Yokozuna 1966-2000

Apart of one of the greatest wrestling families of all time, Rodney Anoa'i became one of the greatest big-men in WWF history. In his four years in the company between 1992-1996 he became the heaviest heavy-weight champion but also gained a lot of fans from the crowds but more importantly friends within the locker-room with little to no one having a bad word to say about him. Sadly his weight would ultimately prove to be his downfall and he would be taken from us far too soon but there's no denying that Yokozuna could have stayed right-through the attitude era and become a major figure.


His debut in the WWF came on Halloween 1992 when managed by Mr.Fuji he came down to attack Bill Jordan and portrayed the image of  a sumo-wrestler and was billed from Japan. After a few months within the company, he went into the 1993 Royal Rumble as the favourite. He would go onto win the Rumble by eliminating Randy Savage which cemented him as a main-event superstar.

Historically Yokozuna also competed in the first Monday Night Raw when he defeated Koko B.Ware with his signature Bonzai drop. Yoko briefly had a feud then with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan as he continued his heel push. After landing three Bonzai drops to Duggan, he then wrapped the American flag around him before delivering another drop. This gave him real heat from the fans.

After winning the Rumble, he then went onto Wrestlemania to take on champion Bret Hart at Cesar's Palace. With the help of Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna won the title but his success would be short-lived as Hulk Hogan would come out and challenge Yoko to a title match, which resulted in him being victorious. Yokozuna now held the shortest title reign ever however he was the first man from Samoa to be the World Champion. The match with Hogan remains the fans most disappointing moment in Wrestlemania history as they had grown tired of the Hulkamania gimmick.

In the build up to King Of The Ring, Yokozuna had challenged Hogan to a re-match following Wrestlemania's controversy. With Hogan on the verge of victory, Hogan was then hit by a fire flash from a camera which came from a section of the Japanese media. Yoko pinned Hogan and became the champion for a second time and boasted about ending Hulkamania once and for all as Hogan left the WWF shortly afterwards.

In celebration of his title, he held a bodyslam challenge where he issued a challenge to any wrestler capable of slamming him on board an aircraft carrier on July 4th. Once everyone had seemingly came and tried and ultimately failed, Lex Luger was helicoptered in and managed to slam Yoko setting up a main event at Summerslam. At the event, with Luger set for victory he knocked Yoko out but over the top rope meaning that he was counted out granting Luger the victory. However the title didn't change hands meaning Yoko kept the title despite Lex being the crowd favourite.

The year ended with Yoko as the champion and next up was a feud with  The Undertaker at Royal Rumble 1994. He was forced to accept a casket match with the dead man who seemed destined for victory. With defeat only moments away, Fuji called out numerous stars to help beat down the Undertaker and gave them the advantage placing him into the casket and allowing Yoko to keep his title.

This led to Wrestlemania X when he would be forced to wrestle twice; once against Bret Hart and once against Lex Luger. Both me had won the Royal Rumble so he faced both to try and retain his title. Beating Luger set up a main event match  with Hart however after falling off the ropes as he went for his signature Bonzai drop, Hart picked up the victory and re-captured his title that he lost one year previously to Yoko.

Unfortunately, once he lost to Hart his main event status began to fade. Tag matches with Crush, sumo-matches with Earthquake and various other bouts occurred before he failed at King Of The Ring 1994 to win the tag-titles. This led on to another feud with Undertaker with  the climax coming at Survivor Series between the two. Chuck Norris was placed as the special enforcer to keep stars away from interfering between the two and it would be Undertaker who would be victorious this time. He was then forced to take time off to try and combat his weight  problems that were pushing him further down the card.

His return in April 1995 seen him establish a successful tag-team with Owen Hart. At Wrestlemania XI they would capture the tag-titles and hold them for several months defeating teams such as the Gunns and Allied Powers along the way. They would eventually lose the titles to the Smoking Gunns in September 1995.

1996 became the beginning of the end for Yoko. He competed in the  1996 Royal Rumble but was thrown out by eventual winner Shawn Michaels. Once Vadar joined Jim Cornette's corner, a story ran where just one big man was required and it ultimately seen Yoko pushed out but became an instant fans favourite. He would have Mr. Fuji wave an American flag whilst speaking English to the fans, showing is now babyface turn.

At Wrestlemania XII, Yoko teamed up with Jake Roberts and Ahmed Johnson to take on Vadar, former team-mate Owen Hart and The British Bulldog. It would led up to a feud with Vadar and see Big Van Vadar break Yokozuna's leg on Raw. It allowed Yokozuna time off to combat his on-going weight  issue.

Yokozuna returned at In Your House 8 but the match was not seen on tv as a severe thunderstorm cut the power to fans who missed Yoko beating Vadar. The event was re-scheduled for two days later and Vadar beat Yoko this time. He wrestled Stone Cold Steve Austin but similar to Wrestlemania X he went for a Bonzai Drop but broke the top rope which gave Austin the victory.

His final title challenge came on Raw against Shawn Michaels when he lost to HBK. Yokozuna made his final appearance in the WWF at Survivor Series 1996. Still feuding with Vadar he went after him but caused the remaining wrestlers to be disqualified after attacking Vadar.

After the event, Yokozuna went home to combat his weight once again and despite losing more than 100 pounds it was not enough to satisfy WWF officials. He went on to wrestle for various independent promotions for the next couple of years and was often the star attraction because of his name. But at his last major appearance at Heroes of Wrestling in October 1999, he weighed an incredible 760 pounds.

Less than one year later, Yokozuna was found dead in his hotel room in Liverpool, England. It was later confirmed that he died of a pulmonary edema. It was thought he'd died of heart failure but it was in-fact a blockage in his lungs that called time on Yokozuna aged just 34.