WWE Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin recently took to his podcast, The Steve Austin Show, to offer his thoughts on the recent passing of former WCW and WWE star Big Van Vader. Here are some of the highlights:
The first time he saw the Big Van Vader gimmick: “He [came] walking to the ring, and that guy was as big as a house to began with,” said Austin. “Just the intimidation factor. And then he’d set that thing on the floor, on the ground, and he’d start whistling and point at it, and of course that’d blow the steam, whatever that was that they blow out of there, it was incredible.”
Ultimate Warrior being the initially planned Superstar to play Big Van Vader: “I think, if memory serves me correct, I think they originally wanted to give that gimmick to the Ultimate Warrior who I think passed it up,” said Austin. Despite the original idea, Austin feels that no other person would have served it justice, and it “ended up with the right man at the right time, because I don’t think anybody else could have pulled that gimmick like Leon did with his work style, with his athleticism. It was a parallel along with the first time I saw the Road Warriors.”
You can listen to The Steve Austin Show by clicking this link here.
H/T Wrestling Inc. for the transcriptions
