1995: UWF-I Can Love You Like That, Vader

Super Vader vs. Gary Albright  UWF-I 1/16/95

ER: The biggest dudes in UWF-I finally square off one on one, but the crowd didn't react in the same swelling and crazed manner they did during the Vader/Albright tag team face offs of a few months prior. Perhaps the match these two chose to work was not the match this large crowd wanted to see. Perhaps they were burnt out after a long evening of pro wrestling. Perhaps there needed to be a native in the match to get their very best reaction. And the match is a bit of a disappointment compared to what we've seen from Vader's UWF-I run, and compared to Albright & Vader's interactions in those two tag matches. In a bubble, unaware that Vader had no other matches in UWF-I and no other interaction with Albright, it is still plenty of fun. Let out of that hypothetical and yet stifling bubble, you would notice that it did not have quite the same drama of Vader's big main event title matches, and didn't have the same electricity as their tag match showdowns. It's still plenty of fun, I mean it's two hosses squaring off, what could be bad? 

Albright works a lot of the match to bully Vader into the ropes and work for control, but Vader works some rope a dope and appears to try to gas Albright out. Albright keeps bulling him around the ring, landing strikes when he can, some hard elbows rights and body shot lefts, and Vader sells his stomach better than maybe anyone. Albright lands a shot around the pancreas and Vader slumps into the ropes holding that big gut, moaning in pain. Albright is smart to try tying Vader up, working for underhooks, and the biggest moment comes when Albright gets a huge belly to belly. I didn't think he'd be able to, as his grip didn't look right, but I forget that Albright is the greatest suplex wrestling in history so he flings Vader as easy as he could fling anyone, then works for an armbar. The ground work could have been more engaging, and maybe that turned the crowd off a bit, as Vader is much more about working for chokes in this match than pummeling, and it's like the crowd didn't really know who to cheer for. It's still fun, though much more anticlimactic than Vader's other UWF-I matches, and Albright's.

Super Vader vs. Nobuhiko Takada  UWF-I 4/20/95

ER: Our trip down Vader's cool UWF-I history comes to a close with a fun, if underwhelming, match against UWF's big star, in front of merely a fraction of the people who were there for their first match against each other two years prior. The buzz had clearly died way down by this point, and those 1993 Vader in UWF-I matches had a constant buzz and inarguable energy to them that was missing here. Vader himself seemed almost bored at points during these later matches, whereas in '93 he felt absolutely vital to the brand. If this was our only instance of Vader vs. Takada in UWF-I, it would come off better, but compared to the prior matches this (and the Albright match) felt like a house show touring match between the two. Vader bumps over the top to the floor off a kick right at the start of the match, but things feel a little listless at points after. Vader tones down the striking compared to earlier matches, instead concentrating on chokeslams or powerbombs, and whenever he lands one of those Takada always spills out in nasty ways, taking a powerbomb on his shoulder and getting folded roughly on a chokeslam. Takada targeted Vader with a bunch of cool leg kicks, all looked really precise and he wisely sticks and moves, but Vader also just comes off way less aggressive here. In other matches, guys weren't really allowed to stick and move, Vader would just maul them. Here there isn't always a ton of life to what's happening. Takada's leg strikes look good, and there was a great moment when Vader literally howls in pain from them, and I liked how Takada would move up the body with kicks as Vader would be going down. Takada's final attack was good, he came storming  out of the corner practically shoving past the ref, snuck in a punch, threw a ton of kicks, and the fans got really excited when Vader got down and didn't get up too quick, counting along with the 10 count. It was a good enough match to go out on, and Takada gave a great emotional performance, but the bloom was off the rose at this point.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE VADER IN UWF-I