Leon White, better known to wrestling fans as Big Van Vader, has released a trailer for a pending documentary on his life titled “2 Years to Live”. A Kickstarter to help fund the film is expected to be active shortly.



The film’s description is as follows:

“Leon White is better known to millions as professional wrestler, Big Van Vader. Over 30 years of professional football and wrestling have done a toll on Leon’s body. Last November, doctors diagnosed Leon with Congestive Heart Failure and gave him less than two years to live. Dispite his diagnoses Leon refuses to give up the one thing he loves more than anything that happens to also be killing him, wrestling. The next two years will be a wild ride for Vader, as he takes on, the fight of his life.”


Big Van Vader first became a name in the wrestling business in the late 1980s in NJPW. He became the first “Gaijin” (non-Japanese wrestler) to hold the IWGP heavyweight championship. In the early 90s he returned to the US and began wrestling for WCW. He would sign with WWE in the late 90s before returning to Japan in 1998.