As announced by Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) earlier in the week, Vader makes his long awaited return to the tri-state area on Saturday night April 24 in Rahway, NJ.

I happened to be at the final show Vader wrestled in for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in October 1998 at Madison Square Garden. It was not only Vader's last show in the New York area, but his final WWE appearance. He lost in a Triple Threat Match to Mankind and Ken Shamrock. After the match ended, Vader got on the mic and briefly said, "One last time. What time is it?! Vader time..."

The man born Leon White began training for a prosperous career in late 1985. He was an offensive lineman at the University of Colorado and played pro ball with the Los Angeles Rams. White started training, first, as a sparring partner for former WBA Heavyweight boxing champ Mike Weaver and soon after began training with former American Wrestling Association (AWA) stand-out Brad Rheingans, who also trained Jerry Lynn.

White began wrestling in the AWA as "The Baby Bull" in 1986, but later had it changed to "Bull Power." After toiling around in the AWA and not breaking out, White ventured overseas in Austria and Germany and worked for former AWA World champion Otto Wanz' Catch Wrestling Association (CWA). Although the promotion was based primarily in Europe, White the CWA Title, his first major championship, in his hometown of Denver, CO from Wanz on March 27, 1987.

Keeping an eye on the impressive White was legendary New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) booker Antonio Inoki. Inoki offered White a contract to join NJPW and White accepted. Inoki was looking to capitalize on White's size, agility and quickness. White donned a full-face mask, not the one today's fans are used to, and was now dubbed Big Van Vader. Inoki was so impressed with Vader that he faced and jobbed to Vader in Vader's NJPW debut, which was Inoki's first singles loss in more than four years on December 27, 1987.

Vader finally made a big splash in NJPW on April 24, 1989 in Tokyo when, in a one night tournament, he defeated Masa Chono, Tatsumi Fujinami and Shinya Hashimoto to win the IWGP Title. Legendary National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World champion Lou Thesz served as the referee for the finals. Tatsumi Fujinami vacated the title earlier in the month.

His first IWGP Title was short-lived as he lost it on May 25, 1989 to Salman Hashimikov in Osaka. After the loss, Vader continued to rise back up the ladder in NJPW and got another shot at the IWGP Title on August 10, 1989 against Riki Choshu. He was successful and his second reign was off to a history making start.

Later that month, Vader ventured back to the CWA as Bull Power and defeated Wanz to regain the CWA Title in Germany. Vader wanted the trifecta so he traveled to Mexico and in November 1989 and defeated El Canek for the UWA Title. Winning the UWA Title made Vader the first man to win three heavyweight titles on three different continents.

One of Vader's high-profile IWGP title defenses occurred on February 10, 1990 at the Tokyo Dome. He faced off against another American standout in Japan, former NWA United States and AWA World champ Stan "The Lariat" Hansen. The much-anticipated encounter resulted in a double count-out.

At this point, NJPW had entered in an agreement to trade talent with World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Making his pay-per-view debut, Vader squashed former WCW Television champion "The Z-Man" Tom Zenk at the 1990 Great American Bash. Vader would make appearances every now and again while under NJPW contract in WCW, but nothing to brag about. When he went back to NJPW on August 19, 1990, he lost the IWGP Title back to Riki Choshu at Sumo Hall. This would be Vader's final reign.

Looking to take a hiatus from chasing after the IWGP Title, Vader teamed with Animal Hamaguchi the next month on September 30, 1990 and lost to Antonio Inoki and Tiger Jeet Singh at Inoki's 30th Anniversary Show. At this point, Vader was further away from the main event of NJPW shows and this time ventured back to Germany and recaptured the CWA Title from Rambo in on December 22, 1990.

Vader's battles with Stan Hansen spilled over into WCW. The matches they had were precursors to hardcore wrestling. They battled each other at Wrestle War 1991 in February and their match had a similar ending as their match in the Tokyo Dome: a no contest.

WCW and NJPW staged their first joint event at the Tokyo Dome on March 21, 1991. Matches taped at this event would air on pay-per-view in the United States at a later date. The show was called The WCW/NJPW Super Show I. Representing NJPW, Vader teamed with former Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) World champion Bam Bam Bigelow to defeat the former NWA World Tag Team champions Doom, representing WCW.

Vader returned to the States for another WCW pay-per-view on October 27, 1991 at Halloween Havoc. He teamed with Cactus Jack, Abdullah the Butcher and The Diamond Studd aka Scott Hall and lost to Sting, El Gigante and The Steiner Bros. in a "Chamber of Horrors Match" which saw Abduallah get electrocuted. The match was a flop, and Vader retreated back to NJPW.

WCW and NJPW decided to do a second Super Show, which was taped on January 4, 1992. Vader was matched in a battle of the big men against one of The MiC's favorite wrestlers El Gigante aka Giant Gonzales. They battled to a no contest. Vader's final IWGP title reign took place on March 1, 1992 as he teamed with Bigelow to defeat the IWGP Tag Team champions Hiro Hase & Keiji Mutoh for the titles.

At this point, Vader had agreed to appear more on WCW television. As soon as he re-entered the company, he was embroiled in a huge feud with WCW champion Sting. In a match in Atlanta, GA's Omni, just before their PPV match at The Great American Bash 1992, Vader severely beat Sting down, breaking his ribs. When they met at the PPV on July 12, 1992, Vader defeated Sting to win the WCW Title.

After months of chasing Vader's WCW Title and being unsuccessful, they met again on PPV, this time on December 28, 1992 at Starrcade. They were in the finals of the King of Cable tournament. Sting finally got the better of Vader and beat him to win the meaningless tournament.

Vader and Sting would go on to trade the WCW Title several times overseas in the United Kingdom. Vader also traded the WCW Title with Ron Simmons aka Faarooq in 1993. It was a feud with Vader that helped propel Cactus Jack into the main event. After putting Cactus Jack out of action with amnesia, Cactus returned for revenge. At Halloween Havoc on October 24, 1993, Cactus challenged Vader for the WCW Title in a Texas Death Match. Vader walked out the winner.

Vader was supposed to drop the WCW Title to Sid Vicious that December at Starrcade. Due to an outside-the-ring incident, Sid was fired from the company, and the main event of the company's biggest PPV was in disarray. When times were down, WCW always called Ric Flair. Flair entered the title picture and upended Vader to win the WCW Title at the PPV.

Vader got a rematch on February 20, 1994 against Flair for the title at SuperBrawl IV. Flair was victorious again in a "Thundercage Match." After this, Vader's career in WCW started to spiral downward as Hulk Hogan was set to debut that summer and become the WCW champion.

At Starrcade on December 27, 1994, Vader defeated "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan for the WCW US Title. This automatically made Vader the #1 Contender, despite earning that right three months earlier. The first match between Vader and Hogan took place on February 19, 1995 at SuperBrawl V and lost by DQ. He would lose again to Hogan the following month. He would feud with Hogan over the title until July that year, never getting any kind of edge over the icon.

Vader had a short feud with Ric Flair & Arn Anderson, but that angle spun-off the Flair-Anderson angle, and pushed Vader on the backburner. Vader eventually turned face and sided with Hogan in an angle against the Dungeon of Doom.

In the fall of 1995, Vader was involved in a backstage fight with WCW booker "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, which led to Vader being fired from the company. Vader would soon enter in negotiations with Vince McMahon and WWE.

On the January 1, 1996 Raw, Dok Hendrix announced that Vader would make his WWE debut at The Royal Rumble later that month. He debuted, managed by Jim Cornette, and was quickly entered in an angle with fellow super heavyweight, Yokozuna. Vader teamed with the British Bulldog and Owen Hart to beat Yokozuna, Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Ahmed Johnson at WrestleMania XII.

Vader had been slated all along to main event SummerSlam against WWE champion Shawn Michaels. To build to it, Vader's first WWE PPV singles match was against Razor Ramon in April 1996 at In Your House: Good Friends, Better Enemies. Vader won over Razor, who was returning to WCW.

Vader took on Shawn Michaels and lost to him at SummerSlam that August. Plans were for Vader to finally dethrone Michaels in November in New York City at The Survivor Series. PPV buy rates were lower than expected for SummerSlam, so the Survivor Series plans were nixed. Vader later said in a shoot interview that the buy rate was low because Vader wrestled Michaels all over the country that summer and no one wanted to pay to see it twice.

Vader was am afterthought until February 1997. He was put in the main event of In Your House: Final Four for the vacant WWE Title. Bret Hart eventually won, with Steve Austin and The Undertaker as the other participants. Vader got praise for the incredible blade job he did in the match as well as the losing a lot of blood.

Vader was thrown into the WWE Tag Team Title match at WrestleMania 13 as he teamed with Mankind and battled WWE Tag champions Owen Hart & The British Bulldog to a double count-out. At this point, WWE was just wasting Vader and using him to put over younger guys and newcomers.

One of those newcomers was Ken Shamrock. In Shamrock's WWE debut, he defeated Vader in a No Holds Barred match at In Your House: A Cold Day In Hell in May 1997. Vader and Shamrock actually competed against each other again on September 27, 1998 at a Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) show in Japan. Vader defeated Shamrock in an "Ultimate Rules" match. It was Vader's only appearance in the country that made him a star during his run in WWE.

Vader spent the rest of his WWE tenure putting over such athletes as The Patriot, Mark Henry, Bradshaw, and Kane. In October 1998, both parties agreed to mutually part ways and Vader headed back to Japan.

Vader returned to Japan, this time competing for NJPW's rival All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). In his debut on December 5, 1998 at Budokan Hall, Vader teamed with former nemesis Stan Hansen and lost to Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama in the finals of the 1998 Real World Tag Team Tournament.

Vader's championship resume was bare during his WWE run, but once he went to AJPW, he beefed it up again. On March 6, 1999, he beat Akira Taue to win the vacant Triple Crown Title. The next month, he beat Kenta Kobashi to win the 1999 Champion Carnival. Both victories were won at the famed Budokan Hall.

Over the next few months, Vader would trade the Triple Crown title with Mitsuharu Misawa. Vader also teamed with "Dr. Death" Steve Williams to win the AJPW Tag Team Titles.

Vader than joined NOAH. In his debut on December 23, 2000, he beat Mistuharu Misawa. In October 2001, he teamed with longtime friend 2 Cold Scorpio to win the NOAH Tag Team Titles in a one-night tournament defeating Daisuke Ikeda & Takashi Sugiura, Tamon Honda & Masao Inoue and Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito.

Vader hit hard times on July 1, 2002. He was arrested on suspicion of spitting and threatening officers, resisting arrest, drinking and driving, careless driving, and leaving the scene of an accident. He drove his SUV into a bush near his home. He suffered a cut on his head and left the scene and walked home. Cops confronted him at his home, where a drunken Vader threatened officers before calming down and placed under arrest. This would be his third DWI arrest in his hometown of Boulder, CO.

Looking to put that behind him, Vader made a return to a US promotion on February 19, 2003 when he saved Dusty Rhodes from an attack on NWA:TNA. That set up a match the following week, which saw Vader & Dusty beat The Harris Bros. by DQ when Sonny Siaki, Desire and Nikita Koloff made run-ins. Back on January 4 of this year, Vader competed for Zero One an lost to long time foe Shinya Hashimoto by count-out.

Five and a half years after his last New York area appearance, Vader will be able to utter one of wrestling's most famous questions. JAPW fans: What time is it?

For more information on the show, check out http://www.japw.net/

John Gjoni
johnftw7533@aol.com

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