He is asked about is football career. He said that junior and senior year in high school, he was All-American and recruited by about 50 schools. He grew up in inner city Los Angeles and was attracted to Colorado for college due to the spacious setting. He was a four-year starter and drafted by the Los Angeles Rams in the 3rd round but ended rupturing his patella tendon in training camp. The Rams made the playoff that year and he was activated when the starting center got hurt and played a few snaps against the Steelers in the Super Bowl, said he has the ring. Vader got into wrestling when his football career finished and he came back to Colorado and got his license to be a broker in Colorado. He talks about how he built and sold houses and while making good money, was getting bored and out of shape and felt that he had a lot left in his body to use. When asked if he was a wrestling fan growing up, Vader said that he followed it a little bit. He then said that he watched Hogan as a kid, which makes no sense seeing as Vader was 28 years old when Hogan went back to the WWF in 1984. Vader said he was up to about 380 lbs when he went back to the gym. He went with a few friends to an AWA show and left midway through, saying the match quality was poor, and went to the hotel across the street. He saw the wrestlers hanging out there and was recognized by Gene Reed as a football player, who then introduced him to Greg Gagne. Reed told Vader to come back in a few weeks and he met Brad Rheingans, who was running a wrestling camp for Verne. Vader adds that Brad was the one who created stars from that camp, not Verne.
Vader says that his real height is 6’4 ½ and in wrestling, got at low as 340 lbs and high as 440 lbs.
He remembers his first match and it was against Bruiser Brody. He says it was one of the most painful things that ever happened to him. He did say that Brody tried to teach him. He then went on to wrestle with Jerry Blackwell then Stan Hansen. He said after working with those guys, who were very stiff in the ring, went to work with other guys and hit someone so hard in a match that they rolled out of the ring and complained to one of the Gagne’s. Vader said he thought you were supposed to hit that hard, because those guys hit him like that. When asked about why he left the AWA, Vader talks about the relationship between Verne Gagne and Otto Wanz. They had a partnership at the time. Vader goes off topic for a bit and forgot the question before saying that Verne told him to go over as he would learn a lot and get a lot of dates.
He said that he wound up in New Japan after spending two seasons in Europe. One of the referee’s in New Japan approached him and said that Masa Saito remembered a six-man tag they had and was impressed by his power moves and wanted him to tour New Japan after finishing up with Otto in Europe. Vader said that he already had dates with Giant Baba and All Japan after he contacted Stan Hansen so he could wrestle between the tours of Europe. He said that New Japan offered a lot more than Baba. He said after speaking with his wife and just starting off in the business, he took the original offer. After that, Antonio Inoki paid a fee to Baba to get Vader for New Japan. In his first tour, he beat Inoki in four minutes. He compares the psychology between Japan and America at the time, saying the faces in America sold a lot more than they did in Japan. He compares guys like The Rock and Stone Cold today (this was filmed in 2001) and how they have done a 180 and they are selling like the Japanese did back then and Japan faces are selling like the American’s did at that time.Up next is his infamous match against Stan Hansen in which his eye wound up on his cheek. Vader said that he turned right into a punch by Stan and felt his eye on his cheek, half popped out. He remembered swearing at Stan then turned his back and popped it back in place before putting him in an armbar. He said he took his mask off and the crowd popped. The camera zoomed into his eye and it showed on the screen. He is asked about his team with Bam Bam Bigelow. Rob tells him that in Bam Bam’s shoot, he mentioned that they had a bit of a rivalry. Vader puts over Bam Bam for his agility but didn’t think they had a rivalry. He also calls Bam Bam a great partner and that they both knew the Japanese style well. He said that they wrestled the Steiner Brothers, who were nervous as they were unfamiliar with the style, and helped them through the beginning of the match and it turned out great. He also says that he wants to work with him and has talked to Paul Heyman about coming to ECW. Rob breaks to Vader that a 90% confirmed rumor has Bam Bam not being at the PPV and signing with WCW. On how he wound up in WCW, he got hurt in Japan and tore his cartilage, which had also flipped and wedged itself. He wrote a letter to the promoter saying he would be able to compete in the tournament as he needed surgery. Japan pressured him to hold off and wrestle but Vader did not want to risk his career and elected to have the surgery. His contract was also up at that time and said that Jim Ross was a huge supporter of his and called him up, telling him to speak with Dusty Rhodes who was the booker and got hired. Vader said that Dusty was the booker for all of the Executive Vice President’s until Bischoff took over. He said that he was booked to lose against Flair at the 1993 Starrcade 1993 by Bischoff to give Flair a bit rub and that Dusty told him not to job as Flair was getting old. He then said that he would put Flair over, with the interviewers calling it a great match, and that afterwards, Dusty told him he would get the belt back in a cage match before Hogan came to the company. Flair wound up getting Dusty’s job a few days later and he did not get the belt. Vader then said that as a result, Flair ended up having to job to Hogan when he came to the company. Vader said that he had his best matches with Sting. He said that was the best point of his career as he didn’t have to deal with the political manipulation from guys like Hogan and Flair. He is then asked if there was any added pressure for working with Sting. He said they had a strong respect for each other and does not recall ever having a bad match together. Vader was asked about working with Cactus Jack when his ear got ripped off. He said that match, Jack choked himself in the ropes and was turning purple and couldnt get out so Vader had to rip him out and when that happened, Jack’s ear was partially torn. Vader said he saw blood and thought it was a perfect time to get heat and go home so he punched him and his ear fell off. The ref gave the ear to the ring announcer and they brought it backstage. He said that they all tried to talk him out of the crazy moves and at one point, he told him to shoot on him in a match. Vader said that he earned his spot in history. He is asked about the incident between Arn Anderson and Sid Vicious in Europe. Vader blames WCW saying that they had a poorly timed schedule that had them land, wrestle, travel, the wrestle. After all that, everyone was frazzled and they were drinking beers at a table and he left. After that, Sid and Arn squared off. Vader then heard screaming in the lobby and left his room in his underwear and saw Sid walk over to him and blood was pouring out of his belly and stopped the flow by sticking his thumb in the wound. He screamed for towels and a chair and held the towel until the ambulance came. He never saw Arn though. When asked about how the rest of the boys felt, he said the net night they had a meeting and Turner had apparently thought about shutting down the tour and Dusty gave them a meeting about what happened and they moved on.
Now, he is asked about his altercation with Paul Orndorff. Vader said that he will not elaborate a lot on the situation but said that TV tapings are long and hectic. He then said that after missing a few photograph sessions, Bischoff told him that he would be fined. He was also supposed to do some pre-tapes but did not want to be fined so he went to the sessions. He said that Orndorff was not a booker but acted like that in the sessions when he was only a assistant. After a long photo session, he was in the locker room talking to Meng when Orndorff yelled at him, saying he was late and held up the crew. Vader said not to yell at him and that he was told to be at a photo shoot but Orndorff became abusive and there was no reason for that as Orndorff was not his superior and after some words he walked away. Terry Taylor walked up to him and Vader told him what happened and Taylor said he did not know that and asked him to prepare for the tapings. He said sure then Orndorff confronted him again and called him out. Vader said he was disrespectful to Orndorff after he yelled at him. Orndorff told him to hit him and Vader said he slapped him then realized it was wrong and his job was in jeopardy. He said at that time, he froze, thinking of his family and future, and Orndorff came down head-first in the hallway, nearly hitting a corner of a box. Vader then states he went over to see if he was okay and Orndorff slapped his hand away. He then said that he made the decision not to throw another punch but Orndorff came up and hit him a few times, claiming that his hands were down at the time. After that, Vader said that he grabbed him in a front facelock and claims that if he wanted to hurt him, he easily could have. He then said Orndorff was in the locker room telling people that Vader gave him a cheap shot. Vader then said that he kicked open the door of the executives office and asked Orndorff if he wanted to finish the fight, with Schiavone and Bischoff in the room. Vader said he called him out and when he finally came out he grabbed him but Meng walked by and stopped him. He claims that if Meng