Last November, former IWGP, Triple Crown and WCW World Champion Big Van Vader dropped the news that he’d been suffering from congestive heart failure and had been given only had two years left to live. Vader continued to wrestle, however, and even passing out after a match in Korakuen Hall couldn’t stop him.
Now Vader’s journey has been captured in a documentary film project with the brutally direct title Two Years to Live: A Big Van Vader Documentary. Here’s the synopsis from the YouTube page:
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.
I actually got to meet the filmmakers during this year’s WrestleCon and record some of my thoughts about Vader for the doc, so I definitely feel like the piece has its heart in the right place, even if the subject matter is hard to take. A Kickstarter is launching soon, so we’ll keep you updated on the progress as it develops. Here’s to hoping the movie has a surprise ending, which is, “turns out Vader is fine, you shouldn’t have worried, Vader will live forever.”
