Yokozuna

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1985–1988)

Anoaʻi grew up in a family of wrestlers, the Anoaʻi family; his uncles, the Wild Samoans (Afa Anoaʻi and Sika Anoaʻi) trained him from an early age. He debuted in 1985. He spent the early years of his career performing for promotions such as International World Class Championship Wrestling, Texas All-Star Wrestling, the Universal Wrestling Federation, the Continental Wrestling Association, and the Continental Wrestling Federation under a variety of ring names, including "Giant Kokina", "Great Kokina", "Kokina", and "Kokina the Samoan". In December 1988, he wrestled for the Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) in Germany, unsuccessfully challenging Otto Wanz for the CWA World Heavyweight Championship.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1988–1992)

In August 1988, Anoaʻi began making appearances in Japan with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as "Great Kokina". In August and September 1988, he took part in the "Sengoku Series" tour, where he faced opponents such as Super Strong Machine and Tatsutoshi Goto, and teamed with fellow gaijin including Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow and Scott Hall.

Anoaʻi made his next appearances with NJPW in June and July 1989 as part of its "Summer Fight Series". During this tour, he repeatedly teamed with Big Van Vader and Mike Kirchner, with his opponents including Kengo Kimura, Masa Saito, and Riki Choshu. In October and November that year, Anoaʻi made a third tour of Japan as part of NJPW's "Toukon Series"; during this stint, he again repeatedly teamed with Big Van Vader, while his opponents included Choshu, Kimura, Masahiro Chono, and Osamu Kido.

Anoaʻi wrestled a fourth stint with NJPW in January and February 1990 as part of its "New Spring Gold Series". During this tour he once again teamed with Big Van Vader, as well as teaming with his future World Wrestling Federation tag team partner Owen Hart. On the final day of his tour, he and Vader unsuccessfully challenged Masa Saito and Shinya Hashimoto for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. He returned to NJPW for one week in July 1990 during the "Wrestling Scramble", teaming with Wild Samoan as the Samoan SWAT Team and unsuccessfully challenging Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. He had a short sixth stint with NJPW in September 1990 during the "Explosion Tour", once again teaming with Wild Samoan.

Anoaʻi returned to NJPW for a seventh stint in April 1991 during that year's "Explosion Tour". This stint saw the Samoan SWAT Team primarily wrestle six-man tag team matches, teaming with Scott Norton or Pegasus Kid. He made a sixth stint with NJPW in July 1991 as part of the "Summer Crush" tour and a seventh stint in September 1991 as part of the "Battle Autumn" tour, again teaming with Wild Samoan. At the end of the Battle Autumn tour, Anoaʻi took part in the "Memorial Battle in Yokohama" event at the Yokohama Arena, teaming with Wild Samoan, Pegasus Kid, and Brad Armstrong to defeat Black Cat, Kengo Kimura, Osamu Kido, and Shiro Koshinaka. In October 1991, Anoaʻi and Great Kokina took part in the Super Grade Tag League; they defeated Kim Duk and Tiger Jeet Singh, but lost their other five matches, ultimately placing in joint last place with two points.

American Wrestling Association (1989–1990)

In 1989, Anoa'i received his first major exposure in the United States when he joined the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as "Kokina Maximus". Managed by Sheik Adnan El Kassey, he depicted a disheveled Samoan wild man, and was billed as the biggest Samoan wrestler ever. In late-1989, an angle was booked in which he repeatedly delivered a big splash to Greg Gagne, marking the end of Gagne's career. Anoaʻi made his final appearance with the AWA in April 1990, losing to Yukon John Nord in a lumberjack match at SuperClash IV.

Universal Wrestling Association (1990–1992)

In February 1990, Anoaʻi began wrestling for the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) in Mexico as "Great Kokina". He initially wrestled primarily in two-out-of-three falls matches. In March 1991, he unsuccessfully challenged El Canek for the UWA World Heavyweight Championship. In April 1991, Anoaʻi and his cousins Fatu and Samoan Savage (with the trio collectively billed as the "Hawaiian Beasts") defeated Los Villanos for the UWA World Trios Championship. Los Villanos regained the titles in a rematch the following month. For the remainder of his tenure in the UWA, Anoaʻi continued to wrestle primarily in two-out-of-three falls matches (including teaming with Black Scorpio and Buffalo Allen in a loss to André the Giant, El Canek, and Villano III in May 1992), as well as again unsuccessfully challenging El Canek for the UWA World Heavyweight Championship on several other occasions. He made his final appearances with the promotion in August 1992.

World Wrestling Federation (1992–1998)

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. Anoaʻi 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 Anoaʻi wrestled under his former gimmick, as shortly after, he was offered a new gimmick: Yokozuna.

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. That night he defeated Bill Jordan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He wore a mawashi as part of his ring attire, but wore long tights underneath the loincloth, something that Vince McMahon and Yokozuna's 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). Anoaʻi 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. 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. 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 to 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 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. 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.

Late career (1998–2000)

After his WWF career ended in 1998, he performed sporadically for various independent promotions, including Maryland Championship Wrestling. 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. He wrestled his final match on October 17, 2000 (six days prior to his death) for All Star Wrestling, teaming with Greg Valentine to defeat Spinner McKenzie and Drew McDonald in London in the United Kingdom.

Personal life

Anoaʻi was a member of the Anoaʻi wrestling family, with Roman Reigns, Rikishi, Samu, Rosey, Manu, Umaga, and The Rock among his cousins. The Usos and Solo Sikoa were his nephews and Afa and Sika were his uncles. He had two children, Justin and Keilani. He also suffered from arachnophobia, and claimed to devour 240 eggs, 12 pieces of chicken and a bucket-sized portion of Japanese rice every day.

Death

On October 23, 2000, Anoaʻi died in his sleep from pulmonary edema in his seventh-floor room at the Moat House Hotel on Paradise Street in Liverpool while on a wrestling tour of the UK for All Star Wrestling. He was 34 years old. His body was found by his crew's transport manager, and after paramedics came into his hotel room, it took six men to move his body. At the time, it was widely reported that he died of heart failure or a heart attack, but this was later found to be incorrect due to his lungs showing severe signs of fluid blockage.

Legacy

The Yokozuna Memorial Show was held in Allentown, Pennsylvania in November 2001, shortly after the first anniversary of Anoaʻi's death. It was presented by the independent promotion World Xtreme Wrestling, although matches included wrestlers from multiple promotions.

On March 31, 2012, Yokozuna was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his nephews The Usos and cousin Rikishi.

Championships and accomplishments

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (1993)

PWI ranked him #5 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1993

PWI ranked him #145 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003

Universal Wrestling Association

UWA World Trios Championship (1 time) – with Fatu and Samoan Savage

World Wrestling Federation / WWE

WWF Championship (2 times)

WWF Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Owen Hart

Royal Rumble (1993)

WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2012)