Yokozuna

[Necro]

Agatupu Rodney Anoaʻi (October 2, 1966 – October 23, 2000) was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his time with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he wrestled under the ring name Yokozuna, a reference to the highest rank in professional sumo wrestling in Japan. He was a two-time world champion.

Although the Yokozuna character was portrayed as a champion sumo wrestler, Anoaʻi never competed as an actual sumotori. Though he wrestled as a representative of Japan, in real life he was a Samoan American and was accordingly billed as hailing from Polynesia. However, he was managed by the Japanese character Mr. Fuji (in reality a Japanese American) who would follow Anoaʻi to the ring with a wooden bucket of salt while waving a Japanese flag.[1]

In the WWF, Anoaʻi was a two-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion[4] and two-time WWF Tag Team Champion (with Owen Hart),[5] as well as the winner of the 1993 Royal Rumble.[6] He was the first wrestler of Samoan descent to hold the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, as well as the first Royal Rumble winner who (as a result of a direct stipulation) received a WWF world championship title shot at WrestleMania. He defeated WWE Hall of Famers Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan, in consecutive pay-per-view victories in the main event of WrestleMania IX and the 1993 King of the Ring, to win his two WWF World Heavyweight Championships, and also headlined WrestleMania X against Hart. He was the third-fastest newcomer (after Brock Lesnar and Sheamus) to win the WWF/E Championship after his debut. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.

Professional wrestling career
Yokozuna
Anoaʻi in October 1995
Birth name	Agatupu Rodney Anoaʻi
Born	October 2, 1966 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Died	October 23, 2000 (aged 34) Liverpool, England
Children	2
Family	Anoaʻi
Ring name(s)	Great Kokina[1][2] Kokina Maximus[1][2] Wild Samoan Kokina[1][2] Yokozuna[1]
Billed height	6 ft 4 in (193 cm)[3]
Billed weight	589 lb (267 kg)[3]
Billed from	Land of the Rising Sun[3] Polynesia[1]
Trained by	Afa Anoaʻi[3]
Debut	1984[1]
Retired	1999

Championships and accomplishments​

The Usos inducting Yokozuna into the WWE Hall of Fame (2012)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (1993)[2]
  • PWI ranked him #5 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1993[2]
  • PWI ranked him #145 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003[55]
• Universal Wrestling Association
  • UWA World Trios Championship (1 time) – with Fatu and Samoan Savage[56]
• World Wrestling Federation/WWE
  • WWF Championship (2 times)[1][4]
  • WWF Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Owen Hart[1][5]
  • Royal Rumble (1993)[1][6]
  • WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2012)

 

[Necro]

 

[Necro]