Was Vader Wrestling's Greatest Ever Big Man?

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Keith

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The guy was had one of the most distictive characters, and a impressive looks of anyone from his era. He had a decent promo and of course could do unique things in ring for a man of his size. The feuds against the likes of Flair/Sting/Hansen/Bulldog/Jack must rate as some of the best from the 90s. And when you consider his success internationally as well as for the top promotions in the states then he did more than most. Also, even though his time in WWF wasn't the best the angle with him and Morsoon still stands up as one hell of an angle.

Vader/Taker/Andre would be my top three big men. Thoughts?
 

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Taker for longevity, drawing and respect from his peers and the company he was loyal to.

Vader was great, but he wasn't half the draw Taker was.
 

Crippler

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I love me some Vader I really do, to the point that I'm probably the his biggest fan on here but Taker without question is the best big man of all time and it's not even close. Only thing Vader might have him beat on, is his crazy stiff punches and and the moonsault.
 

Keith

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I would agree that Taker has it on longivity, but then it did take a long time for him to really become the great talent which he is now seen as, of course not all of that was his fault.

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if WWF had not dropped the ball so badly with Vader. On the back of his WCW and Japan success if he had done it in WWF then that would have completed the set.
 

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Vaders WWF run was dead because he got beat up by a one armed man. Had a torn rotator cuff and he stiffed the champ who was a notorious diva. Plus the fact a lot of guys didn't want to work with him because he didn't wash his wrestling gear.

Probably shouldn't have gotten into that fight with Orndorf, it killed a lot of his credibility.
 

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Vader's performance in that final four match tho:banderas:
 

Deezy

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Thought he had some good matches with Taker.
 

Keith

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There are a lot of reasons Vader's WWF career didn't take off some were his fault some were the company's. I do think for the first year of his run there he was still a top talent and that they should have put the belt on him at Summerslam. Looking back Michaels' first run on top did bomb, and I there was plenty of time to go back to him after Vader.
 

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There is a timeline shoot interview where he says he came there injured, Cornette in one of his shitty shoots says Vader stiffed HBK and that was all she wrote for him. I added the stinky wrestling gear because I heard JBL tell that story and losing to a guy with one arm was like Steve Williams getting KO'd by some jobber named Bart Gunn.

Vader admits to fucking up his run, can't always blame the company for everything. I admire personal responsibility.
 
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Keith

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But, if for example the company punished Vader just for working stiff with HBK then that is down to the company because they should not be weak when it comes to standing up to WWF. At the end of the day Vader was a guy who could draw money for them and just working stiff is not a good enough reason to de-rail a guy's push. Later on he did cause some of his own problems, but that first year at least is mostly down to WWF IMO. And to be honest I don't think they ever got over him coming from WCW. If that had been some guy they had trained or some random indie guy then it would have been a different story I think.
 

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No.

He came in with an injury, hence the whole "Gorilla Monsoon" suspension. And he was stiffing Shawn Michaels during house show loops, what more evidence do you need? Want me to say WWF dropped the ball? Because they didn't, they tried dealing cards with a shitty hand and for burned, call it a Tazz situation.
 

Keith

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Well, you never seem to think WWF dropped the ball on anything so no of course that would be too much to ask.

Vader had been known as a stiff worker for years, and 96 was still a era when that sort of stuff was okay within reason. Why did WWF hire him if he was injuried is what I don't get? Also don't buy that suspension angle being because of his injury. Why not just wait till he was fit being debuting him? If I remember right that angle came the night after his debut.
 
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Deezy

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I know plenty of things the WWF dropped the ball on but Vader wasn't one of them.

When the man himself says it, I'll take that over you're opinion.
 

Keith

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King Kong Bundy is another worth mentioning when it comes to great big guys. At the time he didn't seem to stand out much to me, but the more I think about it the more effective he was. A nice old school big guy who made the most of his limited talents. Would have him somewhere near the top at least.
 

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Vader was lulz in the WWF.

He pissed so many people off.

Remember Shamrock taking liberties thinking he was some super hard man cuz he'd worked Pancrase, so Vader took his fucking head clean off with a clothesline.

And that time Bradshaw called him a 'fat bastard' live on air before a match.