Vader’s Forgotten Time As A Babyface In WCW, Explained
Big Van Vader’s greatest claim to fame in pro wrestling was his early 1990s WCW run, which included him decimating Sting to win his first of three world championships, dominating the main event picture all throughout the year1993, and headline a Starrcade ina classic match with Ric Flair. Vader was quite arguably the definitive super heavyweight monster heel of his day (though Yokozuna gave him a run for his money).
Related: Is Vader The Greatest Super-Heavyweight In Wrestling History?Nonetheless, Vader didn’t actually wind up closing out his WCW tenure as a villain. Rather, he did so with a brief and ultimately anticlimactic babyface run in 1995. This period didn’t see him win any titles and it got cut off midstream when Vader got in a backstage altercation with Paul Orndorff that, as Pro Wrestling Stories tells it, led to Vader leaving the company.
A Falling Out Between Big Van Vader And His Big Three Allies, Ric Flair And Arn Anderson
The Big Three were a WCW faction that goes forgotten nowadays. That's a direct result of how short-lived and unaccomplished they wound up being as a unit, despite being rich in star power with Big Van Vader, Ric Flair, and Arn Anderson teamed up with one another in a targeted effort to combat top babyfaces Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. Most notably, Flair and Vader lost a main event tag team match to The Mega Maniacs at Slamboree 1995, despite extensive interference throughout the match from The Enforcer.
The trio collapsed based on repeated failures, and the result was Vader turning babyface against his former allies. They main evented Clash of the Champions XXXI in a handicap match, and when Vader prevailed. The real story of the match, though, was setting up everyone involved for their next major storylines. Anderson and Flair moved on to eud against each other, for each blaming the others for losses and a sense The Nature Boy had underappreciated his wing man. Meanwhile, Vader continued his foray into playing the good guy.
Big Van Vader Joins Hulk Hogan’s Team For War Games
WCW Fall Brawl 1995 played host to one of the more lopsided War Games matches take shape. The heel team had no shortage of talent, but was chock-full of names who were either past their prime or booked not to be very serious main event threats at that point—Kamala, The Shark, Meng, and The Zodiac--making for a set of underwhelming War Games participants. Meanwhile, the babyface group was star-studded with Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Sting.
The fourth man to join the faces was originally supposed to be Vader, as WCW told the story of Hogan desperate enough for help against the Dungeon of Doom faction to seek the aid of his old rival. However, Lex Luger wound up taking the spot instead after his surprise debut on the first episode of WCW Nitro.
Big Van Vader Leaves WCW
Big Van Vader got into an altercation with Paul Orndorff, who by that point was working as a backstage official. The Got Heat? Documentary from RF Video shared both men’s perspectives. Mr. Wonderful claimed Vader was being uncooperative working within the schedule WCW assigned him. Vader claimed WCW had booked him to be in two places at once and that he was less stubborn than confused at what was expected of him. Moreover, the big man claimed that he didn’t so much fight Orndorff as take some hits from him and not swing back, because he knew he had nothing to gain from beating up someone who was much older, and particularly who worked with management.
Related: 9 Things You Never Knew About Mr. Wonderful Paul OrndorffRegardless of who was at fault and the degree to which the two men were legitimately fighting each other, the upshot was Vader leaving the company. WCW suggested he “went AWOL” in the build to War Games to explain Lex Luger taking his place. Vader debuted for WWE a few months later.
Big Van Vader started his WWE tenure as a heel, joining the Camp Cornette faction, brutalizing kayfabe President Gorilla Monsoon, and ultimately challenging Shawn Michaels for the world title. Vader’s time in WWE never realized its potential, though, out of a combination of factors that included him not putting his best foot forward with the company and The Kliq reportedly politicking against him. There’s also the consideration that Vader wound up a babyface there, too, and it was confirmed once and for all that the big man was much better in a heel role.
