Big Van Vader

This write up started as a brief career overview of Big Van Vader for my upcoming post about Wrestlers Who Died in 2018, however the more I wrote I decided to make this a post on it's own.

The Baby Bull in the AWA

After a failed football career Leon White was trained by Brad Rheingans debuting in the AWA as the Baby Bull in 1985.  In 1986 worked for Otto Wanz's Catch Wrestling Association under the name Bull Power.  The following year he won the CWA World Championship ending Wanz's near 9 year run as champion.  Strangely the match took place in Denver, Colorado.  He would go onto hold the championship three times.

Bull Power with the CWA Championship

He debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1987 after being given the gimmick Big Van Vader and demolished Antonio Inoki in short order in his debut match causing a riot in Sumo Hall.  On May 25, 1989 he won his first of  three IWGP Championships.

Big Van Vader IWGP Champion

In November 1989 he debuted in Mexico for the Universal Wrestling Association.  He defeated El canek to win the UWA World Heavyweight Championship, a title he would hold for one year.  He also wrestled a couple matches for CMLL a few days after winning the UWA Championship.

Big Van Vader with the UWA Championship

In February 1990 New Japan battled All Japan in Supercard that lead to Vader going on to have a memorable feud with Stan Hansen including having his eye popped out of it's socket.  Vader pushed it back in and continued the match.

After getting his eye popped out

The first time I ever saw Vader was watching the Wrestle War 1991 tape and seeing Vader and Hansen battle to a wild and crazy double DQ.  On July 12, 1992 Vader defeated Sting at the Great American Bash to win the WCW World Championship, he would hold the title three times.

Big Van Vader with WCW Championship

I loved watching Vader in WCW he was so dominate and was just the man.  Then he went to WWF and well, he just wasn't.  After WWF he would return to prominence in All Japan winning the Triple Crown Championship and NOAH winning the GHC Tag Team Championships with 2 Cold Scorpio.  He would bounce around the independents, making sporadic appearances in TNA, WWE, and AJPW.

Big Van Vader as Triple Crown Champion

Vader & Scorpio NOAH GHC Tag Team Champions action figures

I saw Vader wrestle live just once on June 1, 2012 at the Pro Wrestling Syndicate 5th Anniversary show in Rahway, New Jersey.  On the card he wrestled Too Cold Scorpio in a hard hitting match that was much better than I expected it would be.  Vader won with a Vader Bomb.

My photos of Big Van Vader vs. 2 Cold Scorpio

From August 21, 1989 to December 12, 1989 Vader accomplished something that I do not think anyone else has ever duplicated.  He held three different world championships in three different promotions on three different continents.  Mexico's Universal Wrestling Association, Austria's Catch Wrestling Association, and Japan's NJPW IWGP Championship.

He caught the headlines once again in the summer of 2016 after Will Osprey and Ricochet had a much herald match in New Japan Pro Wrestling.  Vader was very critical of the match which lead to a twitter feud between Vader and Osprey.  This lead to a match on August 12, 2016 that saw Vader defeat Osprey at RevPro Uprising 2016 in Bethnal Green, London.

In April 2017 he wrestled his last tour of Japan, a three day stint wrestling in six man tags in Tokyo, Fukuoka, and Osaka.  His final match came on May 25, 2017 defeated The Ironman at WrestleJam V in Ringgold, Georgia.

In November of 2016 after a vehicle crash, Vader was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and was very public about the fact that he only had a couple years left because of it.  A year and a half later he succumbed to pneumonia on June 18, 2018 at the age of 63.

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Japanese Championships: One Year Champions

When preparing the article I decided to go with what I consider the three top promotions in Japan.

IWGP: International Wrestling Grand Prix Heavyweight Championship

Big Van Vader
August 10, 1989 - August 19, 1990 374 Days defeated for and defeated by Riki Choshu

The Great Muta
August 16, 1992 - September 20, 1993 400 Days defeated Riki Choshu defeated by Shinya Hashimoto

Shinya Hashimoto
May 1, 1994 - May 3, 1995 367 Days defeated Tatsumi Fujinami defeated by Keiji Mutoh

April 29, 1996 - August 31, 1997 489 Days defeated Nobuhiko Takada defeated by Kensuke Sasaki

Yuji Nagata
April 5, 2002 - May 2, 2003 392 Days defeated Tadao Yasuda defeated by Yoshihiro Takayama

Hiroshi Tanahashi
January 4, 2011 - February 12, 2012 404 Days defeated Satoshi Kojima defeated by Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada
April 7, 2013 - May 3, 2014 391 Days defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated by AJ Styles

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

Jushin Thunder Liger
January 4, 1993 - September 24, 1994 628 Days defeated Ultimo Dragon vacated title due to injury

February 7, 1998 - March 17, 1999 403 Days defeated Shinjiro Otani defeated by Koji Kanemoto

Heat aka Minoru Tanaka
December 14, 2003 - January 4, 2005 387 Days defeated Jado defeated by Tiger Mask

Prince Devitt
November 11, 2012 - January 4, 2014 419 Days defeated Low Ki defeated by Kota Ibushi

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships

Tencozy: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
July 20, 2000 - September 23, 2001 430 Days defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata defeated by Osami Nishimura & Tatsumi Fujinami
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Cho-Ten: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Mashahiro Chono
March 24, 2002 - June 13, 2003 446 Days won vacant titles defeated by Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yutaka Yoshie

Bad Intensions: Karl Anderson & Giant Bernard
June 19, 2010 - January 4, 2012 564 Days defeated Seigigun: Wataru Inoue & Yuji Nagata defeated by Tencozy: Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima

Bullet Club: Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows
January 4, 2014 - January 4, 2015 365 Days defeated KES: Davey Boy Smith Jr & Lance Archer defeated by Meiyu Tag: Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata

Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship

Jumbo Tsuruta
January 19, 1991 - January 28, 1992 374 Days defeated and was defeated by Stan Hansen

Mitsuharu Misawa
August 22, 1992 - July 28, 1994 705 Days defeated Stan Hansen defeated by "Dr. Death" Steve Williams

January 20, 1997 - May 1, 1998 466 Days defeated Kenta Kobashi defeated by Toshiaki Kawada

Toshiaki Kawada
September 6, 2003 - February 16, 2005 529 Days won vacant title defeated by Satoshi Kojima

Satoshi Kojima
February 16, 2005 - July 3, 2006 502 Days defeated Toshiaki Kawada defeated by Taiyo Kea

Suwama
August 29, 2010 - October 23, 2011 420 Days defeated Minoru Suzuki defeated by Jun Akiyama

Kento Miyahara
February 12, 2016 - current 377 Days won vacant title

World Tag Team Championship

Taiyo Kea & Minoru Suzuki
June 28, 2008 - January 3, 2010 554 Days defeated Joe Doering & Keiji Mutoh defeated by Masakatsu Funaki & Keiji Mutoh

World Junior Heavyweight Championship

Masanobu Fuchi
January 3, 1987 - January 20, 1989 748 Days defeated Kuniaki Kobayashi defeated by Joe Malenko

October 20, 1989 - May 21, 1993 1,309 Days defeated Joe Malenko defeated by Dan Kroffat

Dan Kroffat
July 12, 1994 - September 10, 1995 425 Days defeated Masanobu Fuchi defeated by Yoshinari Ogawaka

Yoshinari Ogawa
July 19, 1998 - June 16, 2000 698 Days won vacant title, vacated title defecting to Pro Wrestling Noah

Kendo Kashin
April 13, 2002 - February 12, 2004 won vacant title, title vacated due to inactivity

Shuji Kondo
October 22, 2005 - February 17, 2007 483 Days defeated Taka Michinoku defeated by Katsuhiko Nakajima

Katsuhiko Nakajima
February 17, 2007 - March 1, 2008 378 Days defeated Shuji Kondo defeated by Silver King

Kaz Hayashi
February 6, 2009 - January 2, 2011 695 Days defeated Naomichi Marufuji defeated by Minoru

All Asia Tag Team Championships

Rikidozan & Toyonobori
June 7, 1960 - February 3, 1962 606 Days defeated Dan Miller & Frank Valois, defeated by Luther Lindsay & Ricky Waldo

Toyonobori & Rikidozan

Giant Baba & Toyonobori
May 29, 1964 - June 3, 1965 370 Days defeated Caripus Hurricane & Gene Kiniski, defeated by The Destroyer & Billy Red Lyons

Antonio Inoki & Michiaki Yoshimura
October 30, 1969 - December 1, 1971 762 Days defeated Mr. Atomic & Buddy Austin, vacated when Inoki left the promotion

Seiji Sakaguchi & Michiaki Yoshimura
December 12, 1971 - January 30, 1973 415 Days won vacant championship, vacated when Yoshimaru retired

The Great Kojika & Motoshi Okuma
May 31, 1979 - May 23, 1981 723 Days won vacant championship, defeated by David & Kevin Von Erich

Takashi Ishikawa & Akio Sato
June 11, 1981 - January 1, 1983 569 Days defeated David & Kevin Von Erich, vacated when Sato was injured

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Kenta Kobashi
May 25, 1992 - June 2, 1993 373 Days defeated Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat, defeated by The Eagle & The Patriot

Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat
September 9, 1993 - December 5, 1994 451 Days defeated The Eagle & The Patriot, vacated championships

Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori

Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori
January 29, 1995 - January 9, 1998 1,076 Days defeated Fantastics: Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton in tournament final for vacant titles defeated by Wolf Hawkfield & Johnny Smith

Arashi & Nobutaka Araya
April 13, 2002 - June 20, 2003 433 Days won vacant championships, vacated titles when Arashi won the World Tag Team Championships with Keiji Mutoh

Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kensuke Sasaki
July 26, 2005 - October 29, 2006 460 Days defeated Shuji Kondo & "brother" YASSHI, vacated when Sasaki was injured

GHC: Global Honored Crown Heavyweight Championship

Kenta Kobashi
March 1, 2003 - March 5, 2003 735 Days defeated Mitsuharu Misawa defeated by Takeshi Rikio

Mitsuharu Misawa
December 10, 2006 - March 2, 2008 448 Days defeated defeated Naomichi Marufuji defeated by Takeshi Morishima

Takashi Sugiura
December 6, 2009 - July 10, 2011 581 Days defeated for and defeated by Go Shiozaki

Takeshi Morishima
January 22, 2012 - January 27, 2013 371 Days defeated Go Shiozaki defeated by KENTA

GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship

Yoshinobu Kanemaru
July 10, 2004 - July 18, 2005 373 Days defeated Jushin Thunder Liger defeated by KENTA

Yoshinobu Kanemaru

October 31, 2009 - December 5, 2010 400 Days won vacant championship defeated by Kotaro Suzuki

Taiji Ishimori
January 27, 2013 - March 8, 2014 405 Days defeated Shuji Kondo defeated by Daisuke Harada

GHC Tag Team Championships

Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa

January 10, 2004 - January 23, 2005 379 Days defeated Yuji Nagata & Hiroshi Tanahashi, defeated by 2 Cold Scorpio & Doug Williams

Akitoshi Saito & Bison Smith

May 23, 2008 - September 21, 2009 486 Days defeated Team Ikko: Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura defeated by Kensuke Sasaki & Takeshi Morishima

Killer Elite Squad: Davey Boy Smith & Lance Archer

February 11, 2015 - May 28, 2016 472 Days defeated TMDK: Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste, defeated by Naomichi Marufuji & Toru Yano

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships

KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji

July 16, 2003 - June 5, 2005 690 Days inaugural champions defeated by Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Takashi Sugiura 

Yoshinobu Kanemura & Kotaro Suzuki

July 13, 2008 - January 17, 2010 553 Days defeated Taiji Ishimori & KENA, vacated due to Suzuki injury

No One Year Champions

New Japan Pro Wrestling

IWGP Intercontinental Championship

IWGP Junior Tag Team Championships

Katsuyori Shibata 3 time Never Openweight Champion

NEVER Openweight Championship

NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions

All Japan Pro Wrestling

Gaora Television Championship

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Wrestle Kingdom 10 and New Year Dash

It took a me a couple weeks but I finally was able to finish watch New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 10 and New Year's Dash events.  Wrestle Kingdom 10 is New Japans annual January 4th Tokyo Dome show which is their biggest show of the year.  New Year's Dash takes place the day after Wrestle Kingdom in Korakuen Hall and typically launches the new year of New Japan.

The commentary team for both days consisted of Kevin Kelly, Matt Striker, and Yoshi Tatsu.  Tatsu was on the team to help with the Japanese translation and to explain things from a Japanese perspective that we as American's might not understand.  Tatsu failed in almost every way imaginable.  Even when Striker and Kelly lobed him softballs he hit fouls balls if he didn't just whiff altogether.  Striker seemed to have a better understanding of what was going on.  Most will not agree with me but I feel that Kelly and Striker were a better duo than last years Jim Ross and Striker.

Wrestle Kingdom 10 featured 10 matches total including the pre-show New Japan Rumble.  The card was loaded with so many great matches.  From top to bottom it was one of the strongest match line ups I have seen in a long time.  I'm not going to break down each match just my favorites.

IWGP Champion: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
This match was rated 5 Stars by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer and rightfully so.  Although not my favorite match on the card these two put on a hell of a match that was indeed the passing of the torch from Tanahashi to Okada who is the future of NJPW.  Okada retained his title

IWGP Intercontinental Champion: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. AJ Styles
This match was amazing, and honestly I thought it was better than Okada vs. Tanahashi.  Knowing now that AJ was finishing up with New Japan after the Dash and Nakamura at the end of the month this match takes on a whole new meaning.  Knowing how Wrestle Kingdom 10 is the most watched show worldwide for New Japan these two tore the house down for all to see just how good they are.  After the finish when Nakamura retained two fist bumped which to me represents that they were saying, we just killed it.

NEVER Openweight Champion: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Never in my life I have seen two men beat the tar out of each other like these two did.  It gives new meaning to strong style wrestling.  I cringed multiple times and legit think they both got knocked out, or at the least very, very loopy at different times.  When they started headbutting each other I let out a groan.  I wish I could personally thank both of these men for what they gave in this match.  Shibata defeated Ishii to win the championship with his finisher the PK - penalty kick.

New Year's Dash was a great show I really, really enjoyed the tag team match of Matt Sydal & Ricochet vs. David Finlay & Jay White.  Both Finlay and White are really good and I look forward to seeing more of their matches.  I know Finlay is a 3rd generation star, his father being Dave "Fit" Finlay one my all time favorite, I don't know anything about White.

"Machine Gun" Karl Anderson

Also Karl Anderson is really friggin awesome!  He appears to be in peak condition at this point in his career and with rumors of him soon departing NJPW for the WWE it'll be interesting to see if he is used in similar fashion in the WWE.  He's been in Japan for the last 8 years, has been in the IWGP Tag Team Championship picture for the last 5 1/2 years and competed at the last 8 Wrestle Kingdom cards.  I think it's going to be hard for him to give up that spot that he's in.

Another great match saw Kenny Omega & AJ Styles defeated Shinsuke Nakamura & Yoshi-Hashi wehn Omega pinned Nakamura after Katayoku no Tenshi aka One Winged Angel.  After the match Omega hit Styles with the One Winged Angel, the rest of the Bullet Club came to the ring with all members eventually beating down Styles ousting him from the group.  Omega then took the mic declared his intention of moving to the heavyweight division and challenging Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship.

A few days later Nakamura was stripped of the title after he confirmed his intention of leaving for the WWE Performance Center in February.

If you get a chance you should definitely check out Wrestle Kingdom 10, what an event!

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