Yokozuna (wrestler)

Anoaʻi's career in professional wrestling began as he grew up in a family full of wrestlers, the Anoaʻi family. His uncles were The Wild Samoans, Afa and Sika, who trained him from an early age. Anoaʻi worked under the name of the "Great Kokina" while wrestling overseas in Japan, and spent some time in Mexico.[4] He made a one-off appearance for Jim Crockett Promotions on August 12, 1987, facing Ron Simmons at a house show.[5] His first major exposure in the United States came in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as "Kokina Maximus".[4] Managed by Sheik Adnan El Kassey, he depicted a disheveled Samoan wild man, and was billed as the biggest Samoan wrestler ever[6] and given credit for breaking Greg Gagne's leg and ending his career.[2]

In 1992, Anoaʻi was contacted by Vince McMahon of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and offered a roster spot along with The Samoans (Fatu and Samoan Savage). On the August 17 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, the Samoans (soon to be the Headshrinkers) made their debut. Commentator Gorilla Monsoon made mention of another, larger Samoan that they would soon be seeing in the WWF.[7] Anoa'i made his initial debut as Kokina in an untelevised match on September 1, at a WWF Superstars taping in Hershey, Pennsylvania, defeating Ron Neal. This would be the only time that Anoa'i wrestled under his former gimmick, as shortly after, he was offered a new gimmick: Yokozuna.

Yokozuna (left) and Mr. Fuji on the first episode of Monday Night Raw

Managed by Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna debuted on the October 31, 1992 edition of Superstars with his then new gimmick of a stereotypical sumo wrestler, who competed under the Japanese flag; though the WWF tactfully acknowledged his Samoan roots.[2] He wore a mawashi as part of his ring attire, but wore long tights underneath the loincloth, something that Vince McMahon and Yokozuna's own cousin Rikishi later felt wasn't needed and that he should've worn the traditional mawashi without the tights to expose his buttocks (which Rikishi himself would later do).[8] Anoa'i also revamped his appearance as Yokozuna by gaining additional weight, becoming clean shaven and transforming his unruly hair into a chonmage. He made his pay-per-view debut on November 25 at Survivor Series, easily defeating the much smaller Virgil with his huge weight advantage.[9] Yokozuna's career soon took off and he was billed as a potential favorite to win the Royal Rumble match on January 24, 1993, doing so by last eliminating Randy Savage.[10] Having cemented his movement towards main event status, Yokozuna was a competitor in the first-ever match in Monday Night Raw history, defeating the much smaller Koko B. Ware with his signature finisher, the Banzai Drop. Soon after, Yokozuna was challenged by American patriot "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, who aimed to be the first man who could knock Yokozuna off his feet (this was taped before Randy Savage knocked down Yokozuna at the Royal Rumble). On the February 6 airing of Superstars, Duggan succeeded in knocking Yokozuna down, only for Yokozuna to then sneak attack Duggan with a bucket of salt Mr. Fuji had brought to the ring, and crush him with four Banzai Drops, the fourth being with the American flag draped over Duggan. Afterwards, Duggan was suffering from (kayfabe) internal bleeding.[11] On the May 10, 1993, edition of Monday Night Raw, Yokozuna served as one of the lumberjacks in a match between Duggan and Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship. Duggan, upon seeing Yokozuna, immediately charged at him and knocked him off his feet again; late in the match, after Bam Bam Bigelow distracted Duggan, Michaels attacked the challenger from behind and threw him out of the ring to where Yokozuna was standing. Yokozuna knocked Duggan to the floor and nailed him with a leg drop, then rolled his unconscious body back into the ring as payback for the earlier attack.[11]

At WrestleMania IX on April 4, Yokozuna wrestled against Bret Hart for the WWF Championship. Hart had the match won with Yokozuna about to submit to the Sharpshooter, when Mr. Fuji threw salt into the champion's face. Blinded, Hart was then pinned by Yokozuna, who won the WWF Championship.[12][13] As he and Mr. Fuji celebrated, Hulk Hogan came to the ring to help Hart and was challenged by Mr Fuji to take on the champion for his newly won title. After Fuji accidentally threw salt in Yokozuna's eyes, Hogan came through with the win and captured his fifth WWF Championship. At the time, Yokozuna held the record for the second shortest time (after Ric Flair) to win the WWF Championship after his debut, with 173 days (currently, Yokozuna holds the fourth shortest time, after Flair, Sheamus and Brock Lesnar).[14] On June 13 at King of the Ring, Yokozuna, whose weight increased from 505 lb (229 kg) to 550 lb (250 kg), challenged Hogan for the title. Hogan seemed to have the match won, but a photographer, planted at ringside among a legitimate Japanese wrestling press group, shot a blast of fire into Hogan's face. This allowed Yokozuna to take Hogan out with a leg drop and regain the WWF Championship, after which he proceeded to hit Hogan with the Banzai Drop in the corner.[15] Hogan then left the WWF to pursue other interests, leaving Yokozuna and Fuji to claim that they had ended "Hulkamania". To celebrate, he held a "Bodyslam Competition" aboard the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, on Independence Day. Many wrestlers and athletes failed to slam Yokozuna until Lex Luger flew in by helicopter, stepped forward, and slammed him on the deck. Commentator Bobby Heenan claimed Luger's move was a hiptoss, not a bodyslam, as Yokozuna was running at Luger, but the slam was ruled legitimate. This made Luger the next major challenger to Yokozuna's title.[16]

On August 30 at SummerSlam, Yokozuna, now weighing in at 568 lb (258 kg), and Luger fought for the WWF Championship. Luger took control late in the match, scoring on Yokozuna with a bodyslam and flying forearm. Luger had metal plates put into his arm following an injury from a motorcycle accident (it was stipulated that Luger had to wear a protective pad over it, but it was torn off in the course of the match). However, Yokozuna was knocked out of the ring, unconscious, and lost via count-out, though he retained the title since it can not change hands via count-out.[17] The contract Luger had signed for the match, as orchestrated by Yokozuna's new spokesman and advisor James E. Cornette, stated that if he did not win the championship, he would not get another shot at the title.[2] Yokozuna and Luger continued to feud until Survivor Series on November 24, where each chose a team of allies for an elimination match, which was billed as an All-Americans (Lex Luger, The Undertaker and Steiner Brothers) vs. Foreign Fanatics (Yokozuna, Quebecer Jacques, Ludvig Borga and Crush) contest. Yokozuna was eliminated via double count-out after brawling with the Undertaker outside of the ring; the All-Americans went on to win the match.[18]

Yokozuna's next title challenger was The Undertaker, whom he was eventually forced to accept a casket match with.[3] The match occurred on January 22, 1994, at Royal Rumble, which Yokozuna won by shoving the Undertaker in the casket with help from multiple heel wrestlers. After the match, a mysterious figure appeared on the titantron, looking like the Undertaker inside the casket. He opened his eyes and said the Undertaker would not rest in peace; he then disappeared in a smoke and light show, rising to the top of the titantron and seemingly levitating all the way to the arena ceiling until vanishing. This storyline was used to allow the Undertaker to rest for several months to recover from lingering real-life injuries.[19]

In the Royal Rumble match, the last two competitors, Lex Luger and Bret Hart, fought and eliminated each other simultaneously. Since the winner of the Royal Rumble was to become the number one contender to Yokozuna's title, it was decided that both wrestlers would get a shot at the title at WrestleMania X.[20] By virtue of winning a coin toss, Luger got to wrestle Yokozuna first at the event. The winner of that match would go on to face Bret Hart later in the evening with the title on the line.[21] To obviate the risk of outside interference, both title matches were scheduled to have special guest referees, with Mr. Perfect as the referee for the Luger/Yokozuna bout. Luger had knocked out Yokozuna with a running forearm smash in the middle of the ring, as well as Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette, but when he went for the pin, Perfect occupied himself with the unconscious Fuji and Cornette who were still lying on the ring apron. An angry Luger was disqualified after pushing Mr. Perfect, making Yokozuna the first villainous champion to successfully defend the WWF Championship at WrestleMania.[1][2] Later in the night, Yokozuna defended the championship again, this time against Bret Hart, who had lost earlier in the night to his brother Owen Hart. For this match, Roddy Piper was the special referee, attacking Cornette when he tried to break a pinfall. At the end of the match, Yokozuna seemed ready to hit his finishing maneuver, the Banzai Drop, but lost his balance and took a fall from the ropes. Hart pinned Yokozuna to win the title, ending Yokozuna's reign at 280 days.[22]

After dropping the belt, Yokozuna's main event status began to fade away. He briefly tagged with Crush, another Mr. Fuji charge.[2] On the May 16 episode of Raw, Yokozuna lost to Earthquake in the only (worked) sumo match[23] until WrestleMania 21, between The Big Show and an actual yokozuna, Akebono.[24] At King of the Ring on June 19, Yokozuna and Crush failed to win the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu).[25] Yokozuna then had to deal with the "rebirth" of the Undertaker, who immediately came after the foe who had taken him out of action. The two met in another casket match on November 23 at Survivor Series, this time with actor/karate expert Chuck Norris as the special enforcer to keep the other heel wrestlers away from ringside. Without their help (although Irwin R. Schyster successfully interfered on Yokozuna's behalf), Yokozuna lost the match and ended up locked inside the casket. Yokozuna continued to wrestle briefly before taking some time off to increase his already huge weight advantage.[2][26]

In April 1995, Owen Hart began promising that he would have a great tag team partner to face off against The Smoking Gunns (Billy and Bart) at WrestleMania XI for the WWF Tag Team Championship. At the event on April 2, Yokozuna, now weighing in at 641 lb (291 kg), was revealed as his partner, and the team defeated the Gunns to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.[27] The two retained the titles against the Gunns in a rematch on May 14 at In Your House 1[28] and against the Allied Powers (Lex Luger and Davey Boy Smith) on July 23 at In Your House 2.[29]

Yokozuna in England in October 1995

At In Your House 3 on September 24, Yokozuna and Davey Boy Smith took on Shawn Michaels and Diesel (the back story being that Hart was with his wife as she gave birth to one of their children) with Diesel's WWF Championship, Shawn Michaels' Intercontinental Championship and Hart and Yokozuna's Tag Team Championship on the line. During the match, Hart came to the ring, only to be pinned by Diesel. The next day, due to protests from the team and the legal help of Clarence Mason, President Gorilla Monsoon reluctantly returned the belts to Yokozuna and Hart, since Hart was not an official part of the match.[30] Their second reign was shorter, as the Smoking Gunns defeated them that night for the belts.[1]

Yokozuna, by now weighing in at 660 lb (300 kg), had little continued success in 1996.[4] He competed in the Royal Rumble match on January 21, eliminating Bob Backlund, King Mabel, and Swat Team member #2 before being tossed out by eventual winner Shawn Michaels.[31] Although Cornette tried to make peace between him and new acquisition Vader, many observers felt Yokozuna was being relegated. After several run-ins, Yokozuna left Cornette and began a short stint as a fan favorite. He spoke English to the fans, had Mr. Fuji wave an American flag during his matches, and challenged Vader to numerous matches.[32] On March 31 at WrestleMania XII, Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson and Jake Roberts lost to Vader, Owen Hart and British Bulldog.[33] Vader jumped on Yokozuna's leg on the April 8 episode of Raw, (kayfabe) breaking it. The splash was shown on television as a leg break, but in reality, it was performed to allow Yokozuna to take some time off to lose weight. However, instead of a stretcher, a real forklift had to be brought to carry Yokozuna out, as it was the only way to move a man of his size.[4]

In May, Yokozuna returned at In Your House 8: Beware of Dog to wrestle Vader. During the event, a severe thunderstorm in the area caused the pay-per-view broadcast feed to blackout. In one of the matches not broadcast, Yokozuna defeated Vader.[34] The event was rescheduled two days later, in which the matches that were previously blacked-out took place again. Vader won their rematch.[35] On August 17, he appeared at Free for All just before SummerSlam, where he lost to Stone Cold Steve Austin after he attempted a Banzai Drop on the rope, which broke under his weight, sending him crashing back down for Austin to win.[36]

The next night on Raw, Yokozuna faced then WWF Champion Shawn Michaels for the title in a losing effort.[32] He made his final televised WWF appearance at the Survivor Series on November 17, still going after Vader, however he only briefly entered the match illegally and it ended with all remaining wrestlers being disqualified.[37] For a second time, Yokozuna went to his home in Los Angeles to lose weight through exercise and dieting, being replaced by other wrestlers on a late November tour of the United Kingdom.[4] Despite dropping a reported 100 lb (45 kg), he still could not lose enough to satisfy the WWF officials, and was not medically cleared to wrestle in some states because of his physical condition. Yokozuna was unable to pass a physical required for professional wrestlers by the New York State Athletic Commission, and was officially released from the WWF in May 1998.[1][4][38]

After his WWF career ended in 1998, he performed for various independent promotions.[1][39] At the Heroes of Wrestling pay-per-view event on October 10, 1999, Yokozuna was scheduled to take on King Kong Bundy in one of the event's two featured matches. However, Jake Roberts, who was scheduled to face Jim Neidhart in the other main event match, came to the ring for his match intoxicated and in no condition to wrestle. The promoters made a last-minute change and Yokozuna teamed with Roberts against Bundy and Neidhart, and Yokozuna's team lost.[40]