Rodney Anoai

Rodney Anoai (October 2, 1966 – October 22, 2000) was an American professional wrestler, most commonly known as Yokozuna.

The term Yokozuna refers to the highest rank in professional sumo wrestling in Japan. Although the "Yokozuna" character was portrayed as a Japanese champion sumo wrestler, Anoai was of Samoan origin and had never competed as an actual sumotori.

Family

Anoai was a member of the famous Anoa'i family and was thus related to many other wrestlers. The Rock, Rikishi, Rosey, and Umaga are among his cousins, and Afa and Sika are his uncles.

Career

Anoai's career in professional wrestling began as he grew up, in a family full of wrestlers. His uncles were the Wild Samoans Afa and Sika, who trained him at an early age in the family business. Anoai took on the name of the Great Kokina while wrestling overseas in Japan. He also spent some time in Mexico learning the craft and gaining the experience necessary to be a star in the sport. His first major exposure in the United States came in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as Kokina Maximus. Wrestling as a Samoan superstar, he was managed by Sheik Adnan El Kassey. At the time, he weighed less than 400 pounds, making him a lean wrestling machine, at least relative to his weight later in life. Unfortunately, Kokina Maximus was never a great success in the AWA; when it closed, he once again left America to wrestle overseas.

World Wrestling Federation

In 1992, Anoai was contacted by Vince McMahon of World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and was offered a new gimmick: Yokozuna. Managed by the legendary Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna was announced as a sumo wrestler from Japan. He wore extra padding in his trunks at first, to play up his bulk, as he worked to gain the weight required for the role. His first pay-per-view victory came at Survivor Series, when he squashed the much-smaller Virgil. Soon, Yokozuna's career took off, as he headed into the Royal Rumble in 1993 billed as a potential favorite. He eliminated "Macho Man" Randy Savage to win the Rumble, announcing his movement towards main event status.

WWF Championship

At WrestleMania IX, Yokozuna faced off against Bret "The Hitman" Hart, for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Hart seemed to have the match won as he had Yokozuna in the Sharpshooter, and Yokozuna was about to submit until Mr. Fuji threw salt into the champion's face. Blinded, Hart was then pinned by Yokozuna, who shockingly won the WWF Championship. As he and Mr. Fuji celebrated, Hulk Hogan came out from the back to protest the decision. Mr. Fuji then arrogantly challenged the Hulkster, and Hogan accepted, quickly defeating Yokozuna in less than a minute to take the belt away. This gave Yokozuna one of the shortest title reigns in WWF history.

Yokozuna and Hogan continued to feud for the next few months, leading up to the first King of the Ring PPV . Once again, Hogan seemed to be in control, but the champion underestimated the deceitful tactics of Mr. Fuji. A "Japanese photographer" (actually Harvey Wippleman posing as a member of the legitimate Japanese wrestling press) planted at ringside by the group aimed at the Hulkster and pressed the button, shooting a blast of fire into his face. This allowed Yokozuna to take Hogan out and reclaim the championship. Soon after, Hogan left the WWF to pursue other interests, which led Yokozuna and Fuji to claim that he had ended Hulkamania. To celebrate, he held a "Bodyslam Competition" aboard the USS Intrepid on Independence Day. Many wrestlers and athletes alike tried to slam Yokozuna, with no success. Just as Yokozuna thought that there would be none to challenge him, Lex Luger flew in by helicopter, stepped forward and slammed him on the deck. It was claimed by one commentator that the move pulled by Luger was a hip toss rather than a bodyslam as Yokozuna was running at Luger when he slammed him, but was ruled legitimate. This made Luger the next major challenger to Yokozuna's title reign.

At SummerSlam 1993, Yokozuna and the newly-reborn patriot Luger fought it out 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, making it a formidable weapon as Yokozuna was knocked out of the ring, unconscious, and lost via countout. The title did not change hands, but the match's result made it seem like Luger had a chance against his gigantic foe. The contract Luger had signed for the match, as orchestrated by Yokozuna's new self-appointed business advisor Jim Cornette, stated that if he did not win the championship, he would not get another shot at the title. Yokozuna and Luger continued to feud till Survivor Series, where each chose a team of allies for an elimination match.

This match led to a feud between Yokozuna and The Undertaker, where the sumo champion seemed to be completely overmatched. He eventually was forced to accept a Casket Match with The Undertaker at the 1994 Royal Rumble, where all the odds looked to be in the Undertaker's favor. However, after a lengthy match, Mr. Fuji called out the troops, bringing a dozen heel wrestlers out to aid Yokozuna in attacking the Undertaker. After a lot of struggle (as well as damaging the Undertaker's "magic" urn), the group managed to shove the Undertaker into the casket, giving the win to Yokozuna. As they celebrated afterwards, however, 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, then disappeared in a fireworks show, rising to the top of the Titantron and vanishing. This storyline was used to allow the Undertaker to rest for several months to recover from lingering real-life injuries.

In the actual Royal Rumble Battle Royal 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. By virtue of winning a coin toss, Luger chose to wrestle Yokozuna first at the event. The winner of that match would go on to face Bret Hart later in the evening.

To obviate the risk of outside interference, both title matches were scheduled to have special guest referees. Mr. Perfect was the special guest referee for the Luger/Yokozuna bout. Luger seemed to have the match well in hand and had knocked out Yokozuna with the bionic forearm in the middle of the ring. However, Mr. Perfect refused to make the three-count when Luger went for the pin. When Luger got angry and confronted him, Mr. Perfect disqualified Luger, thus making Yokozuna the first heel champion to successfully defend the WWE championship at WrestleMania

Later in the night, Yokozuna defended the championship again, this time against the former champion Bret "The Hitman" Hart. For this match, Roddy Piper was the special referee. When Cornette tried to interfere to break a pinfall, Piper decked him. At the end of the match, Yokozuna seemed ready to hit his finishing maneuver, the Banzai Drop, when he lost his balance and took a fall from the ropes. Hart got the pinfall victory, finally taking the title away from the long-running champion.

Later WWF Career

Yokozuna's main-event status soon began to fade away, as he never again fully challenged for the World Title. He began tagging briefly with Crush, another Mr. Fuji star, but they were unable to take the Tag Team Titles away from The Headshrinkers. In May 1994, in a Monday Night Raw episode, Yokozuna was challenged by Earthquake to an actual sumo match. On May 16, 1994, Earthquake beat Yokozuna in a (worked) sumo match that was not repeated until recently, between The Big Show and an actual yokozuna, Akebono.

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 at the 1994 Survivor Series, this time with actor/karate expert Chuck Norris as the special referee to keep the other heel wrestlers away from ringside. Without their help (although Irwin R. Schyster (I.R.S.) did successfully interfere on Yokozuna's behalf), Yokozuna could not win and eventually ended up locked inside the casket. This was Yokozuna's last main event run in the WWF for a time, as he wrestled only briefly on the mid-card before taking some time off.

In April 1995, Owen Hart began promising that he would have a great tag-team partner to face off against the Smoking Gunns at Wrestlemania XI for the WWF Tag Team Titles. At the event, Yokozuna became known as his partner, and the surprisingly diverse tag team managed to take out the Gunns and take away the gold. The two would remain a tough tag team for a few months, defending against teams like the Allied Powers (Luger & Davey Boy Smith), the Smoking Gunns, and others. Still, by this point it was obvious that Yokozuna was no longer in great shape, having gained too much weight. Hart carried the team, much like Haku carried the Colossal Connection when André the Giant was faltering. In September 1995, Yokozuna teamed up with Davey Boy Smith to take on Shawn Michaels and Diesel (the back story being that Hart was supposedly with his wife as she gave birth to one of their children) with the belts on the line. During the match, Owen Hart came to the ring, only to be pinned by Diesel. The next day, due to protests from the team, President Gorilla Monsoon reluctantly returned the belts to Yokozuna & Hart, since Hart was not an official part of the match. Unfortunately for the team, their second reign was much shorter, as the Smoking Gunns defeated them that night for the belts. This put an end to the team, with both going their separate ways.

Yokozuna would have little continued success in the WWF. He competed in the 1996 Royal Rumble match, managing to eliminate three wrestlers (Bob Backlund, King Mabel, and Swat Team member #2) before being tossed by Shawn Michaels, the eventual winner. Soon after, Yokozuna dropped Jim Cornette and Mr. Fuji and began a short face stint, speaking English to the fans and challenging newcomer Vader to numerous matches. The feud took a painful turn a few months later, when Vader jumped on Yokozuna's leg, supposedly breaking it. A forklift had to come down to ringside to lift Yokozuna out, showing how his weight had gotten out of control. He took some time off to slim down, then reappeared at the Free for All just before SummerSlam 1996, facing off against a relative newcomer in Stone Cold Steve Austin. Yokozuna took the advantage near the end of the match, but when he went for the Banzai Drop, the rope broke, sending him crashing back down. Austin attained the easy victory. He would appear at one more WWF pay-per-view, still going after Vader in the 1996 Survivor Series, but that match ended with all remaining wrestlers being disqualified, a very strange ending.

Yokozuna stayed on the WWF roster for a while afterwards, as he worked to lose the weight that he had put on. Despite dropping a reported 100 pounds (45 kg), though, he still could not lose enough to satisfy the WWF officials. He was also unable to pass a physical required for professional wrestlers by the New York State Athletic Commission. He was eventually released from the WWF in 1998, although rumors persisted for many years that he would be brought back if he lost enough weight.

After his WWF career ended, he performed for various independent promotions. The last major appearance for Yokozuna was at October 1999's Heroes of Wrestling pay-per-view, where he looked massively overweight compared to his WWF days. At the event, Yokozuna tagged with a very sluggish Jake "The Snake" Roberts against the team of King Kong Bundy and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.

During a local wrestling show, there was an accidental death that involved small town local Berlin Ritchie, where Yokozuna fell in the crowd thus causing instant chest trauma. Ritchie was pronounced dead at the scene.

Death

Anoai died of a massive heart attack while on a wrestling tour in Liverpool, England; his obesity was likely a major factor in his premature death. His last opponent was Shinjiro Ohtani. Anoai had only recently turned thirty-four years old.