Big Van Vader, one of wrestling's Mount Rushmore big men, dead at 63

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Big Van Vader, known for wrestling around the world for WWE, WCW, and in Japan, has reportedly died at the age of 63 due to heart issues. 

Vader's son posted the news to the big man's Twitter account, and said that the wrestling legend died on Monday, June 18. 

In recent years, Vader had been very open on social media and with the press when it came to his heart and health issue. He made it clear that he wasn't given much time to live, and always shared updates from his trials and tribulations. 

Vader will go down in wrestling history as one of the best big men of all time, as he wowed audiences with his terrifying demeanor and aggression, and shocking light feet and ability to fly off the top rope. While he never won a world title during his run with the WWE, Vader did have a series of high-profile matches with the likes of Shawn Michaels and Kane. 

Leon White played college football for the Colorado Buffaloes, and even made it to the NFL for a brief stint. In wrestling, he bounced from the AWA to NJPW, NWA, WCW and WWE throughout his career. He won the WCW world title on three occasions, and tore the house down with Ric Flair at at Starrcade '93, and regularly got the best out of Sting. 

Vader was also the man that dropped the WCW world title to Ron Simmons, which made the latter the first African-American world champion in company history. 

This one stings over here at the Court of Nerds because we actually just met Vader a couple of years ago at Motor City Comic Con and shook his hand. As for Ben, Vader serves as his first wrestling memory when he was plopped in front of Vader vs Dustin Rhodes on WCW Saturday Night.