Steve Austin Reveals Who The ‘Big Van Vader’ Gimmick Was Originally Meant For

It was announced earlier this week that former WCW and WWE star Big Van Vader sadly passed away due to complications from pneumonia.

WWE Hall Of Famer Stone Cold Steve Austin recently took to his podcast, The Steve Austin Show, to share some of his thoughts on Vader. Austin used to team up with Vader in WCW and would compete against him in WWE.

Austin noted that the first time he ever saw the Big Van Vader gimmick was over in Japan:

“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.”

Austin then revealed that the Big Van Vader gimmick was meant for someone else aside from Leon White.

“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.”

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