Big Van Vader Passes Away At 63

The world has lost another former World Champion.

After battling health issues for the better part of the last two years, Vader (real name Leon White) passed away on Monday night according to a statement by WWE.com.

Since disclosing his health issues and then fainting after a match last year in Japan, Vader had been sharing his health issues via social media as he was in and out of the hospital and went through multiple surgeries.

TMZ has reported Vader’s death was related to the congestive heart disease he had been battling. One of children posted the following tweet to Vader’s twitter account saying his heart failed after a bout with pneumonia.

During his thirty year career in professional wrestling, the former NFL player Vader was a World Champion in WCW and New Japan Pro Wrestling. He also held tag-team championships in those promotions and championships in All-Japan Pro Wrestling.

Fightful Wrestling is dishearten from this loss to professional wrestling and wishes to express condolences to his family, friends, and fans.