Was Yokozuna A Giant Waste of Space?

[chunkylover53]

As nice of a person as he was behind the scenes, I felt the WWF would've really benefitted without him, here's why....

He enters the WWF and given a monster push. Wins the 1993 Royal Rumble and headlines Wrestlemania IX against Bret Hart and wins the WWF championship. Hogan then challenges him for the belt and takes it from him, only to lose it back months later, and effectively ending Hulkamania.

In the meantime he has a feud with the forcably pushed Lex Luger, who was built as the second coming of Hulk Hogan only to come short after he fails to capture the championship.

The now 600 plus pound Yokozuna then loses the WWF championship to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania X and is then pushed down the card.

In the next year he becomes tag team champions with Owen Hart and after that, he turns face after a newly debuted Vader injured him. What really made his de-push(or burial) embarassing is after Vader injured, Yoko had to be taken out ON A FORKLIFT because a stretcher could'nt support his massive weight.

After he returned, he lost to a just over, but not quite there yet "Stone Cold" Steve Austin on the Summerslam 96 PRE-SHOW in under 2 minutes after breaking the ropes. This is a former WWF champion we're talking about who put Hulk Hogan on the shelves. He left shortly thereafter.

In the course of his 4 year WWF run, he started off at an already huge 505 pounds and ballooned to 800 mark. He was a credible heel at first thanks to his massive push, but after the novelty of his size wore off, people realized he was just a fat slow guy who can barely move.

Now, I'm not blaming the financial state of the company back then on him. Hell, WWF was already declining to business when he showed up. But I feel without him, we could've had a better quality product. Bret Hart could've shined alot more during 93-94 period. The company probably realized this shortly after Yoko's World title reign ended and demoted him to the mid-card, and soon lower mid-card. But thats all thanks to hindsight.

So my question is, do you think the company would be better off if they didn't hire him in the first place?

[strykerdarksilence]

He was never anywhere near 800 pounds. He was 550 odd when he died.

[HMARK Center]

Yeah, they kept exaggerating his weight; I don't doubt for a second that the guy wasn't taking care of himself (most of the wrestlers from that time will agree), but if he even got to the weight they said he was at in 1994 (I think they billed him for awhile as 641 pounds or something), he probably wouldn't be able to walk for more than a couple of minutes, let alone occasionally jog a bit in the ring.

[Angus Mcloud]

Well i heard he was at least 600 when he wrestled Austin at Summerslam 96. But i think he did his job as a monster heel. WWF would have been moronic to not capitalize on such a large man. Look at The Great Kahli he lacks in talent but his size has made him super over. But Yokozuna could wrestle to.

[Jimmy King]

He did his job well and helped the WWF through a low point. Despite being fat and all that he was believable as a monster and helped get Bret ever more over.

[Samoa Kenny]

I loved him back in the day. Or rather, I used to crap my pants when I saw him wrestle. Great Heel champ in a bad time for the E

[KingPopper]

His championship period wasn't bad, but like with all big men they have no where eles to go but down.

[AriadosMan]

He still had a better workrate than a fair amount of guys that size and worked well as a heel.

[rnrk supports BLM]

Yokozuna was probably the only credible main event heel WWF managed to build during the entire New Generation era. While it's a pity his weight issues spiraled out of control and cut short his career (and ultimately, his life), I thought he was quite effective during his first few years.

[hajimenoippo]

No, It was his obesity that overcame him. As a kid I enjoyed him SAMOAN PRIDE BRADA. Him and the headshrinkers were like my idols growing up.

He was the top heel and got put over huge by Hulk Hogan, wrestling as a whole was on it's ass in '93-'96. It wasn't until the nWo started up that wrestling started to pick up steam.

I really wish he stayed at 505 and never gained all that weight

[AriadosMan]

How big was he at the time of his death? 600? No way he could have been 800.

[strykerdarksilence]

Aug 16, 2009 15:28:02 GMT -5 AriadosMan said:

How big was he at the time of his death? 600? No way he could have been 800.

About 550 was reported.

[johnnyk9]

the one thing I find weird about Yoko was that he was never suppose to get the push he did, he was suppose to be the other half of the Headshrinkers with Samu, had he'd not injured himself before their debute match he would've never had all he did

[Rorschach]

In the first post, if you want to blame ANYTHING on Bret Hart getting shortchanged, blame Hogan. According to Bret, the plan at one point before Hogan returned was for Hart to face Yoko and begin a program with him that would culminate in him beating Yoko and getting the belt back. Hogan's arrival changed all that, and soon the ending of the WM main event became Hogan beating Yoko after Bret tired him out, yet came up short in the championship match.

[hajimenoippo]

I don't think Bret was shortchanged at all.

Yoko just got the yearlong push of a lifetime, and Bret was the first guy to decisively and smartly take out the monster that nobody from earthquake, luger, Savage, hogan, or Undertaker could take out

It solidified Bret as a main eventer much more than the victory over flair

A feud with Hogan may have been good, but Vince didn't want to push Bret without the build of KOTR, feuds with Lawler and Owen, and then finally getting the belt back after a year.

[The Ichi]

I thought that was Vader.

[Rorschach]

Aug 16, 2009 16:50:10 GMT -5 hajimenoippo said:

I don't think Bret was shortchanged at all.

Yoko just got the yearlong push of a lifetime, and Bret was the first guy to decisively and smartly take out the monster that nobody from earthquake, luger, Savage, hogan, or Undertaker could take out

It solidified Bret as a main eventer much more than the victory over flair

A feud with Hogan may have been good, but Vince didn't want to push Bret without the build of KOTR, feuds with Lawler and Owen, and then finally getting the belt back after a year.

Especially since that Flair match never aired on TV, so it seemed like Bret got the belt out of nowhere, LOL! It was still kind of messed up how politics played a role in what happened with Hogan, but I cannot deny the pop Hogan gets when he comes out at WM IX. It sent the people home happy, and like you said, Bret more than proved himself in his KoTR win and the feuds with Owen and Lawler.

[Maniac Mitch]

I like Yoko (I was afraid of him when I was a kid). In retrospect, when you consider that most people his size can barely walk, let alone wrestle a 10-15 minute match, he was pretty good. He was also pretty agile for a big man (not to the extent of a Bam Bam Bigelow or Vader mind you but still pretty impressive quickness).

I was the biggest Yoko fan when he turned face and started speaking for himself.

[PaperStreetBrigade]

Whats really odd is he was one of those guys that was rumored to be coming back to the WWF till the day he died.

If I remember right, he actually showed up on QVS or HSN to sell WWF stuff.

[cenaisunderrated]