Bulldog against Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson, and Jake Roberts. The match ended when Vader pinned Jake Roberts.
Vader earned a spot in the King of the Ring tournament by defeating Ahmed Johnson with some help from Owen Hart and Goldust. The Ultimate Warrior and Goldust fought to a draw and, thus, gave Vader a bye into the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, he faced Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Vader dominated the match but Roberts was about to hit him with his finishing move, the DDT. Vader pushed Roberts in an attempt to escape from the move but Roberts hit the referee. The referee declared it intentional and disqualified Vader. He was eliminated from the tournament. Enraged, Vader attacked Roberts, focusing mainly on his ribs. Later that night, Vader attacked WWF Champion Shawn Michaels after his match.
Vader's attack on Shawn at the King of the Ring did not earn him the title shot he wanted but it did get him into a six-man tag team match at In Your House "International Incident." Vader, Owen Hart, and the British Bulldog teamed up again. This time the opponents were Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, and Sycho Sid. Vader pinned Shawn Michaels to win the match for his team.
Vader faced Michaels at SummerSlam. Vader beat Michaels badly in the match, eventually getting him counted out. However, Cornette realized that the title could not change hands through a count-out and got the match re-started. This time, Michaels used Cornette's tennis racket and got disqualified. Again, Cornette managed to get the match started over. Finally, Shawn scored a pin-fall over Vader.
Vader then faced off with The Undertaker at Royal Rumble 1997. During the match, the Undertaker's former manager, Paul Bearer, attacked him and helped Vader win. Bearer then became Vader's new manager. During the actual Royal Rumble match Vader was eliminated by Steve Austin; however, Austin had already been eliminated by Bret Hart. The problem was that no referees saw the elimination and, therefore, it "never happened."
As a direct result of this, Vader and the other men Austin threw out of the ring after being eliminated, Bret Hart and the Undertaker, were put into the four-way main event of February's In Your House "Final Four" for the WWF Championship. Vader, after bleeding profusely, was eliminated by The Undertaker.
Then Paul Bearer got his two clients, Vader and Mankind (formerly Cactus Jack), to go after the Tag Team Titles, despite the fact that the two men often brawled between themselves. They failed in their bid to win the tag team gold at WrestleMania XIII.
The WWF toured Kuwait in April 1997, and while there, Vader and the Undertaker appeared on the television program Good Morning Kuwait During the interview, presenter Bassam Al Othman asked Vader if wrestling was "fake." Vader responded by grabbing him by the tie, using an expletive and then giving him a hard shove, knocking over chairs and a table in the process. This was Vader's manner of demonstrating the "reality" of the sport.
Vader was subsequently arrested and charged with assault and using obscene language. Vader then spent ten days under house arrest. When he returned to the US, a press conference was held in New York, during which Vader said that he would not apologize to Othman. He then accused Othman of extortion. The WWF said that Othman had agreed to drop the charges for $35,000, but then upped it to $400,000.
The situation was used as an angle. After a match on Monday Night RAW, Jim Ross conducted an interview with Vader. Ross asked him a question that he did not like and Vader was ready to attack Ross. Ken Shamrock came to Ross' aid by delivering a belly-to-belly suplex to Vader.
The two faced off at In Your House "A Cold Day in Hell." In one of the rare examples of Vader being arguably manhandled, Vader lost the match after he submitted to Shamrock's Ankle Lock and left the ring with his nose broken in four separated places. He was unable to walk for several days, but eventually evened things with Shamrock by injuring him in a rematch. As he walked away from the ring following this encounter, Vader made light of Shamrock's nickname by asking the camera, "Who's the World's Most Dangerous Man now?"
In Ken Shamrock's book Beyond the Lion's Den, Shamrock states that he had his first WWE matches with Vader. He notes that while the matches were decent, he could not stand the smell of Vader as he did not wash his singlet or gloves and they smelled like ass.
Vader again received an opportunity to face the Undertaker at In Your House "Canadian Stampede!" Undertaker delivered two chokeslams (one of which was from the top rope) and beat Vader with the Tombstone Piledriver (perhaps the Undertaker's greatest ever feat of strength).
At the following night's Raw is War, Vader wrestled The Patriot. The Patriot won the match and then went after Bret Hart, who came to the ringside during the match. Vader attacked the Patriot, and then brought him back into the ring, where he went for the Vader Bomb. Bret came into the ring and laid the Canadian flag over the Patriot. Vader got down, picked up the Canadian flag, broke it and started a brawl with Bret Hart. This turned Vader into a face. It also served to bring Vader into the USA vs. Canada feud.
At Survivor Series, Vader was the leader of Team USA, accompanied by Goldust, Marc Mero, and Steve Blackman as they faced Team Canada, comprised of the British Bulldog, Jim Neidhart, Doug Furnas, and Phil LaFon. Things did not go properly when Goldust refused to accept a tag from Vader. Enraged, Vader tossed Goldust into the ring. Goldust merely walked out on his team. Vader still tried his best and single-handedly eliminated three of Team Canada's four members, but Team USA lost the match after the Bulldog hit Vader with the ring bell.
Goldust and Vader feuded throughout the fall and finally faced off at the 1998 Royal Rumble. The match came to a conclusion when Luna jumped on Vader's back and would not let go. Vader then delivered a Vader Bomb with Luna on his back to The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust. However, that was not the end as The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust eliminated Vader from the actual Rumble match later that night (Vader entered at number 30).
During a final encounter between the two on Monday Night Raw, Kane interfered and attacked Vader.
[edit] Feud With Kane
The week after Kane's attack on Vader, Vader attacked Kane with a fire extinguisher when Kane was attempting to inflict further pain and damage on a wrestler.
The two had their first in-ring meeting at No Way Out of Texas. Vader lost and was subsequently attacked by Kane with a large steel wrench. Vader was taken away on a stretcher and injuries kept him off TV for a while.
At Unforgiven, a few months later, Vader returned during Kane's Inferno match against his (Kane's) "half-brother", The Undertaker. Kane was attempting to leave when Vader appeared and fought him back to the ring to continue his match with The Undertaker. Kane would go on to lose the match.
Vader and Kane had a rematch at WWF Over the Edge, this time a Mask vs Mask match. Vader attempted to use a wrench just like the one Kane used on him months prior but it was to no avail as Kane still picked up the victory and Vader lost his mask (though he had frequently had it removed during matches and it never covered his whole face regardless). After the match, Vader said, "I made the biggest mistake of my life. Maybe Vader Time is over. I'm a piece of shit ... A big fat piece of shit."
After this, Vader had a series of losses to lesser wrestlers. Reports suggested that the WWF was upset with his physical condition. WWF Commentator and then Director of Talent Relations Jim Ross also hinted to his personal hygiene being one of the factors in his fall from grace. This is because Vader was a superstitious person, and akin to Japanese Sumo, believed in not washing his ring gear because it would allow him to put on a good match. Whatever the reason, Vader was reduced to the status of a jobber. His WWF contract expired on October 25, 1998 and was not renewed. He lost to Edge on Sunday Night HEAT in what would be his final WWE match of the decade.
[edit] Post WWF
Vader then went to All Japan Pro Wrestling. He came in and formed a team with, of all people, his old foe Stan Hansen. In AJPW, Vader seemed to regain that edge he had lost. He mauled then Triple Crown Champion Mitsuharu Misawa in a non-title match and he and Hansen made it to the finals of the 1998 Real World Tag League. At the beginning of 1999, he won the number 1 contendership to the Triple Crown by defeating Kenta Kobashi. He then won the (vacant) Triple Crown Title, making him the first man to hold both it and the IWGP world title. He would then compete in, and win, the 1999 Champion Carnival, getting wins over such stars as Jinsei Shinzaki, Jun Akiyama, Akira Taue, Takao Omori, Gary Albright, Yoshihiro Takayama, and Johnny Ace, but during the tournament he drew with Kenta Kobashi and lost to Misawa. In the finals Vader squared off against Kobashi, and again got the best of him to win the tournament.
[edit] Pro Wrestling NOAH
After Vader lost the Triple Crown to Misawa, regained it, and again lost it to Kobashi, he took some time off. When he returned to action, he joined the new Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he won the Pro Wrestling NOAH GHC Tag Team Championship with 2 Cold Scorpio.
[edit] NWA-TNA
On February 19, 2003, Vader suddenly appeared in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling to defend Dusty Rhodes. Although he was beating someone up, namely the Harris Brothers, his decision to defend Dusty seemed totally random. He won a tag team match the next week against the Harris Brothers, albeit via disqualification. He then had problems with Nikita Koloff, whose career Vader ended long ago. But TNA and Vader did not agree with each other, and they parted ways.
[edit] World Wrestling Entertainment
On August 29, 2005, it was announced that Vader had signed a deal with the WWE Legends program.
On October 31, 2005, Vader appeared on WWE RAW as a heel to assist Jonathan Coachman along with Goldust in his feud with Steve Austin. However, in an embarrassing turn of events, Vader stumbled and fell to the floor upon exiting the ring, visibly cursing as he was helped up by Jonathan Coachman and Goldust. Vader went on to accompany Coach and Goldust at Taboo Tuesday on November 1 as The Coach went against Batista, who replaced an injured Steve Austin. Both Goldust and Vader became victims of Batista's spinebuster and Batista went on to win the match by pinning 'The Coach'. Vader has not made an appearance with the WWE since.
[edit] Independent Circuit and Japan
Vader would then return to Japan, wrestling at a WRESTLELAND show. He would also work in the independent circuit, including a tagmatch against Samoa Joe and Dan Maff in Jersey All Pro Wrestling with Mike Awesome as his tag team partner.
[edit] Personal Life
White is married to Grace and they have two children.
[edit] Wrestling facts
- Finishing and signature moves
-
- Sky High Chokeslam (high lifting chokebomb)
- Avalanche Chokeslam (Top rope Chokeslam)
- Vader Bomb (Powerbomb)
- Vadersault (Moonsault)
- Vader Crush / Vader Bomb (Corner slingshot splash)
- Face Eraser (Standing wheelbarrow facebuster)
- Vader Attack (Bell clap)
- Vader Hammer (Clubbing strike)
- Vader Slam (Oklahoma Slam)
- Big splash
- Running avalanche
- Short-arm clothesline
- Lariat
- Falling powerslam
- Front powerslam
- Bear hug
- Spinning backfist
- Shoulder block
- Release German Suplex (Used mainly in Japan)
- Combination punches to the gut of the opponent
- Quotes
-
- "It's time, it's time, it's Vader time!"
- "No pain!"
- "I fear no man and I feel no pain!"
- "It's time, it's time for the pain game!"
- Nicknames
-
- "Baby Bull" Leon White
- Leon "Bull Power" White
- "The Man They Call" Vader
- "Jon Mosora"
- "Mountain Man From Colorado"
- "The Big Ol' Stinky Grizzly Bear" (referred to by Jim Ross at the 1998 Royal Rumble)
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
-
- AJPW Triple Crown Championship (2 times)
- AJPW Unified World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Steve Williams
- Champion's Carnival (1999)
-
- CWA World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
- Impact Zone Wrestling
-
- IZW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
-
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
- IWGP World Tag Team Champion (1 time) - with Bam Bam Bigelow
-
- PWI ranked him # 27 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003
- PWI ranked him # 36 of the best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Bam Bam Bigelow
- Vader won the PWI Wrestler of the Year Award in 1993
-
- GHC Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Scorpio
-
- UWFI Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
-
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (inducted in 1996)
- 1993 Wrestler of the Year
- 1993 Best Heel
- 1999 Most Improved Wrestler
[edit] Cameos
Vader appeared in the sitcom Boy Meets World as the father of minor character Frankie "The Enforcer" Stecchino, a high school bully who harbored dreams of becoming a poet but felt pressured to follow in his father's footsteps as a wrestler. Vader was portrayed as being obsessed with kayfabe and constantly remaining in character. Vader was spotlighted in one episode (Sixteen Candles and Four-Hundred-Pound Men) that featured a grudge match against his nemesis Jake "The Snake" Roberts; much humor came from the fact that milksop main character Cory Matthews was intimately familiar with Vader's wrestling history while his own son was not.
Vader played "Goliath" in the live action version of Fist of the North Star - accredited as "Leon 'Vader' White".
The Fatal Fury (video game) character Raiden, also known as "Big Bear," is based on Vader's appearance in Japan. The character Alexander the Grater from Saturday Night Slam Masters (video game) also bears a significant resemblance to Vader.
In the Fire Pro Wrestling video game series in Japan, Vader is known as "Saber," and is infamous for his ability to knock out or "CRITICAL" his opponents with a number of his more powerful attacks.
