Vader Talks About Creation of His Iron and Leather Masks

Former World Heavyweight Champion Vader recently spoke with Wrestling101.

Below are some highlights:

Creation of his mask: The Iron mask was something the Japanese came up with, it has nothing to do with Darth Vader out of Star Wars, it’s actually a samurai head gear and defensive wear for the shoulders and chest. In Japanese folklore to settle disputes the strongest men from villages would go to an island and do battle and Vader was given the title of ‘Emperor’s Warrior’. Antonio Inoki after watching me wrestle came up to me and gave me the iron mask.

The leather mask came about because they had me wearing a full mask over in Japan and they would get really hot, I would have three or four of them for a tour and they would stink to high heaven. I actually came up with the leather mask and it had a unique shape and look, no one else had one at that time – years later Mick Foley came up with something similar for Mankind, but I had the original. I actually designed and made the mask myself, basically it’s a series of V’s connecting with each other.

Joining WWE: That night was a good night! I got a phone call from Vince McMahon out of the blue, after leaving WCW I was actually ready to go back to Japan to finish my career. Vince asked if I would be interested in going to work in the WWF but I needed surgery on my shoulder so we weren’t sure if I was going to debut and then go have surgery or delay my debut and have surgery and come in fully fit.

When I debuted at the Royal Rumble I was 400 lbs plus and I was Vader, I was the same guy I had been in WCW. After my debut Vince told me to go have the surgery and that everything was set up for when I came back. Next thing I know I had 90 days to get well and I knew there was no way that was going to be possible. I remember coming back weighing 360 lbs but I was fatter, I couldn’t even do a push-up or raise my hand over my head due to my shoulder.

They were excited about me coming though and Vince had made plans for me and I had come in but I was physically not who I had been my whole career. I was successful everywhere I had been up until that point and then all of a sudden I couldn’t perform, that first year in WWE I was working with only one arm and I was in a great amount of pain.

After the pain had gone away and I was ready to perform at my best, I was already established as a mid card guy, you get one chance to make a good first impression and I wasn’t physically able to do that in WWE.

On a WWE Hall of Fame induction: I heard rumblings about it a couple of years ago, but I’ve not heard anything for a while now. I would really like for that to happen, I think I’ve earned it. Yokozuna, Bam Bam Bigelow, King Kong Bundy and myself would be considered super-heavyweights, and I would rank myself very high out of that group, and there is a time in my career in the early nineties where I considered myself to be the best big man.

To read the full interview go here.