wwe wrestler yokozuna

He heaved Randy Savage over the top rope to win the 1993 Royal Rumble Match and then decimated American icon “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan on Raw by crushing him with four Banzai Drops. Kokina was set up to appear with Fatu and Samoan Savage, known as the Samoans (soon after, The Headshrinkers). He was best known for his time with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) where he wrestled under the ring name Yokozuna.

When he lost the championship to Hulk Hogan in an impromptu bout that night, he plowed through the sports-entertainment legend two months later to win it right back. Struggling with his massive weight, Yokozuna passed away at the age of 34. Eventually, though, the size that made the giant so great became his greatest undoing. Although it wasn’t televised, Rodney made his debut with the World Wrestling Federation on September 1st, 1992. The pairing was effective from the very beginning — if Yoko’s size didn’t seal the victory, a handful of salt from the meddling Fuji would. He was originally trained by his uncles, Afa and Sika, better known as the Wild Samoans, who were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.

His second reign as WWE Champion wasn’t just successful — it was devastating. It was an untimely end to the powerful Superstar’s life, but Yokozuna left behind a massive legacy as one of sports-entertainment’s best big men and WWE Hall of Famer.

Anoa'i's career in professional wrestling began as he grew up in a family full of wrestlers.

Standing 6’4” and weighing nearly 600 pounds, the Japanese sumo wrestler squashed legends like Bret “Hit Man” Hart, The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan on his way to becoming one of the most dominant WWE Champions of all time. He made the chiseled Lex Luger look small by comparison at SummerSlam ’93 and manhandled The Undertaker in a way few Superstars could. At WrestleMania IX, the sumo champion overwhelmed Bret “Hit Man” Hart to win the WWE Title. At the peak of his abilities, Yokozuna was unstoppable. That was the last word many of WWE’s top Superstars heard when they faced the imposing Yokozuna. RELATED: The Tragic Death of WWE Legend The Ultimate Warrior Yokozuna was born Rodney Anoa’i in 1966 and, as mentioned, was a member of one of the most famous wrestling families of all time. Rodney Agatupu Anoa'i (October 2, 1966 – October 23, 2000) was an American professional wrestler.

Stomping through WWE like a Japanese movie monster, Yokozuna simply dominated. He was trained by his uncles and Sam Fatu as a teenager and wrestled in Alabama and the USWA under the name Kokina Anoai.

WWE Champion; World Tag Team Champion; 1993 Royal Rumble Match winner; 2012 WWE Hall of Fame Inductee

The superheavyweight threw standing sidekicks with ease and flattened opponents with belly-to-belly suplexes that tested the integrity of any ring. That was the last word many of WWE’s top Superstars heard when they faced the imposing Yokozuna.

His ring name for the appearance was Kokina. After his WWF career ended, he performed for various On March 31, 2012, Yokozuna was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his cousins, Yokozuna is notable for being the only man to defeat both Tag team competition and The Undertaker's return (1994)Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat.

He was unable to pass a physical required for professional wrestlers by the New York State Athletic Commission and was eventually released from the WWF in 1998, although rumors persisted that he would be brought back if he lost enough weight. Mini Bio (1) The man who would eventually become known as Yokozuna was born in San Francisco on October 22, 1966. He competed in the Yokozuna stayed on the WWF roster for a while afterwards, as he worked to lose the weight that he had put on.

The term yokozuna refers to the highest rank in professional sumo wrestling in Japan.

Although the "Yokozuna" character was portrayed as a champion sumo wrestler, Anoa'i had never competed as an actual sumotori.

Despite dropping a reported 100 lb (45 kg), he still could not lose enough to satisfy the WWF officials. Lets take a look from the beginning. Yokozuna wasn’t just big, he was agile. Trained by the ferocious Wild Samoans, the behemoth debuted in WWE in 1992 with the sinister Mr. Fuji guiding his career. The two met in another casket match at the Yokozuna had little continued success in 1996.

His uncles were the Yokozuna's career soon took off, and he headed into 1993's In the 1994 Royal Rumble match, the last two competitors, Lex Luger and Bret Hart, fought and eliminated each other simultaneously. The character of Kokina appeared in a single (untelevised) match on September 1, 1992, hence the gimmick wa…

“Banzai!”.

Yokozuna: Bio. He came from a wrestling family, as his uncles were Afa Anoai and Sika Anoai.

Standing 6’4” and weighing nearly 600 pounds, the Japanese sumo wrestler squashed legends like Bret “Hit Man” Hart, The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan on his way to becoming one of the most dominant WWE Champions of all time. 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 Later in the night, Yokozuna defended the championship again, this time against the former champion Bret "Hitman" Hart, who had lost earlier in the night to his brother Yokozuna then had to deal with the "rebirth" of the Undertaker, who immediately came after the foe who had taken him out of action.