EP. 10 - Sting vs Big Van Vader - “Where is this castle, anyway.”

EPISODE 10!
The initial goal for Feud Rewind is to be an evergreen podcast, but 10 episodes is a milestone regardless! 
Our tenth installment features early 90s WCW and Sting vs Big Van Vader. 
Come roll it back with us this Tuesday, and every Tuesday, on the Feud Rewind. 

IT’S VADER TIME!

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Please drink some. 

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Transcript

ep-10-sting-vs-big-van-vader-where-is-this-castle-anyway
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[00:00:00] Hey, this is Ben with Feud Rewind, with a quick word from our first unofficial sponsor. Water. You need some. I need some. We all need some. We're made of it. Guess what? It comes in a bunch of different varieties. Hot, cold, frozen. You can get it flavored, you can get it plain. With bubbles, no bubbles, out of your tap, out of a bottle, out of a box.

The possibilities are endless. Regardless, you need some. Before we get started, go get a glass. I'm going to get one too. We'll meet back here and start the show. Thank you so much. Water.

May 22nd, 1994. The Philadelphia Civic Center is hosting WCW's Slamboree pay per view event. The main event of this stat card is a battle for the vacant WCW International Heavyweight Championship. Sting [00:01:00] and Bader have been trading blows for over 15 minutes like the Titans they are, putting on another show stopping match.

The dominant heel, versus the iconic, heroic, surfer babyface. How did we get here? It's Vader TIME! So let's roll this back, with a rewind.

Growing up on the west coast of the USA during the late 80s and early 90s, most of my wrestling enjoyment and education up to that point was almost entirely based around the WWE. Albeit with a fair amount of lucha libre due to my mostly Southwest background. Like most people whose frame of reference is a singular source, [00:02:00] I thought, quote, wrestling was synonymous to the WWE.

I never knew any different. In the summer of 1992, I was on summer break from school and was staying over at a friend's house. One of our shared mutual interests was wrestling. He always referenced WCW, being an elementary school at the time. I simply thought he, like me, was a dumb kid and was just mispronouncing WWE.

The reason I was over at his house was because there was something called a quote, pay per view that night. As explained to seven year old me, a pay per view meant a showcase show, usually with multiple title defenses. This night was no different, as my jaw dropped to the floor, and my eyes feasted upon The Great American Bash, and that show's title match between two performers with such distinct looks, Styles and personas that I was instantly hooked.[00:03:00] 

The feel of the match was different than my usual WE Fair. I would soon learn that this was called wrestling. R-A-S-S-N. That's wrestling, R-A-S-S-L-I-N. That's wrestling nowadays used in reference to a more quote, Southern style. Based on classic mat and chain wrestling, wherein the wrestlers would usually focus on damaging a specific body part rather than flashier moves.

With that being said, WCW would soon showcase fast paced lucha focused wrestling, but that is a tale for another time. Let's focus instead on the two men I was mentioning above. And why they both as individuals, and together in that squared circle, changed my view on our sweet science, forever. Steve Borden was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1959, but grew up in Southern California.

A natural athlete, Borden's 6 foot 2 inch frame would lend itself well to the [00:04:00] baseball fields and basketball courts. But he would later engage in a career in bodybuilding after high school. He didn't have an initial inclination for wrestling, not having it in his household growing up. However, while training for a bodybuilding competition, he was persuaded to go to a WWE event being held in Los Angeles, when he saw larger than life stars like Hulk Hogan, Iron Sheik, and Andre the Giant.

Borden caught the bug and immediately decided that his life's path would be to pursue the pro wrestling art form. Power Team USA was the team of bodybuilders trained by Red Bastion and Rick Baseman. Teaming early on with a young Jim Justice Helwig. Borden was named Flash, and they would form the tag team the Freedom Fighters.

The youngsters would get their start in the independent promotion All California Championship Wrestling. They would later move on to Continental Wrestling Association in Memphis, [00:05:00] where an uneventful run would nevertheless lead to much needed tutelage from buddy Wayne and manager Dutch Mantell. Naming their team the Blade Runners, Borden would rename himself Stink, while Hellwig would become Rock.

Man, that would have been a hell of a trademark case, but I digress. The duo would surface in the Universal Wrestling Federation, a Louisiana based promotion run by Cowboy Bill Watts. However, Hellwig would leave the promotion relatively early on for a fledgling singles career in world class championship wrestling before reaching superstardom in the WWE as the Ultimate Warrior.

Left without his long time tag partner, Stig would team and then feud with Hot Stuff and Hyatt International stablemate Eddie Gilbert. Stig would soon endear himself to the fans and become the most beloved babyface in the territory. When the UWF was bought by Jim Crockett of the National Wrestling Alliance, the booker of the [00:06:00] NWA, Dusty Rhodes, knew that the young Sting was a growing superstar, and indeed, big things were on the horizon for the icon.

If we fast forward from 1987 to 1992, Sting has cemented himself as a main event talent. The 1988 match with Ric Flair at Clash of the Champions 1, that ended in a 45 minute time limit draw, is the match that was a springboard to superstardom, and still to this day, stands out as a classic and a clinic on how to execute a match full of emotional peaks and valleys.

Sting's longtime frenemy situation with the Four Horsemen. And Flair, in particular, would provide years of back and forth story. Sting actually joins the Horsemen in 1989 while saving Flair from an attack by Terry Funk and Great Muda. Subsequently, he is dismissed by their leader, Flair, for not relinquishing a title shot that Sting held for Flair's NWA world title.[00:07:00] 

Flair, always exuding the limousine riding, high flying persona, stood in stark contrast to Sting's clean cut, all American gimmick. The early 90s saw Sting overcome both injuries and the four horsemen to become NWA world champion. By 1992, the NWA and WCW were in the process of separating, and thus creating new titles.

WCW world champion Lex Luger was a part of a stable named the Dangerous Alliance, run by manager Paul E. Dangerously, a young Paul Heyman. Being targeted by the Hall of Fame manager, Sting would have multiple matches against most of this stable, including winning the first of his total six. WCW World Heavyweight Championships from Lex Luger at SuperBrawl 2 in 1992.

Having gone through the stable's top guys to become champion, and with longtime rival [00:08:00] Ric Flair leaving for the WWE, Sting and WCW badly needed a new final boss. A new big baddie for the Ultimate Babyface to feud with. It's Vader time. Leon White was born in the Southern California city of Linwood in 1955.

Five. The son of a Marine, White would grow into a 6'5 frame, excelling in a variety of sports, most notably competing as a nationally ranked center on his Bell High School's high school football team. He would be recruited to the University of Colorado. Where he would play offensive line and be named second team All American.

He would later be drafted by his hometown Los Angeles Rams with the 24th pick of the 1978 draft. Although in his second season, the team would win an NFC Championship ring, due to ongoing need problems, including a ruptured patella, White would not only be forced into early NFL retirement, But he would also not [00:09:00] play a single down or register any statistics for the sport that he loved.

After his NFL career, he was recognized at the gym by a former fan. Standing at his aforementioned 6'5 and registering an excess of 400 pounds on the scale, this football fan suggested that White look into professional wrestling. Finding a new outlet for his athleticism, and no doubt some pent up rage from his football career ending, White is trained by Brad Regans and gets his first exposure in the American Wrestling Alliance under the moniker Baby Bull, and later, Bull Power.

Bull Power would have cut his teeth stateside and in the Ketch Wrestling Association based in Austria, but it was in the land of the rising sun that Bill would truly come into his own. Upon arriving in New Japan Pro Wrestling, White is dubbed Big Van Vader. His new identity was based on Japanese folklore of a strong warrior with the same name, and was [00:10:00] introduced as the crown jewel of the Takeshi Pororiru Gundan Stable.

Depending on where you fall in the lineage of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Most would consider Vader's win of said title on 1989 to be the first recognized win of the title by a Gaijin or foreign wrestler. Vader would have legendary battles with Stan Hansen. In one scenario where the famously poor sighted Hansen accidentally popped one of Vader's eyes out of socket.

With a misplaced punch, Vader would pop that bastard back in and finish the match. A tag run with Bam Bam Bigelow would lock in Vader status as a talent that was a draw in his sheer spectacle. While Bam Bam was more agile, as he was a super heavyweight that was doing moonsaults, Vader still cast a large and mean looking shadow over Bigelow and much of the wrestling talent at the time.

WCW long had interest in [00:11:00] Vader, and by 1992, had signed him full time. Paired with the toughest motherfucker to ever walk the face of the planet in manager Harley Race, Vader was quickly put into a program with WCW World Heavyweight Champion Sting. WCW's franchise player, their David, had finally found his Goliath, and their feud would help carry WCW through a lull in their viewership And right into the Monday Night Wars.

With the two clashing on un televised house shows leading up to the Great American Bash. Things would go awry at an April 12th, 1992 show at Atlanta's historic Omni Coliseum. One of Vader's signature moves was the Vader Bomb. This maneuver saw Vader splash his fallen opponent from the second rope, albeit with added gravitational force.

This move, on this night, ended up cracking three of Sting's ribs and rupturing his spleen. [00:12:00] This would end up keeping Sting out of action for a prolonged period of time, but he would end up making his title defense against Vader at the Great American Bash. Seven year old Mia is sitting in front of an 800 pound TV on July 12, 1992, while 8, 000 Georgians fill the Albany Civic Center.

The penultimate match on this card saw Sting battle Vader for 17 minutes. Sting gets the full babyface hero's welcome. The little

Stingers are in the crowd, cheering with enthusiastically painted faces. Good old J. R. and Jesse Ventura are on the call. This remains one of my favorite and most underrated commentary duos. Vader [00:13:00] utilizes his nearly 200 pound size difference to throw around Sting as if Sting was not a 250 pound man himself.

The mass and power of Vader would definitely be a gargantuan undertaking. Sting gets a second of daylight, hitting Vader with a flurry of moves. Knocking Vader out of the ring, Sting and Vader engage in a show of strength. Every time Sting starts to mount a comeback, Vader simply utilizes his superior strength to overpower the champion.

After overcoming the almost inhuman Vader with a sequence that includes one hell of a DDT, this classic ends when Sting misses his patented Stinger Splash in the corner. Instead, hitting his head on the ring post. He is hurt. And Vader's measuring him. He may have a concussion. He slapped that steel, and it didn't give.

Sting had everything going his way, he had the chance to [00:14:00] win it, and one move has cost him and cost him dearly. Vader, Rey's calling for the powerbomb. Oh God! He is planeting for the powerbomb, and Vader has won it! Vader capitalizes by hitting a powerbomb for the 1, 2, 3. Hoisting the WCW World Heavyweight Championship for his first reign.

The sheer size of Vader, coupled with non stop intensity and uncanny athleticism made up for the fact that he was not a great promo. Manager Harley Race could definitely hold his own on the stick. But even still, Vader had an undeniable aura in the ring that allowed him to create a mystique and create heat that only truly special talent can.

Sting Being the never ending underdog babyface, finally had a larger than life foil for this heroic journey. [00:15:00] The ensuing months would see different paths for our two feuding warriors. Sting would enter into a short feud with WCW newcomer Jake Roberts, as well as having a tremendous False Count Anywhere match with Cactus Jack at Beach Blast.

Meanwhile, Vader would unfortunately re injure his knee, forcing him to drop that title just three weeks after winning it to Ron Simmons. Side note, Ron Simmons is a legit badass and he's the first African American man to be recognized as a champion in professional wrestling history. Going back to our main pro and antagonist, these two wouldn't face off against each other again until the end of the calendar year 1992.

At the time, WCW was trying to find a way to showcase their top talent that wasn't necessarily engulfed in title feuds that make for easy storytelling. Therefore, eight wrestlers would be entered into a single elimination tournament to celebrate 20 years of [00:16:00] wrestling airing on the TBS Superstation. The winner of this tournament would be dumbed, quote, the King of Cable.

In a way you can think of this as the WC version of WWE's King of the Ring. Sting, Brian Pillman, Barry Windham, Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, Dustin Rhodes, Big Van Vader, and Tony Atlas would face off starting on the WCW Saturday Night Show, and the tournament would continue on various WCW television programming.

Oddly enough, the finals for this tournament would not take place on cable, but instead at Starrcade 1992. Star Cade was WC W's main tent pole event of the year. Their WrestleMania, the 1992 iteration of Star Cade was held at the Iconic Omni in Atlanta, Georgia on December 28th, 1992. This is noted to be the last star Cade to feature NWA Championships being defended [00:17:00] as the WCW and the NWA partnership would be completely severed by September of 1993.

The show itself was not the greatest in my opinion, but one of the matches that stands out is our final to the King of Cable tournament. Although there is no championship on the line, the finals are in fact a rematch between Sting and Vader. The chemistry between these two men is palpable, and every time they face off, they leave it all in the ring.

Hey there, this is Benzo with Feud Rewind coming at you with a quick word from our second unofficial sponsor, The Sun. That's right. Summertime is here and the living, if your living is like mine, is extremely difficult. But what's not difficult is popping in your earbuds, putting on those headphones, Using a little [00:18:00] Bluetooth speaker and going on to the sun while you're listening to this podcast You and me let's go get some vitamin d while we enjoy the sun Thank you, son Now back to the show While

the matches they have might not be the long broadway style matches that we usually consider epics to be There's still excellent illustrations and how to further tell a story between the ropes in a as concise amount of time as possible. Side note, I totally forgot Slash didn't notice at the time that Vader is wearing a do rag to the ring?

The hell? [00:19:00] Anyway, this 17 minute bout is a showcase of two different attack strategies. For Stinger, he's trying to make the match last as long as possible to drain Vader cardiovascularly. To drag him into the desert, so to speak. For Vader, he taunts Sting with his strength, trying to invoke the baby face into attacking him.

Vader at one point military presses Sting into the ring ropes multiple times. Sting's resilience leads Vader's emotions to get the better of him, which Sting uses to his advantage by taking Vader to the outside of the ring. Getting back into the ring, heavy hands, suplexes, and submissions are traded. The action spills back and forth from the outside to the inside.

In some ways, this match is actually a loose blueprint for wrestling matches 30 years from now. Sting even goes over the top rope at one point, albeit not via Topesu Asida. [00:20:00] Vader spends a few minutes just throwing absolute hand bones at Sting. This proves Sting's strategy fruitful, as Vader begins to show signs of sucking work.

Vader powers through. And attempts to hit Sting with another Vader Splash. Sting is able to catch Vader in a small package Upon arrival, however, and is able to hit the 1 2 3 Sting claims, the title as the King of Cable and Evens our Feud score at one win apiece. Sting being the winner of this tournament isn't any real surprise as Sting had been the defacto [00:21:00] face and company guy for WCW for a few years.

Vader was still a completely essential piece of the puzzle. As often in wrestling storytelling, it's better for the baby face or hero to be chasing the heel or bad guy champion. This way there's still plenty of obstacles for the hero to overcome before they can triumphantly raise their hand at the conclusion of the story.

Our feud is no different, as just two days after Starrcade, Vader and Ron Simmons, who is still the WCW heavyweight champion, would face off in a title match where invader would regain that championship. The gigantic mountain of a villain was our champion once again. And now was the time that we needed a hero.

The proverbial carrot was on the end of the stick for Sting the Chase. Asheville, North Carolina is the site of Super Brawl 3. This February 21st, 1993 pay per [00:22:00] view takes place at the Asheville Civic Center. And the main event would see WCW. World Heavyweight Champion Vader, facing off against Sting in a White Castle of Fear Strap match?

Wait, what? Let me explain. In the short months in between Starrcade and Super Brawl 3, Stinger and Vader would not cut the typical promos that we've long become accustomed to seeing from performers. Instead, they cut short film style vignettes. These often bordered on the goofy and ridiculous. And culminated with Sting climbing into the mountains to encounter Vader and his manager Harley Race at Vader's quote White Castle of Fear.

Low key, I totally thought this was about hamburgers. It's not. Sort of a bummer. some sort of trap.

And I know that you like living on the edge! Well,[00:23:00] 

I guess I'll find out soon enough. Come to the White Castle of Fear. Where is this Castle of Fear, anyway?

But since this match is so so personal, turning into a blood feud, WCW would not sanction this match for the title. Also, a quick little PSA, if you're sensitive to seeing people being hit with straps, please be advised about watching this or any strap match. With that being I will be airing on the side of sensitivity and will not include any audio of strap hits in this episode.

As with most strap matches, these men are tied together via a 10 15 foot leather strap. The goal of a strap match was to touch the turnbuckles in [00:24:00] succession before your opponent can. And before your opponent can break up your impediment of that situation. Just imagine staying, having to drag a 450 pound Vader to all four turnbuckles, Tony Shivani and Jesse Ventura.

Note that the more that these guys use the strap to lash themselves, ring ropes, turnbuckles, what have you, the belt cuts progressively thinner and sharper. It really doesn't take long at all for welts and blood to cover the outside padding and the ring canvas in both of these performers. This 20 minute affair was an absolutely bloody mess of a legendary bout, earning universal praise.

If there is absolutely one Strat match that you have to watch to appreciate that match stipulation, this match itself would be on that short list. Vader would emerge victorious after this hellacious main [00:25:00] event. Leaving a bloody and battered Sting in his wake. Although Sting would get in a few shots after the bell.

Showing pure frustration at his loss. There's three. If he hits the last one it's over. Sting holding on to the rope. Alley race!

Look at Reece, he's hitting Steve's hands, he can't break them loose! He's got it! He touched it! Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of this Super Bowl

III Main Event, Big Ben Bader! Sting's pursuit was non stop and ever present, and these two constantly circled each other in the early part of 1983. At a March 11th [00:26:00] house show in London while on tour, Sting would exact his revenge and win the title from Vader, only to lose it back to Vader less than a week later in Dublin, Ireland.

The rest of 1993 saw Vader feuding with Cactus Jack. This includes the infamous incident in Germany where Cactus loses his right ear. Ric Flair would return at the end of 1993 to finally dethrone Vader. It seems maybe our feud would go out like a lamb rather than a lion. But, this rivalry has one more roar left, and it centers around a new championship title.

The WCW created the International World Heavyweight Championship in response to the dissolution of their partnership with the NWA. This championship would have a lifespan of less than a calendar year. And it's two most notable champions, [00:27:00] Rick Flair and Rick Rude, aren't even featured heavily in the canon of our story.

Incidentally, Rude was scheduled to drop the title to Sting in a roundabout fashion via Hiroshi Hase due to a career ending back injury. Instead, Sting insisted on vacating the title in order to win it in front of the fans that paid good money to see him compete. This sets us up on a crash course for our final main canonical event in this feud, Slamboree 1994.

This annual Memorial Day adjacent pay per view takes place on May 22nd at the Philadelphia Civic Center. And our main event features, once again, the icon of WCW, the face of the franchise, Sting, facing off against the big bull himself, Big Van Vader. If there's something we should know by now, is that if you want a match to carry weight and meaning, if you need a storyline [00:28:00] to create a visceral emotional response, put these two men together.

Another 15 plus minute classic. Ends with the icon raising the international heavyweight championship. Finally having defeated a behemoth who has become one of his classic rivals.

After this feud, both men would go on to have storied careers. Sting was always the consummate WCW guy. He and longtime frenemy Ric Flair would conclude the end of Nitro's and WCW's run with a match just as they started Nitro's programming with. Later making the rounds in TNA Slash Impact, WWE, and finally AEW, the icon is often considered on the Mount Rushmore of wrestlers for many fans, and at the very least, should be heavily considered for the Mount Rushmore of WCW, if for nothing else.[00:29:00] 

Vader, meanwhile. would stay in WCW for a few more years, posting Feud, and then have a somewhat unremarkable run in WWE. Like many big gaijins of his time, Vader would see far more success in Japan than in his own native country. He would win the vaulted All Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown title in 1999, and would also have a grudge feud with Jun Akiyama that spilled over from All Japan into the newly created pro wrestling Noah.

He would continue wrestling on the independents as well as making sporadic appearances for both the WWE and TNA slash Impact. The three memorable moments in this feud that I suggest that you absolutely go watch are Starrcade in 1992, the film vignettes leading up to the strap match at Super Brawl, and then the strap match as Super Brawl itself.

The match at Starrcade was an instant [00:30:00] classic. In many ways was a blueprint for wrestling matches to come in future years. Constant peaks and valleys of comebacks and heats. False finishes that actually feel like false finishes. And sometimes finishes themselves that are surprising or shocking. Once again, in reference to the Super Ball Strap Match, viewer advisory if you're sensitive to belts and things of that nature.

The film vignettes to set up the White Castle of Fear Strap Match has that early 1990s campy factor that makes it a daring upon rewatch. While the concept behind the idea itself was way ahead of its time. And while they didn't necessarily invent short form film vignettes in wrestling such as these, This specific template set a new medium for talent to explore.

One piece of that spectrum, for example, would be what Brian Pillman would immediately do in WWE. And another form of that spectrum would be what people like Bray Wyatt would do a [00:31:00] generation later. Both of these men left immediate impressions on me when I was a young boy. And their careers continue to fascinate me throughout growing into a young man.

With the thankful advent of the internet, I've been able to go back and truly appreciate these two legends of the industry. Whether it was Sting, always being trustworthy to a fault, a trait that forever endeared him to the fans. Whether it was Vader, as a 450 pound man, that seemingly was the strongest, And most impervious to pain.

A confluence of events made this ultimate David vs. Goliath wrestling storyline happen. And I could not have been more stoked that I got to witness this first hand. Going back to rewatch and relive this feud was truly a pleasure. And for that, I thank both Steve Borden, love [00:32:00] you Stinger, and Leon White.

May the biggest, baddest motherfucker ever rest in power above us.

This takes us to the end of our feud for the week. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow, like, and subscribe. If you have a feud you'd like to see rewound, or any other comments, please feel free to reach me at feudrewind at gmail. com. We're on all the socials as well, as Feud Rewind. Fellow fan, I'm your host Benza Lance and I'll roll it back with you next week with another Feud to [00:33:00] Rewind.