Vince McMahon and WWE management laughed at superstar's arrest; didn't answer his calls (Exclusive)
Ex-WWE writer Vince Russo feels that Vader was not treated well when he was a part of Vince McMahon's company. He also recalled how McMahon and co. laughed when Vader called to inform him about his arrest in Kuwait.
During WWE's tour of Kuwait in 1997, Vader - who was interviewed along with The Undertaker - grabbed a TV host by his tie when asked if pro wrestling was fake. The 6' 5" wrestler was fined and held by the Middle Eastern country for two weeks.
Vince Russo opened up about how WWE did very little to help Vader when he was arrested. In a recent appearance on Sportskeeda's The Bro Show, Russo revealed that he was in the room with Vince McMahon when a scared Vader called the company to seek help after being arrested.
"When I was there, he was the b*ttend of everybody's joke. I'll never forget - and this is an absolute shoot - do you remember when he was in Kuwait and got physical with that TV reporter? Bro, they threw his b*tt in jail. I was at Vince's [McMahon] living room table, working with Vince when he got the call from Vader. Bro, Vader was scared to death. He's in prison in Kuwait. What do they do? They're not accepting his phone calls and they're laughing about it like it's a big joke," said Russo. [From 21:38 to 22:35]
The former writer added that Vader was a "sweetheart of a guy" and WWE took advantage of him because he was a nice person.
Vader said the incident was meant to boost ratings
A few years before his death, Vader revealed in an interview that the producer of the show told him to intimidate the host, reassuring him that the host was his friend. But things didn't go to plan and the police were called in.
"I was acting under orders from the producer, not the agent in charge. But when I did what I did, the interviewer was caught off guard and was frightened. The cops were called and I went to jail. I took the heat. But the point is that it was a skit. They wanted to use this thing to increase ratings, but it just wasn’t the case," said Vader.
#OnThisDay in 1997: Leon White, aka Vader, is detained in Kuwait after he attacks Bossam Al Otham, the host of Good Morning Kuwait.
The arrest comes after White took offense to Otham's questions about the legitimacy of wrestling, then assaulted the host & trashed the set. https://t.co/hDyjpDcRAS
In hindsight, many fans believe Vader never really got the push he deserved. The powerhouse left the company in 1998, though he made occasional appearances in WWE a few years later. He even wrestled Heath Slater on RAW in 2012.