WWE Legend Says He Wants To Die In The Ring

WWE and WCW wrestling legend, Vader, has been in the headlines lately due to several heartbreaking tweets he sent out regarding his health. A grim diagnosis given by the former champion led fans to believe that Vader was quite literally entering his final days. Yet despite a crippling heart condition, Vader continues to take wrestling bookings on the Independent circuit.

While his actions may seem to contradict his tweets, Vader says his decision to keep wrestling is very intentional. The former WCW Champion told The Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast that he wants to die in the ring.

“I kind of wish I hadn’t brought it up, and I am continuing to wrestle. Someone said, ‘Aren’t you afraid? Why would you get a booking (to wrestle) at this point when you’ve had this type of diagnosis?’ I said, ‘Brother, where would you rather die in a bed at home, or in the hospital, or would you rather die in front of 10,000 people having fun in the ring?”

“So, if it’s true, if this doctor isn’t just totally full of s–t which, that’s what I’m betting on, and I should say ‘these doctors’ at this point you know, that’s my choice, and that’s the way I decide to go out. If this thing’s gonna happen, I’d rather be in a ring, anywhere, compared to sitting in a hospital room in a hospital bed, sitting there like some sheep getting ready to be slaughtered. It’s not who I am, and it’s not the way it’s gonna happen with me.”

While wanting to die in the ring seems morbid, who can blame someone for wanting to go out doing the thing they love the most?

Vader originally posted the tweet about his health in November announcing he only had two years left to live

In recent months Vader has also petitioned (on Twitter) to get into the WWE Hall of Fame. Among other accolades in WCW and Japan, he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (the first non-Japanese holder) and the WCW World Heavyweight Championship three times each, the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship twice, the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship once, and won the battle royal main event of the 1993 Battlebowl pay-per-view.

Although he never held a championship in the WWF, Vader challenged for all of the promotion’s heavyweight titles, including multiple WWF Championship matches on pay-per-view and cable television. He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996.

The full interview is available for download at this link.

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