Big Van Vader Once Pushed His Own Eyeball Into Its Socket After It Popped Out During A Match

Just in case you hadn’t seen the news, former professional wrestler Leon Allen White, better known as Big Van Vader, passed away earlier this week at the age of 63 after battling a severe case of pneumonia for about a month. White has struggled with health complications for the better part of the last decade, and even wrestled through them on the independent scene occasionally towards the very end, but just from the outside, it seemed they got really bad over the past two or three years.

A legend of World Championship Wrestling and one of the most agile big men of his time the business had ever seen in his prime, not to mention one of the SCARIEST figures on television in the 90s, Vader left a lasting impression on the professional wrestling industry that’ll never be forgotten. I’m sure in the coming days you’ll see many a blog posts and articles written about the historical significance he had, the people he inspired, and just a ton of adoration for his body of work (including his episode of ‘Boy Meets World’, but today I just wanted to share my personal favorite Big Van Vader story…the one where Big Van Vader’s eyeball popped out of its socket mid-match, and he pushed it back in. With his finger.

The year was 1990, and All Japan Pro Wrestling was putting on a massive supershow alongside New Japan Pro Wrestling. WWE Hall of Famer Stan Hansen had been one of New Japan’s top gaijin (foreigners) for many years prior to this event, earning a reputation for adapting to the Japanese “Strong Style” better than any prior gaijin (foreigner) had, and putting on incredibly stiff, brutal matches. Hansen was pretty much the only worker to hold this reputation at the time, until one monster broke onto the scene and terrified the globe. This monster’s name was Big Van Vader.

Vader was originally signed to All Japan in 1987, although his contract was traded to New Japan shortly afterwards, and it wasn’t long after that until he sent shockwaves through Japan by defeating one of the most beloved wrestlers in the nation’s history, Antonio Inoki, for the prestigious IWGP Heavyweight Championship (becoming the first non-Japanese wrestler to ever hold the title) which caused a literal riot at Sumo Hall and earned the promotion a ban from the venue for two years.

When it came time to book the supershow in ’90, Stan Hansen vs Big Van Vader was obviously the match to make, and it was made so. As Vader made his way to the ring, Hansen swung his bullrope (an actual bullrope, not a euphemism for his cock) at Vader’s face, breaking his nose in the melee, and starting the match off on a certainly violent foot. After a stiff exchange of punches, it happened…Vader’s fucking eyeball popped out of its socket. The super-heavyweight ripped his mask off, stumbled back into one of the corners of the ring, and pushed his eyeball back into place using his fingers in one of the most brutal actions I’ve ever seen performed in a professional wrestling match.

It was immediately back to the action afterwards, and the two finished out the match going on for another twenty or so minutes.

Out of all Vader stories, and there’s so many of them out there, this is the one that always stuck with me. I wanted to share it with all of you today, just so you all could grasp just how much of a badass motherfucker Big Van Vader was.

Rest easy, Leon White.