Picture and Clip of Yokozona's first match in WWF as Kokina (Before gimmick change)

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Independent circuit (1998–2000)
After his WWF career ended, he performed for various independent promotions. In 1998, he wrestled for Maryland Championship Wrestling.[52] The last major appearance for Yokozuna was at October 1999's Heroes of Wrestling pay-per-view. At an estimated 760 lb (345 kg), he had not only gained the weight that he had lost, but admitted he was intentionally getting bigger, with a goal weight between 850 (386 kg) and 900 lb (408 kg), so that he would set a new record for the heaviest professional wrestler ever

Even at 900 pounds dude could take all of our bytches and I wouldn't be mad, just humbled

 

[Dave7]

Yoko was dope man....his superkick was serious and coming from a big man

 

[Grifter]

Yoko was dope man....his superkick was serious and coming from a big man

That's all knowledge and skill cause the same kick from Goldberg ended his career.

 

[FreshAIG]

This is bullshyt. Lex was over as fukk in 1993 from the point of the slam and at Summerslam, then they had him win by count out and act like he won the belt and then basically took him off TV for 3 months (after Summerslam, he doesn't have a match on TV until November) and had him come back to feud with the Quebecers and doing jobber matches again. Vince self sabotaged for reasons only known to himself.

In 1993, houseshows were a much bigger deal than TV. Big stars were kept off TV often, and only used for special occasions. The point was always to either get people to come to house shows or buy PPVs. Free TV wasn't really how they gauged much. It was basically like a commercial for you to pay for the real shyt (Live shows, PPVs and merch). Even RAW, before Nitro debuted, was merely a glorified Superstars of Wrestling. It was just live but it was pretty much midcard matches instead of jobbers to the stars wrestling.

 

[Jello Biafra]

He actually was never billed as Japanese. He was a Japanese representative (due to the sumo thing) from the Polynesian Islands. He was also mentioned as one of the Samoans around the time the Headshrinkers debuted.

I never thought Yoko was Japanese, I just assumed that Vince was inspired by Akebono being a media sensation because he was not Japanese but excelling in the world of sumo around that time.

 

[stro]

In 1993, houseshows were a much bigger deal than TV. Big stars were kept off TV often, and only used for special occasions. The point was always to either get people to come to house shows or buy PPVs. Free TV wasn't really how they gauged much. It was basically like a commercial for you to pay for the real shyt (Live shows, PPVs and merch). Even RAW, before Nitro debuted, was merely a glorified Superstars of Wrestling. It was just live but it was pretty much midcard matches instead of jobbers to the stars wrestling.

During that same time, Bret/Taker had 4 TV matches, Razor had 10+, Yoko had 2, Mr. Perfect had around 10.

Lex had no matches and was working exclusively with Ludvig Borga as semi main on house shows. The main events during that period were Yoko vs Taker for the title. They in fact never ran Lex vs Yoko once at house shows in 1993 and Lex never even main evented a house show his entire "main event" run outside of a single 8 man tag that was Macho Man in Tampa as the draw.

 

[Jello Biafra]

This is bullshyt. Lex was over as fukk in 1993 from the point of the slam and at Summerslam, then they had him win by count out and act like he won the belt and then basically took him off TV for 3 months (after Summerslam, he doesn't have a match on TV until November) and had him come back to feud with the Quebecers and doing jobber matches again. Vince self sabotaged for reasons only known to himself.

It is really amazing just how badly Vince sabotaged Luger in WWF.

First fukk up: Signing Luger (who was coming off being WCW world champ) to be a part of Vince's weird ass bodybuilding fed instead of WWF

Second fukk up: When he did come to WWF he stuck Luger with that weak "The Narcissist" gimmick when really all Lex needed to be a top heel was his own a$$hole persona and Bobby Heenan as his manager. No-nonsense pure a$$hole heel Lex Luger worked for years in NWA/WCW but nope, Vince had to have him in a cape and carrying around full sized mirrors to pose in front of.

Third fukk up: Saddling Luger with that cheesy "All-American" gimmick once Vince turned him face and decided he wanted him to be the next Hulk Hogan. Again...Luger didn't need that type of gimmick because when Lex was a face in WCW he got over plenty. Plus the patriotic hero shyt was a stale gimmick by that time and fans thought it was corny.

 

[TRIPLE M]

He was in the awa before the wwf

 

[FreshAIG]

He was in the awa before the wwf

Yep. Pretty much all the big talent WWE signed was in AWA or somewhere else first

 

[FreshAIG]

During that same time, Bret/Taker had 4 TV matches, Razor had 10+, Yoko had 2, Mr. Perfect had around 10.

Lex had no matches and was working exclusively with Ludvig Borga as semi main on house shows. The main events during that period were Yoko vs Taker for the title. They in fact never ran Lex vs Yoko once at house shows in 1993 and Lex never even main evented a house show his entire "main event" run outside of a single 8 man tag that was Macho Man in Tampa as the draw.

Fair. I wonder how Luger's drawing power was in comparison to his peers in his mainevents on the houseshows. Because Vince put a lot of effort into pushing Luger, plus he has the exact look Vince would want. It wouldn't make sense for him to sabotage him purposely.

 

[BurstWicks]

Vince tried to lowkey recapture the magic by repackaging Fatu as Rikishi, but one dance segment with Too Cool tilt the axis in a completely different direction forever

Once he put them shades on there was no going back

 

[White City Black]

Once he put them shades on there was no going back

Phatu broke kayfabe without breaking kayfabe

 

[JQ Legend]

From my understanding of it all, Luger just wasn't getting over enough. Vince initially wanted to give him the belt at Summerslam, but he wasn't over enough, so they tried to extend it to WM but by then Bret Hart was clearly more over, so he went back to him. Royal Rumble 1994 played a big factor, because when they did the double elimination, the crowd went crazy for Bret and booed Luger. And it was in NY, where Vince pays the most attention to feedback wise. That didn't make the final decision for him, but it's kinda what tipped the scales in Bret's favor to get the title.

He coulda still went thru with it tho

Let Luger beat Yoko at Mania then drop it to Bret and have the main event the 2 RR winners

Maybe because I was a kid but Luger seemed over in summer 93, people were disappointed in that SS outcome

 

[JQ Legend]

He had a definite swag about him. They should have let him speak more in the E.

Yea they should have done a face turn and made it seem like he finally learned English

Yoko would have been hella over as a face

Imagine a Yoko/Bret alliance in the mid 90s

Or even Yoko/Taker especially since they were best friends IRL

 

[MenacingMonk]

Didn’t know Yoko wanted to be the fattest.