DotD - 5 Its Vader Time

I did a debate of the day on the old 606 a while back about Vader and my admiration of him.

I actually thought had retired but then found out he is wrestling 2 shows on the 1PW show in October:

http://www.oneprowrestling.com/news/2011/03/02/what-time-is-it-its

So I thought I would start a new thread for people to discuss their thoughts on Big Van Vader. Does he have anything still left to offer?

Should he be in the HoF?

Should TNA consider him for a run?

Would you consider going to Doncaster to see him?

Vader was immense back in the 90s but he is a good 10 years past his sell by date, he was so mobile as a big man that when he naturally lost that mobility he lost his appeal

TNA - No
HoF - Yes

I don't think he's got anything left to offer the mainstream as a wrestler, Vader time has past. His aura as a killer was squashed by the WWF and his run in 2005 was horrible, to the point where he got out of the ring and fell over. Think it's best just to let people remember his glory days and leave it at that. Maybe he could do a job as a trainer or road agent but I have my doubts.

Should he be in the Hall of Fame? Definitely, absolutely 100% yes. He's the best super heavyweight there's ever been and in his prime he was awesome. There are few, if any, wrestlers I've seen (started watching in the late 80's) who have been as believable as Vader. Just looking at the guy made you think "He's gonna kill everybody. He's gonna kill 'em all!" and once he got in the ring you feared for his opponent's safety. Yes he was stiff but he also had great agility that made him so much more than just a big guy whaling away on his opponents.

It's just such a pity that the WWF wasted his talents because he could have been immense for them. The angle with Gorilla Monsoon was outstanding and that should have been the springboard for him to obliterate everybody on his way to the WWF title. Some may argue that it was too soon for Shawn Michaels to lose the belt but one of the easiest and (when done right) most compelling stories to do is 'Big bad heel goes through everybody and looks unstoppable until valiant babyface stands up to him and beats him'. You could have had Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Stone Cold Steve Austin or the Undertaker (Vader/Taker would have been a much better main-event for Wrestlemania 13) be the man to eventually topple him. Instead, they had Shawn beat him handily at Summerslam and despite showing flashes of brilliance, Vader's mainstream career was over.

McMahon really missed the boat on that one.

I see that WWE are looking to sign his son. He had a tryout with FCW and impressed by all accounts.

Taker/Vader at WrestleMania 13 would have been better and logical, i still dont think the coulda took the strap off Shawn too soon but they coulda used Vadar instead of Sid at Survivor Series but Sid was immensly over at that point too

Is his son, Luke?

His son's called Jesse.

Jim Ross is raving about him but that might have more to do with the fact that he graduated from Oklahoma University than any talent the guy's got!

Hobo wrote:Is his son, Luke?

Only at the weekends.

JR Posted this on Twitter: -
Don't know the details but wwe is interested in signing ou grad & son of Vader, Jesse White 6'1"-235. His fcw try out seemingly went well.

I missed majority of the wwf between 2006 so missed his wwf run. I've just downloaded every episode of raw from 2006 - nice. I noticed someone said 2005 but i'm sure he was in during 2006 is that correct?

2006?? Vader Debuted at Royal Rumble '96.

The Dashing One wrote:I missed majority of the wwf between 2006 so missed his wwf run. I've just downloaded every episode of raw from 2006 - nice. I noticed someone said 2005 but i'm sure he was in during 2006 is that correct?

Not sure if he was involved in 2006 Dashing but he came back in 2005 to be in Jonathan Coachman's corner along with Goldust for his match at Taboo Tuesday against Stone Cold Steve Austin. When Austin pulled out because he was scheduled to lose to Coachman, he was replaced by Batista. Batista won despite Vader & Goldust interfering in the match.