WWE legend left weight loss clinic heavier after breaking rules, Jim Ross recalls

Jim Ross was a WWE commentator and talent relations executive in the 1990s and 2000s. The current AEW personality recently disclosed details about his unsuccessful attempt to help Vader lose weight and improve his in-ring conditioning.

Vader, real name Leon White, wrestled for WWE from 1996 to 1998 after making his name in NJPW and World Championship Wrestling. The three-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion was widely viewed as one of the greatest big men in wrestling. However, he sometimes consumed excessive amounts of food.

Ross said on his Grilling JR podcast that he sent Vader to the Duke University Weight Loss Clinic in North Carolina. Unfortunately, the announcer's plan backfired when he found out the 450-pound star broke the rules by leaving the facility to eat chicken. This ultimately resulted in Vader gaining more weight when he left the facility.

"We tried to encourage Leon to lose weight," Ross said. "I sent him to the Duke Weight Loss Clinic and he ended up gaining weight while he was there, sneaking out and getting chicken. I don't think we were punishing anybody. We tried to explain, 'You can't do this. We're weighing you every week now and you're gaining weight.'" [1:34:09 - 1:34:34]

Ross had similar issues with Big Show. At one stage, he became so concerned with the seven-foot star's size that he started measuring his weight at television tapings.

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Jim Ross on the pros and cons of Vader in WWE

In the early 1990s, Jim Ross commentated on many of Vader's WCW matches. Later in the decade, he recruited the wrestler to work for WWE.

Ross was a big Vader supporter but found it difficult to defend the athletic big man after the weight loss clinic incident.

"Showed no commitment, no discipline, and nobody was a bigger fan of Vader than me," Ross added. "I believe that he was one of the great attractions of all time. An athletic big man will draw money more often than not, but he showed no commitment to losing weight and getting himself in shape." [1:34:36 - 1:34:58]

On June 18, 2018, Vader passed away aged 63 after being hospitalized with pneumonia. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2022.

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Please credit Grilling JR and give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use Jim Ross' quotes from this article.