Former WWE Star Vader Underwent Successful Open Heart Surgery, Confirms Son

The son of former world champion Vader announced Monday the 62-year-old underwent successful open heart surgery. 

Jesse White tweeted the procedure "was worse than we had expected" and Vader has a "long road for recovery."

Vader revealed last Wednesday he was in Dallas and would undergo the surgery. He announced in November 2016 doctors had diagnosed him with congestive heart failure and given him two years to live.

Vader elaborated on the diagnosis in a December 2016 interview with Hannibal TV (h/t Wrestling Inc's Jon Fuentes). He said he had been in a car accident, which led doctors to examine his overall level of health.

"I was in the medical center and I was seeing my doctor, who is actually an MD, and heart specialists came into my room," Vader said. "They said, 'We've been looking at your heart,' and I said, 'Who are you?' I didn't recognize the guy. He said, 'You have two years to live. We've been looking at your heart, and that's the deal.'"

In his prime, Vader was one of the most impressive big men in wrestling. Guys his size weren't supposed to hit moonsaults off the top rope.

Vader had a number of excellent matches with the likes of Sting, Ric Flair and Mick Foley in WCW throughout the early-to-mid 1990s. He and Flair wrestled in the main event of Starrcade 1993, with Flair winning in his adopted hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Although his run in the WWF was largely underwhelming, his work both in WCW and in Japan are more than enough to warrant induction in WWE's Hall of Fame. Vader helped induct Stan Hansen in 2016, but he has yet to receive the honor himself.