All language subtitles for Dark Side Of The Ring s06e03 Big Van Vader.eng

Ladies and gentlemen,
the greatest big man

in the history
of wrestling...

Vader!

[Narrator] In the world of
professional wrestling,

every hero
needs a villain.

And few villains
were tougher,

scarier,
or more dangerous...

Oh, gosh!

...than Big Van Vader.

The most amazing
super heavyweight

that I've ever seen.
Ever.

When you looked at him,
you'd think, my God,

who would ever
fight that guy?

Argh!

He is one of the
most sadistic,

one of the most physically
intimidating athletes

I have ever seen
in my career.

He was 400 pounds, and
could do moonsaults.

The moonsault!

Vader was a world champion
in almost every continent

on the globe that had
professional wrestling,

but he had a reputation.

Oh!

When you start hammering
people, they were like,

damn, that had to hurt them,
because it did.

He was the
stiffest wrestler

I've ever been
in the ring with.

Whack!

He was really good
at that style.

But, it can be
a scary thing.

But the violence that made
Vader a sensation

also sabotages his career,
as the industry's

biggest stars turned
their back on him.

You got to remember what's
show biz and what's real.

And sometimes Leon
had a hard time

separating the fact
from the fiction.

Out of the ring, the man
who became a champion

by inflicting pain,

struggles to deal
with his own.

He lived life hard.

He did things that
a man his size

shouldn't have been
able to do, and...

paid a big price for it.

Pain will change you.

Your personality
will change.

You will change.

Big Van Vader is the
greatest super heavyweight

of all time, but
he's still human.

And sometimes many
of us forgot that.

Vader,
he fears no man...

and he feels no pain.

?

[Evil laughter
& growling]

If you look at some of
the great movie villains,

they were just so
overwhelmingly powerful,

that they were
terrifying.

You rooted for your
favorite character

to survive
that encounter.

And in professional
wrestling...

Vader was the greatest
monster, really, of his era.

Vader!

My name is Mick Foley.

I'm a three-time
WWE champion,

and I was pummeled by
Vader on many occasions.

Oh!

Leon was one of those few
people who could come in and

make it look like not only
might your favorite be

losing their title...

they might be
losing their life.

Like they were fighting
for something

bigger than a victory.

Vader was going
to give it to you,

and if you didn't
give it back,

he was going
to eat you up.

Argh!

My name is Jesse White,
and I have the

honor and privilege
of being the son

of Leon White,
aka Vader.

Dad grew up in
Lynwood, California,

about two miles
outside of Compton...

in a, a house with
a lot of violence.

A lot of it revolved
around alcohol.

Growing up, he kind of
had to step up

to take care of
his family...

and become the
head of the family.

He had a rough one,

he had a rough one,
you know?

I'm Debra White,
and I was married to

Leon White,
aka Big Van Vader.

The school he went to,

he had to pretty much
fight every day.

This is late 60s and now
LA's starting to get

a little bit more rough.

My dad was probably
about 12 years old.

He was at home watching
Star Trek with his sister,

and someone's coming
to break in the house.

[Shattering]

So they ran down to the
bar where Grandpa was at.

Grandpa took them
back home,

boarded up the window,
gave him a shotgun,

and said,
"If someone comes through,

you know what to
do this time."

He made sure
that Leon knew

you don't take bullshit
from anybody.

He was trying to
make him tough.

And obviously, he turned
out pretty tough.

[Laughing]

Sports is where my dad
found his identity.

If it wasn't for football,
I don't know if

Pops ever makes it
out of LA.

He was a hell
of a player.

When he would hit you,

even if he was
messing around...

Man,
it hurt.

My name is Dave Logan.

I played a long time
in the NFL.

I met Leon his freshman year,
University of Colorado.

And after that, we just
became fast friends.

His nickname
was Baby Bull.

Bull fit him perfectly...

because he was
very, very tough.

Unbelievably strong.

An incredible,
incredible athlete.

He was drafted third round
to the Los Angeles Rams.

But unfortunately due to
knee injuries that he had,

he couldn't play anymore.

That's what he worked for
his whole entire life,

was to get there and
go have that success.

And this wasn't the
success that he wanted.

He was trying to figure out
what was next for him.

Being an athlete,
he still felt

he can contribute
something athletically.

So he decided to give
pro wrestling a try.

Leaving his NFL
career behind,

Leon is welcomed into the
pro wrestling business

by one of the sport's
toughest men.

King Kong Brody against
Leon "The Baby Bull" White,

and it's underway!

Oh!
Another one!

When Leon White started,

he was trained
in the Midwest,

and he had notoriety even
as a rookie because of

his size and
NFL background.

He was close
to 400 pounds,

but he was amazingly
agile and nimble.

He was six foot three and
as wide as a wrecking ball.

So he was very
convincing in that

he could kick the
shit out of you.

Oh, look at Leon.

At the time, Stan Hansen
was a champion for AWA.

Stan Hansen!

The biggest,
the nastiest!

He was teaching my dad
the ropes in AWA.

Well, he was a very
impressive guy.

Oh, look at the
agility of him.

But,
I'm pretty aggressive.

So, when he stepped
into the ring, it's on.

Oh!

Hi, this is
Stan Hansen.

I'm here to talk
about Vader.

Stan Hansen and
Bruiser Brody

introduced Leon to a
rough in-ring style that

pushes the
boundaries between

showmanship
and violence,

a style insiders call
"working stiff."

It was much more physical.

We just decided to go all out
as long as we could.

That's what
made us strong.

That's where it starts, and
that's where it's gonna end.

When a guy's stuff
lands really well...

he's stiff.

It didn't injure you,
but it hurt.

But that's the way
he was trained,

live in front
of a crowd.

Brody and Stan beating
the hell out of my dad,

and my dad took it,
didn't complain.

And I think both
Stan and Bruiser

respected that
about my dad.

I never looked at him
like a student.

I always looked at him as
a very equal competitor.

[Cheering]

[Indistinct commentary]

But,
Leon "Baby Bull" White

did not exactly set the
wrestling world on fire

until he got a deal to
go to Japan.

And they made him
the character of

Big Van Vader.

It was an amazing gimmick.

It was an amazing outfit.

And, Vader became an
instant sensation.

I'm Jim Cornette,
and in the WWF,

I was the manager of the
man they called Vader.

From Tokyo, Japan...

Antonio Inoki!

Antonio Inoki, Japanese
wrestling legend,

was the owner of
New Japan Pro Wrestling,

and he was always looking
for monster foreigners,

monster heels, that he
could vanquish somehow.

And with Leon's size,

he knew he had something.

The legend goes that

Big Van Vader was a
samurai warrior

who represented an island,
and him and another warrior

had fought to the death.

Big Van Vader
won that battle,

and so Inoki always wanted
to make a character

based on that...

samurai warrior come to life
for the Japanese fans.

He also created
the helmet.

The headgear and the
shoulder pads were

custom made in Japan,

and it required a person
to operate it remotely,

where the steam
would come out of

the shoulder pads
and the spikes.

It was something that
people hadn't seen before,

and that's what Antonio
Inoki needed for Japan.

[Japanese commentary]

Antonio Inoki, he hadn't
lost a match in 3, 4 years,

and Big Van Vader
comes out and

beats him in
under 3 minutes.

The fans were so
upset they rioted.

It's probably the most
impactful debut

in professional
wrestling history.

I think the Japanese fans
started realizing that this

is someone who is
special and important.

My dad was the
first American

to hold an IWGP
championship.

They would bow to him.

He was the
Hulk Hogan of Japan.

With interest from Japanese
fans at an all-time high,

Stan Hansen and
Big Van Vader

are scheduled for
an epic match...

destined to become one of
the biggest of all time.

Oh, yeah.
Or a nightmare.

[Laughing]

[Cheering]

My dad and Stan Hansen
are the main event.

There is 60, 65,000
people in attendance.

Sold out Tokyo Dome.

There was two big horses
in there,

from opposite stables.

He started hammering
me hard and...

I hit him back.

It was the real deal.

They wanted it
to look real.

Sometimes,
you didn't know.

The line was really close.

And the result could be...

scary.

And boom! He hits
Leon right in the eye.

Stan Hansen knocked
Vader's eyeball

out of his head.

[Audience]
Oh!

When he pulled
off his mask...

I mean, there was
a huge reaction.

[Shouting Japanese
commentary]

You could see the swelling
and the discoloration

had started almost
immediately.

I freaked out.

Leon takes it, pushes it
back into his head,

and goes for it.

After ten minutes
of exchanging blows,

I can remember saying,
"Take it easy, Leon."

[Laughing]

I was scared to death.

But I will tell you, it was
a phenomenal match.

The brutality of the match
with Stan Hansen

cements Vader as
one of the toughest and

most popular
wrestlers in Japan.

Leon was in Japan
probably 32 weeks a year.

He was gone all the time.

Growing up, he probably
missed half of my childhood.

It's tough for him.
It's tough for my mother.

It's tough for me.

But that's the life
he chose...

and it's the life
I was born into.

As Leon's infamous match
with Stan Hansen

circulates among
tape traders,

a new opportunity
opens up stateside.

When I was at WCW,

somebody sent me some
footage of the Hansen match,

and that gave me the idea
to bring him in.

This is one big,
big man.

I'm Jim Ross, and my
relationship with Leon

goes back a good while.

This is big time.

We're signed with
Ted Turner, right?

So extremely
important for him,

for us as a family.

And instantly he's in
the main events.

I mean, you can't put this
guy in the second match.

He was just a human
demolition machine.

He's the big,
bad villain.

He's the one that beat up
the pretty boys.

Ah!

[Shouting] You ain't
man enough!

He took pride in his craft,
but what truly

separated my dad
is his athleticism.

Well, here
comes some pain.

His ability to have a
25-minute main event match.

Oh, no!

This guy is
just tough, man.

Vader had a big
impact on me.

Cactus Jack!

The irresistible force
versus the immovable object,

and you wonder which
one's going to give first.

Whoa!

The stuff Leon and I were
doing was a little edgy.

Whoa!
Falls back with him.

Oh, the moonsault
was crazy.

Vader going up...

Yeah, I can say that
as a guy who was

on the receiving
end of it.

Oh!

Here's a 400 pound athlete

doing a backflip
from the top rope.

Moonsault!

How many big men
in the business

have you
seen do that?

At about the
exact time that

Vader debuted
his moonsault...

it was like the
whole complexion

of that company
changed because

he just raised the bar
incredibly high.

The intense matches with
Cactus Jack elevates Vader

into being one of
WCW's top attractions.

Nobody was going to be
able to stop Vader.

Vader has won!

Vader has won
the world title!

It was extremely big
for my dad, right?

Winning a championship
for any federation,

it's big time.

So this is when things
start escalating

to a new level of fame.

-Vader's here.
-Who's the man?

You're the man.

Vader! Vader!

Growing up and seeing
your dad on television

3 or 4 times a week...

Being on
"Boy Meets World"...

"Baywatch"...

A couple movies.
That's pretty cool.

Accept the
challenge of Vader!

But it was, it was a double
edged sword because

you're trying to develop a
relationship with

your father, and he's
constantly on the road.

He wasn't around like the
rest of the fathers were.

He enjoyed being
on the road...

'cause it's a
fun lifestyle.

Right,
rock star lifestyle.

He worked very, very
hard to get there,

but he got to where...

that's all he did...

was be a star.

He's coming to my
basketball games, and...

we have a line of,
you know, 20,

25 people asking for
autographs and,

I'm, I'm starting to...

get, ah, jealous.
And I'm like,

"No, no, no, Dad,
you're here to watch me,

not sign autographs."

He did have a Jekyll and
Hyde quality to him.

Very soft hearted,

but he also had the
ability to change.

I believe, anything
you say, I believe it.

And I mean at the
flip of a switch.

Doug, get him
out of here.

He could go from 1 to 10,
like fast.

There was a side of him

you just didn't want to see.

He'd go from being
Big Van Vader,

and trying to
be Leon White.

And sometimes
that was a little bit

of a challenge
for him.

Pretty soon he just
lost Leon, you know?

And he just became
the character.

And that's not who
I fell in love with.

I fell in love
with Leon White.

And, when he couldn't
leave the other one at all,

you know, that's when
things got pretty rough

around the house.

He liked being
the tough man.

And, you know,
unfortunately...

he'd bring it home
sometimes.

The one thing is,
he never went to Jesse.

It was always me
he came to.

But if I tried to leave,
I...

It wouldn't have
turned out well.

Leon loved me to death,
but he loved me to death,

you know, so either he's
in prison and I'm dead or,

you know what I mean?

It looked like a
beautiful life.

But you never know what's
going on behind closed doors.

?

Leon understood one of the
most important things of

our business, and that's
the psychology of it.

His role in the ring was
that of a really violent man.

But as good as Vader was,
he always had a reputation

of being that stiff guy that
could hurt you at any time.

Hey, everybody.
Gerald Brisco here,

better known as
Jerry Brisco,

WWE Hall of Famer.

A lot of guys bitched and
complained about

how stiff Leon was.

But if he wasn't
stiff and snug on you,

you wasn't having
a good match.

When he manhandled you,

you knew you were
being manhandled.

That's one of the
reasons why Vader

looked so impressive.

Sting is hurt!

He broke Sting's ribs.

Nikita Koloff,
he ended his career.

He gave Cactus Jack
a concussion.

On more than one occasion,
I saw young men

whose entire lives were
built around this goal of

becoming professional
wrestlers,

when they saw their
name against Leon White,

they just looked
at their friend and said,

"I don't think
this is for me."

Especially after Leon
temporarily paralyzed

a kid named
Joe Thurman.

Thurman is gonna be coming
in to Big Van Vader.

Oh!
All the power in the world!

This is something that...

I've never...

talked about this
to anybody.

Vader does just what he
wants to in the ring

when he wants to do it.
Oh my goodness!

Growing up, the only
thing that I ever

wanted to do was to be
a pro wrestler.

I had just turned 20.

This is the very
first time that

I had got to
work for WCW.

This is the biggest
night of my career.

I'm living the dream,
literally.

I'm Joey Thurman.

I was a professional
wrestler for WCW.

The biggest claim to fame in
my wrestling career

was the incident with
Big Van Vader.

Right before we're getting
ready to go out,

Vader goes, "Hey,
I'm working you.

It's gonna be quick.
You good with powerbombs?"

I was like, "Yeah."
And he was like,

"Okay, cool.
See you out there."

Introducing first,
Big...

Van Vader!

I found the hard camera.

Done a big smile.

Get in the ring, and he
does the Vader growl.

I went and bounced
off of him.

[Grunts]

Ah! All the power
in the world!

And, ah,
I don't know...

I don't know what changed.

?

And this is the part that
has really bothered me...

for 32 years, and the
part that I will-

there's no way that I'll
ever find the answer to.

This is the first time
that I realized

that something
was different.

Because he leans down,
he goes,

"You better jump,
you little mother--er."

And we're gonna do
the chokeslam.

Went up, come back down,
big crash.

And, as I'm getting
back up from that,

it was something
to the effect of,

"Come here, you little
piece of shit."

He's just absolutely
too much man.

The mood
absolutely changed.

He sets up, we go
to do the powerbomb.

I mean, the
carelessness is obvious.

Look at that.
Oh! Oh, my gosh!

Right on the back of the
neck and the shoulders!

The way that I land,
the impact,

it was like a rifle.
It was that-[Snaps] "Pow!"

And I remember
just feeling...

the numbness.

Nobody's taking care
of anybody.

?

When he comes
down for the pin,

he's not even
touching me.

Whatever had switched...

between backstage
and in the ring...

had now
switched back.

You could see that there
was concern at that point.

Ladies and gentlemen,
here's your winner!

I remember the ref
saying, "Holy crap,

are you alright?"
I told him, I said,

"I can't feel my legs."

Broke my back in two places.

The trauma was so...

great that...

it almost severed
my spinal cord.

?

I was there and I
saw Leon crying,

you know,
backstage, you know,

I saw it, he felt
terrible about it,

and I know he visited him
in the hospital that night.

About all he got
out of his mouth...

was...

"Hey, brother,
you okay?"

And,
I unloaded on him.

I called him everything
that I could think of.

And he's crying and...

I couldn't care less...

because they just told me,

"You'll never get in
the ring again."

[Sighing]

?

Yeah, he would cry.

It broke my heart,
you know,

'cause he never showed
that side very often.

And I would hold him,
and say,

"It's okay, baby,
it's okay."

I was told later that he
was under a lot of pressure.

He was supposed to be
that big beast

that nobody could beat.

But if I'm working
hand-to-hand with

another guy, his safety is
my responsibility.

It just felt like
having your dream...

put in your hand.

But before you can close
your fingers around it...

it's snatched away.

Word got around that
this was what he did.

Guys like you make me sick
getting up here and

bragging upon the fact that
you take young guys like

Joe Thurman and
break their back.

Leon was a nice,
caring man,

but you have to turn that
side of yourself off

when you're in front
of the camera.

And that man is lucky
that's all he got

was a broken back.

That's what they wanted.
They needed a killer.

And he gave it to 'em.

Ah!

You know, they had
to play that up.

Well, if you didn't,
then what a waste of time.

It just advanced
my dad's aura of

being a badass
and being real.

Although WCW embraces

Vader's vicious reputation
in the ring...

his actions alienate him

from the rest of
the locker room.

That wasn't a good thing.

Talk about two people that
didn't like each other.

Hogan was the massive
star babyface...

and Leon was
the killer heel.

It's a marriage
made in heaven.

Egos.

Here he comes!

Hulk is a different
type of wrestler.

And Leon was not going to
be Hulk type of wrestler.

My dad's matches
with him were...

respectfully, a watered
down version

of my dad,
unfortunately.

Let me see what you got.
Oh, my goodness!

He's gonna powerbomb!
Oh, no, God! Oh, no!

Look at that!
Hogan's back up!

-He's not human!
-[Cheering]

Egos made it go wrong.

And, and
wrong it went.

Ego's a terrible enemy
of a lot of wrestlers.

Vader's conflicts with
other talent reach

a breaking point
behind the scenes.

Paul Orndorff, who had
retired from the ring

because of nerve
damage in his arm,

had become a
producer for WCW.

They needed to do
interviews at a TV taping.

Orndorff went back,
"Hey Vader,

you got interviews."
"I'll be there in a minute."

And he didn't come, and then
Orndorff says, "Hey,

get your fat ass in there
and do the interviews."

Well, then that's when Leon
stood up and said,

"You ain't gonna
call me a fat ass."

And Paul Orndorff, bad arm,
wearing flip flops,

punched the shit
out of Vader. Bam!

?

And then when
he went down,

he started kicking him
with those flip flops.

One of the guys in the
locker room said it sounded

like you were slapping
two dead fish together.

Somebody had to take
the fall for that.

So,
Leon had to go.

And that brought his
WCW career to an end.

That was the beginning of
him making bad decisions

and bad mistakes.

That was the beginning
of the end pretty much.

Following a humiliating
backstage fight with

Paul Orndorff, Leon White
is let go from WCW.

Leon was never quite
the same emotionally

after the
Paul Orndorff incident.

Everybody in the whole
wrestling world

was talking about it-
Japan, everywhere.

It took away from his aura of
being this invincible monster.

Vader's status as a free
agent quickly results

in a new opportunity
from an old friend.

I was in charge of
talent relations in WWE,

and I just believed he was a
great addition to our team,

if we could
keep him sane...

and healthy.

All of us in the WWF
office were thrilled.

This guy's a major star.

He's gonna be a
champion here.

Who is it?
Vader!

They debut Vader at
the Royal Rumble,

where he makes
a huge splash.

Then the next day on Raw,
when I introduce him,

I say, "It's time!
It's Vader time!"

It's Vader time!

The people are cheering.

They're going ballistic
because one of the

biggest stars from the only
opposition has now come

to the WWF, and the
fans are going crazy.

They do a deal where
Gorilla Monsoon,

legendary wrestler
who was then the

president of the WWF...

Vader beats him up and
lays out Gorilla Monsoon.

That's the president of the
World Wrestling Federation!

Holy. I got
goosebumps right now.

This was the start...

of making the first...

monster heel of
the modern WWF era.

I thought.

But Vince McMahon
had no clue

who Vader was because

Vince McMahon never watched
any other wrestling,

besides the WWF,
and Vince thought,

"Pal, let's call him
the Mastodon."

Call him what?
Vince didn't get it.

So, this began...

a relationship where neither
one of them got the other one.

Beyond the creative
differences,

Leon fights to live up to his
own reputation in the ring.

Dad was injury prone
at this point.

Vader had a bad shoulder
and needed surgery.

And, his weight had started
to balloon because

he was off for so long.

He's gonna
get too heavy.

It's gonna put additional
pressure on his joints.

It's going to
slow him down.

And now Vince got
upset about his weight.

And Leon began
taking it personally.

Vince probably was
on him more than

he was on most guys.

He didn't fit
in the program.

Duke University,
in North Carolina,

had a world renowned
weight loss facility,

and it was Vince's idea
to send Yokozuna and Leon.

We were weighing them
in on a regular basis,

and they're gaining weight.

How in the hell are you
gaining weight

at the Duke
Weight Loss Clinic?

Figure that out.

Then you found out
they cheated.

They're smuggling fried
chicken into their dorm.

You're going to eat
yourself out of a job, man.

Act like an adult.

Then came
Shawn Michaels.

He is the leader of

the new WWF generation!

Shawn Michaels was Vince's

anointed babyface hero

that needed monsters to
try to menace him,

to try to take
that title away.

They should have had
wonderful matches.

Oh, no!

But, some things are
just not meant to be.

Michaels was
a prima donna.

He didn't like
working with Leon

because Leon
was stiff with him.

He was Vince's boy.

And, Leon was
nobody's boy, and...

ended up being a pretty nasty
situation on both sides.

Shawn said, you know,

"If you keep
roughing me up like that,

I'm gonna get you fired."

And my dad rolls out of
the ring, and he has,

like,
tears in his eyes.

You know, you don't
upset the golden boy.

Shawn's pissed off

because Leon didn't always
wash his gear.

It was a regular discussion.

Goddamn it,
you've got body odor.

People don't want
to work with you.

And Leon's offended.

And Shawn Michaels
was bitching about it

all the time,
every day.

Crazy, isn't it?
Body odor.

Michaels had already
buried Vader to Vince.

"I don't want to work
with this guy,"

blah blah, blah-
whatever he said.

Now Vader's a nervous wreck
and he can't be Vader.

And then, the SummerSlam
match happened.

SummerSlam!

When you go back and look
at that SummerSlam match,

it's a good match.

Michaels up in the air.
Michaels from behind again.

And again,
a clip in the jaw.

But there's a couple points,
and one of 'em,

Michaels plants Vader in
the middle of the ring.

And he's going to
go to the top rope,

and he was going to come
off with an elbow drop,

and he wanted
Vader to move.

Well, either Vader didn't
hear it, I don't know.

So instead of being
a professional,

Michaels changes position
in mid-air,

lands on his feet,

right over Vader, and then
screams at him so

all the fans can hear,
"I said move!"

And kicks him
in the head.

He's an unprofessional
--ing asshole!

You're a gutless
no good coward!

But after that match,

that's when Michaels
really went.

Shawn, not wanting to drop
the title to my father,

he convinced Vince
that he's not ready.

He's not the guy.

That... day,

yeah,
more than anything,

changed him to a very
angry human being.

You'd think a guy like him
would be armor plated.

But he wasn't.

He had feelings, and
he was very sensitive.

And, I mean, you kind
of saw Leon's career...

just end in that moment,
as a main eventer.

He never worked in that
main event level again.

Despite his demotion,

Vader remains a
star attraction,

until his aggressive
behavior threatens

his career and freedom.

The WWF was big on
international tours,

and the last thing
Vince wanted was

international incidents.

All of the Middle East
opened their arms to the

ambassadors of goodwill,
the world over,

the WWF superstars.

We got this big,
elaborate tournament

where Vader's supposed
to be the star.

So we get Undertaker
and Vader booked on

the most popular
talk show in Kuwait.

The host had asked,
you know,

"Is wrestling fake or is
that stuff you do?

It's not real, right?"
Whatever.

They say this wrestling
is not for real.

Is it like you act,
or...?

Leon took it to heart.

I find your remark and
your question insulting.

It's not my question.
It's somebody-

Does that --ing
feel fake, huh?

Does that feel fake?

Now that's physical assault.

And it becomes an incident.

Why don't you
come down tonight,

and before I kick his ass,
I'll kick your ass.

This is Kuwait.
It's a foreign country.

They don't have
laws like ours.

-Okay.
-All right?

-Just calm down.
-Don't, hey.

We're not here
to be insulted.

I'm not here
to be insulted.

But at the same time,

I'm back at the
office in Stanford.

And that's when
I found out

Leon's being
detained in Kuwait.

Is it just for the
wrestling shows that-

Excuse me,
excuse me, excuse me.

I'm sorry, yeah.

You gave him a chance to
respond to the question.

This is the question
I'm gonna ask you now.

I'd like to respond
to the same question.

Okay, please,
go ahead.

Does that --ing
feel fake, huh?

[Laughing] And he
snatched the guy...

and the guy freaks out.

Especially in a
foreign country,

you can't physically
manhandle somebody.

They can just keep you!

They wanted to put him in
one of those Kuwaiti jails.

The company exhausted every
resource that they had

just to get him
under house arrest.

They kept his passport.

Vince got everybody out,

got on the plane,
and left Leon there.

Now, I'm at home, and I'm
finding out about this.

And it was very scary
for me and Jesse.

I had no idea.

No communication,
no nothing.

I didn't know, he-
if he was still alive.

And I believe he spent
the next two weeks

under house arrest.

Leon is lucky he didn't
get put in prison.

We were lucky to get him
out of the country.

This incident really set
things on a bad path,

'cause now...

when Vince loses
interest in something,

Vince loses interest
in something.

Following the
incident in Kuwait,

Leon's status in the
company tumbles as

his physical and mental
health deteriorates.

Leon, he wanted to be
treated like "the" star.

He thought he
deserved more.

And he may have.
I guess you could say

he might have overstayed
his welcome.

But he was getting older.

Time ran out on him.

He got to become too
high maintenance.

We couldn't
get him happy.

Couldn't get him healthy.

When you play that hard,
it catches up to you.

Knees, elbows,
shoulders.

You know, just pain.
Pain from his neck, down.

Going back to football.

My dad was in an era of, hey,
you got a sprained ankle,

try these new things.
They're called pain meds.

And then, so now
fast forward.

"Hey, I got a match
coming up here tonight.

Let me take pain pills."

Pain will change you.

If you've ever been in
pain, and I mean pain,

you will become somebody
you've never known before,

ever seen before, and
probably never wanted to be.

?

Leon could be all over the
place with his emotions.

When you get in chemicals
and pain and all that stuff,

that's just like pouring gas
on the fire for depression.

And I'm pretty sure that
Leon had fallen into that.

He's...

self-destructive.

And it just got worse
and worse and worse.

The biggest moonsault
in the world!

Oh!

You saw he was human.
Talking about one of

the great monster
heels of all time.

We just couldn't
handle it anymore.

Maybe Vader
time's over...

I ain't nothing but
a big piece of shit.

A big fat piece of shit!

Those words came from
Vincent Kennedy McMahon.

Vince told him,
be honest, just say,

"I haven't been able to
give you what,

what you guys deserve

because I'm a big
piece of shit."

That's the way
Vince thought of him.

He was a big, fat
piece of shit.

And he just got mad and
went all the way with it.

And it killed the
character of Vader.

His career
was, was...

zilch after that.

He wants some more?
Come get some.

Man, it's like what
could have been.

He was just
brow beaten...

to the point where
he lost his mojo...

and was trying so diligently
to please everyone,

that he lost track of
who he was and

what made him Vader.

Vader's career bottoms out
as his issues

spill over into his on
screen persona.

[Indistinct commentary]

It was devastating for him.

He's not used to
not being on top.

He blew it.
That's all I can say.

He actually blew it.

At one time, he was
on top of the world,

and then he just
started spiraling

and went downhill.

I wish he would have taken
better care of himself.

Eating healthier,
losing weight.

Started realizing like, hey,
I don't need to be

this 350 pound
monster anymore.

But for my father, that was
always a part of his identity.

I do think he struggled
trying to figure out

what the next 15 to 20 years
was gonna look like,

for his family, for him
professionally.

There was sort of the
great unknown in terms of,

what am I going to do?

He was done, I mean,
he was cooked.

Nobody wanted to talk
to him. I mean, he,

he burned a lot of bridges,
a lot of bridges.

It came to a point when Jesse
went to college, I just...

I'd had enough.
I'd had enough.

Leon at that point
was pretty much gone.

And, you know, I tried to
get him to go to rehab.

I tried everything I could
to save the marriage.

But, by then, he'd stay
in bed for 3, 4, 5 days.

Maybe get up to drink,
and then go back to bed.

He had been a diabetic
for some time.

And, we did
not know this.

With low blood sugar,
you need insulin

to get back to normal levels,
but my dad would

just take naps and kind of
power through it.

He got an opportunity
to go to Japan.

Decent little payday
for him. Well,

on this particular trip,
he had been drinking...

and levels were
low enough to

where he needed
to take a nap.

He went into a
diabetic coma.

That's the most scared
I ever was,

'cause he's essentially on
the other side of the world

and I don't know how
I'm gonna get to him.

Following a brief
resurgence in Japan,

Leon's health issues
continue to take a toll.

?

I could just see his
health declining.

He was having a lot
of breathing issues,

a lot of chest pains.

We knew something was
wrong with his heart.

So I immediately set up
a meeting with

one of my doctors.

Dad had congestive
heart failure.

And it was so bad,
the doctor says,

"Hey, Leon, I think
we need to, you know,

operate pretty quick."

So we were having
a quad bypass.

We finally get him home.
Unfortunately,

Dad had a very aggressive
case of pneumonia.

So, I had to break
into his place.

?

Find him unconscious.

9-1-1,
the whole bit.

We had to put him in a
medically induced coma.

?

Jesse kind of was his
saving grace at the end.

We had three weeks
of the coma,

and we had a tracheotomy,
so when we woke up,

he couldn't speak.

It was hard watching
your father, who was...

King Kong,
he was Superman.

And now, not be who he was,

mentally or physically.

You know, my dad was
feeding me at one point,

and now I'm feeding him.

Bull was so appreciative

of how Jesse had stepped up.

He really did the
right thing by his dad.

It's the day after
Father's Day,

and I walk into the room.
The first things he says is,

"I love you." This is the
first time I'm hearing him

speak in about a month
and a half so, ah...

and, I, ah...
said, "Hey,

I'm gonna see you
after work tonight."

And he said, "Cool."
Later that night,

I get a call from the nurse,
and she's like,

"Hey, your dad wants
to talk to you."

And he's like, "Hey,
I love you so much.

Thank you for
everything that you,

you've been doing for me."
And I said, "I love you,

and I'll see you in a
couple hours."

Unfortunately, that was the
last time I talked to my dad.

Leon and I had
an agreement.

We promised each other
if that ever happened,

that we would
pull the plug.

And that was my call,
and it was the right call.

That was very hard.

Yeah, he, um...

He lived a short life,
he lived a full life.

He got to experience some
things most people

can't even fathom.
Unfortunately, it just,

he was 63 years old
and too young.

?

Big Van Vader was the
greatest monster heel,

the greatest big man
that I ever saw,

and I've been doing
this for 50 years.

Vader's legacy
in wrestling is,

for a period of
almost 15 years,

the most dominant big man
in the sport of wrestling.

And that's what
people remember.

He was a good man,
conflicted man,

who wanted to bring it
every single night.

No pain!
No pain!

Even though he was one of
the biggest stars of the era,

I just don't think
he's gotten

the credit he deserves.

You alright?

And the lesson to me is that
you should never let anyone

or anything define to you
what being a success is.

Before he died,
I mean,

we would talk
every now and then,

and he actually became
Leon White

at the very end.

He felt very bad about

how our life
could have been...

and how it ended up.

There was a lot of bad.

But gosh, there was
a lot of good too.

And it was a lot of fun

to be able to
be part of that.

?

The reason I am
so successful,

my lovely wife,
Debbie.

For without her,
I could be nothing.

And to my little boy,

someday he will
be champion...

because through him,
I get my strength

and I am young again.

I think he is the bar for
big men in this business.

And I got to be front row
center for a lot of it.

I'm proud, blessed
to be his son,

and I hope that he's proud
of the man that he raised.

As crazy as his death is,
and as dramatic as this

whole process was,
there was beauty in it.

The love I have for my father
and the love he had for me...

that never changed.

?

Repair and Synchronization by
Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0