Yokozuna (wrestler)

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Rodney Anoaʻi United StatesUnited States
Yokozuna walking.jpg
Data
Ring name Kokina Maximus
Great Kokina
Wild Samoan Kokina
Yokozuna
Mr Sumo
height 193 cm
Fighting weight 180 kg - over 300 kg
birth October 2, 1966
San Francisco , California
death 23 October 2000
Liverpool , England
Announced from Japan
Trained by Afa Anoaʻi
debut 1984

Rodney Agatupu Anoaʻi (born October 2, 1966 in San Francisco , California , USA ; † October 23, 2000 in Liverpool , England ) was an American wrestler of Samoan descent. He was mainly known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) under the ring name Yokozuna , which denotes the highest rank in sumo in Japan . It was characterized by its enormous mass of over 300 kg at times.

Career

Beginnings

As a member of the large Samoan wrestling family, Anoaʻi was trained by his uncles Afa and Sika as a child . In the early days of his career he fought in Japan and Mexico under the name Great Kokina . He made his first major appearances in the US as Kokina Maximus in the American Wrestling Association , where he feuded with Verne Gagne's son Greg . At that time Anoaʻi weighed about 180 kg and was therefore much more agile than in the later stage of his career. He could not record any successes in the AWA and left the USA temporarily.

WWF

In 1992, meanwhile over 200 kg, Anoaʻi was brought into the World Wrestling Federation by Vince McMahon . He got the gimmick of a Japanese sumōtori and from then on appeared under the ring name Yokozuna (corresponds to the name of the highest rank in sumō). As a manager , he was Mr. Fuji placed side by side; later Jim Cornette joined as the American mouthpiece.

Anoaʻi quickly defeated a large number of American wrestlers in squash matches . B. Virgil in his PPV debut at the 1992 Survivor Series . At the Royal Rumble in 1993 , he was announced as one of the favorites for the annual Battle Royal , as it seemed impossible to get a man of his mass over the top rope. In fact, Anoaʻi was allowed to win the Battle Royal and thus received a title fight for the WWF World Championship at WrestleMania IX .

World Champion

At WrestleMania was allowed Anoa'i the reigning champion Bret Hart by a trick of his manager defeat. But immediately after winning the title, he had to give his newly won title back to Hulk Hogan in a spontaneous fight explained by the storyline . Anoa'i's first title reign is considered the shortest officially recognized in WWE history.

The rematch between Anoaʻi and Hulk Hogan took place two months later at the King of the Ring in 1993 . Again, the reigning champion was tricked into losing. Shortly thereafter, Hogan left the WWF for World Championship Wrestling .

In order to keep Anoa'i in the spotlight, a "Bodyslam Challenge" was organized. Many wrestlers and athletes from other sports tried to perform a body slam on the wrestler, who now weighed over 230 kg , but no one seemed to be able to. When all challengers failed, Lex Luger , who had previously appeared as the villain, surprisingly came in, was allowed to get him onto the mat and immediately became Face . For Luger, however, title fights against Anoa'i remained unsuccessful.

The next opponent in the feud was the Undertaker . At the Royal Rumble 1994 they met in a coffin match , which Anoaʻi was allowed to win. In the further course of the evening there was no clear decision in the 30-man Battle Royal, since Bret Hart and Lex Luger were the last remaining opponents to push each other out at the same time; consequently both were entitled to a title fight. The ( Kayfabe -) President Jack Tunney decided that a coin toss should decide the constellations at WrestleMania X. Luger won this and should be the first to compete against Anoa'i. Bret Hart, who had to play a match against his brother Owen to equalize in WrestleMania's first match , would then meet the winner and decide on the final new champion.

Lex Luger was ordered to lose his fight at WrestleMania because he did not behave appropriately for his position in the organization the night before the event. This made Anoaʻi the first heel to successfully defend a title at a WrestleMania . In the second title match of the evening, Bret Hart finally got the title back.

Tag team with Owen Hart

After spending the rest of the year in the midcard and finally losing another coffin match against Undertaker at the Survivor Series in 1994 , he took a break. At WrestleMania XI he surprisingly returned as a tag team partner of Owen Hart and won the WWF Tag Team Championship from the Smoking Gunns ( Billy and Bart Gunn ) with him . Although the two held the title for a few months, it became apparent that it was in very poor shape - it was now over 300 kg (unofficially it was said to be around 700 pounds), so that Team almost exclusively had to be carried by Hart. In September 1995, Anoa'i met with the British Bulldog on Shawn Michaels and Diesel . During the fight, his actual partner Owen Hart came to the ring and was pinned by Diesel. Michaels and Diesel were then awarded the Tag Team Championship (which meant that the two men held all of the WWF men's titles at the same time), but since Hart was not an official part of the match, he and Anoa'i got the title back the next day. On the same evening, however, they finally lost him to the Smoking Gunns.

Face turn

In early 1996, Anoa'i clashed with Vader - a new protégé of Jim Cornette - at the Royal Rumble, according to the storyline , after both were thrown out by Shawn Michaels at the same time. He then did gymnastics to the face , separated from Cornette and gave interviews in English for the first time. After playing a match against Cornettes Stable Camp Cornette at Wrestlemania XII , which included Vader, the British Bulldog and his former partner Owen Hart, he took a break of several weeks to get his weight problem under control. According to the storyline, he suffered a broken leg during a match against Vader; as it was too heavy to be stretchered, Anoa'i had to be brought out of the hall with a forklift. He returned to the ring for the pay-per-view In Your House : During the original recording, which had to be canceled due to a power failure, he was initially allowed to defeat Vader; in the re-recording two days later he was defeated by his opponent. At Summerslam 1996 he faced Steve Austin unsuccessfully . In his last PPV appearance at the Survivor Series in 1996 , he faced Vader in a 4-on-4 elimination match and was disqualified. He paused again, but a weight loss of almost 50 kg did not satisfy the worried WWF officials. In 1998 he was finally released.

Independent promotions

After his WWF career Anoaʻi fought for some independent leagues. He had his last major appearance at the "Heroes of Wrestling" PPV in October 1999, where he looked much more overweight than when he was at WWF. He fought in an inglorious match together with the obviously very drunk Jake Roberts against King Kong Bundy and Jim Neidhart .

death

Anoaʻi died of pulmonary edema on October 23, 2000 at the age of 34. Previous reports of a possible heart attack turned out to be false. At the time he was on a wrestling tour in Liverpool . The last match before his death was against Shinjiro Ohtani .

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame by Jimmy and Jey Uso on March 31, 2012 .

successes

title

Awards

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Yokozuna's tomb
  2. ^ Third Time Charm For Bischoff? | The Wrestling Gospel According to Mike Mooneyham. Retrieved November 4, 2019 (American English).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Yokozuna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Anoaʻi, Rodney Agatupu (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd October 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco , California , USA
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 2000
Place of death Liverpool , England