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74-489: Their precursor to formation happened on a June 1991 episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling when Jimmy Hart announced he had signed André the Giant to form a tag team with Earthquake. When asked by interviewer Gene Okerlund to confirm, André denied the claims, leaving Hart angry and humiliated. Earthquake responded by attacking André from behind with Hart's megaphone and injuring André's knee. Jimmy Hart got revenge for

148-478: A " Bodyslam Competition" aboard the USS ; Intrepid , a decommissioned aircraft carrier , on Independence Day . Many wrestlers and athletes failed to slam Yokozuna until Lex Luger flew in by helicopter, stepped forward, and slammed him on the deck. Commentator Bobby Heenan claimed Luger's move was a hiptoss, not a bodyslam, as Yokozuna was running at Luger, but the slam was ruled legitimate. This made Luger

222-583: A Friday night time slot. In the mid-1990s, Superstars was then moved to a Sunday morning time slot. For most of it original run in the United Kingdom Gorilla Monsoon was the play-by-play commentator with various color commentators throughout its history. Beginning with the April 18, 1992 episode, the program was renamed to WWF Superstars , due to a successful lawsuit by another promoter, Albert Patterson, who had claimed prior rights to

296-547: 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 Championships, also headlining WrestleMania X against Hart. He was the third-fastest newcomer (after Brock Lesnar and Sheamus ) to win the WWF Championship after his debut. He

370-692: A battle royal won by his cousin Rocky Maivia . For a second time, Yokozuna went to his home in Los Angeles to lose weight through exercise and dieting, being replaced by other wrestlers on a late November 1996 tour of the United Kingdom . Despite dropping a reported 100 lb (45 kg), he still could not lose enough to satisfy the WWF officials, and was not medically cleared to wrestle in some states because of his physical condition. Yokozuna

444-553: A championship match but not the title, as the champions were counted out. They challenged for the title repeatedly on house shows until winning it on July 20, 1992. After losing the title, Money Inc. focused on the challenges from the Legion of Doom, which gave the Natural Disasters the opportunity to defend the belts against new competition. They defeated The Beverly Brothers (managed by The Genius ) at SummerSlam 1992 ,

518-636: A great tag team partner to face off against The Smoking Gunns ( Billy and Bart ) at WrestleMania XI for the WWF Tag Team Championship . At the event on April 2, Yokozuna, now weighing in at 641 lb (291 kg), was revealed as his partner, and the team defeated the Gunns to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. The two retained the titles against the Gunns in a rematch on May 14 at In Your House 1 and against

592-703: 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. 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

666-563: 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. On October 23, 2000, Anoaʻi died in his sleep from pulmonary edema in his seventh-floor room at

740-815: A ninth stint with NJPW in March 1992 as part of the "Big Fight Series", once again teaming with Wild Samoan as the Samoan SWAT Team; the main event of the final day of the series saw the Samoan SWAT Team and Big Van Vader lose to Keiji Muto, Masahiro Chono, and Riki Choshu in the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo . In June and July 1992, the Samoan SWAT Team wrestled on the "Masters of Wrestling" tour. Anoaʻi made his final appearances with NJPW in September 1992 as part of its "Battle Autumn" tour. His last match took place at

814-420: A stretcher, a real forklift had to be brought to carry Yokozuna out, as it was the only way to move a man of his size. In May, Yokozuna returned at In Your House 8: Beware of Dog to wrestle Vader. During the event, a severe thunderstorm in the area caused the pay-per-view broadcast feed to blackout. In one of the matches not broadcast, Yokozuna defeated Vader. The event was rescheduled two days later, in which

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888-527: 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

962-555: A tryout dark match at a SmackDown! taping. Earthquake died from metastatic bladder cancer in 2006. The Natural Disasters appear in WWE 2K16 , WWE 2K17 and WWE 2K18 . WWF Superstars of Wrestling WWF Superstars of Wrestling (later shortened to WWF Superstars and to Sunday Morning Superstars ), also referred to as Maple Leaf Wrestling in Canada, was an American professional wrestling television program that

1036-511: A wooden bucket of salt while waving a Japanese flag . In the WWF, Anoaʻi was a two-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion and two-time WWF Tag Team Champion (with Owen Hart ), as well as the winner of the 1993 Royal Rumble . 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

1110-470: Is shown on the WWE Network . Yokozuna (wrestler) 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 . He was also known for his appearances with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as Great Kokina . Anoa'i's character

1184-450: The 1993 Royal Rumble . Typhoon was already in the ring when Earthquake entered as #23 and he immediately went after his tag team partner, focusing only on him until Typhoon was eliminated. The Disasters’ feud never came to fruition as Earthquake left the WWF very early in 1993. Typhoon briefly stayed with the WWF after Earthquake left. In mid-1993, he signed with WCW and made an infamous debut as The Shockmaster . Typhoon briefly returned to

1258-483: The Allied Powers ( Lex Luger and Davey Boy Smith ) on July 23 at In Your House 2 . At In Your House 3 on September 24, Yokozuna and Davey Boy Smith took on Shawn Michaels and Diesel (the back story being that Hart was with his wife as she gave birth to one of their children) with Diesel's WWF Championship, Shawn Michaels' Intercontinental Championship and Hart and Yokozuna's Tag Team Championship on

1332-1035: 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 . 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

1406-465: The Royal Rumble match on January 21, eliminating Bob Backlund , King Mabel , and Swat Team member #2 before being tossed out by eventual winner Shawn Michaels. Although Cornette tried to make peace between him and new acquisition Vader , many observers felt Yokozuna was being relegated. After several run-ins, Yokozuna left Cornette and began a short stint as a fan favorite . He spoke English to

1480-526: The Sharpshooter , when Mr. Fuji threw salt into the champion's face. Blinded, Hart was then pinned by Yokozuna, who won the WWF Championship. As he and Mr. Fuji celebrated, Hulk Hogan came to the ring to help Hart and was challenged by Mr. Fuji to take on the new champion. After Fuji accidentally threw salt in Yokozuna's eyes, Hogan came through with the win and captured his fifth WWF Championship. At

1554-700: 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

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1628-807: 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. Anoaʻi made

1702-666: The "Battle Hold Arena" event at the Yokohama Arena, where the Samoan SWAT Team lost to Raging Staff (Super Strong Machine and Tatsutoshi Goto). 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

1776-464: 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

1850-556: 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

1924-649: 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

1998-617: The Bushwhackers, with André in their corner, at the 1991 SummerSlam pay-per-view, whom they made very short work of. After destroying the Bushwhackers, the Disasters targeted André, but the assault was stopped by the Legion of Doom who ran off the Natural Disasters and kicked off the Legion of Doom / Natural Disasters feud. Later that night, the Legion of Doom won the WWF World Tag Team Championship from

2072-620: The Disasters' first PPV pinfall in a year. They faced the Nasty Boys and Money Inc., both managed by Jimmy Hart. After the Nasty Boys fell out with Hart, Money Inc. regained the title in October 1992. While the now-babyface Nasty Boys feuded with the champions, the Natural Disasters were phased out of the tag team division, last teaming on PPV at the 1992 Survivor Series , where they were eliminated by Money Inc. In 1993, Earthquake and Typhoon began showing signs of dissention, most noticeably at

2146-554: The Internet was popularized, the previous title holder sometimes defended his title at house shows as though he were still the champion until the title change was aired on television. The commentary team on Superstars underwent many changes as the years passed. The hosts of Superstars are listed below in chronological order along with their debut episode. WWE abandoned the Superstars of Wrestling trademark when they changed

2220-477: The May 16 episode of Raw , Yokozuna lost to Earthquake in the only ( worked ) sumo match until WrestleMania 21 , between The Big Show and an actual yokozuna , Akebono . At King of the Ring on June 19, Yokozuna and Crush failed to win the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Headshrinkers ( Samu and Fatu ). Yokozuna then had to deal with the "rebirth" of the Undertaker, who immediately came after

2294-660: 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. The Yokozuna Memorial Show

The Natural Disasters - Misplaced Pages Continue

2368-408: The Nasty Boys, which meant that the Natural Disasters became first in line to get a shot at the new champions. The first big meeting between the teams came at the 1991 Survivor Series where they were on opposing sides in an elimination match. Typhoon was eliminated due to a miscommunication with team member Irwin R. Schyster followed by Earthquake walking out with him, leaving the Legion of Doom as

2442-494: The September 14, 1996 "Best of Superstars" episode which was the last in syndication before the program was moved to the USA Network). In September 1986, Superstars replaced WWF Championship Wrestling . Before that, WWF Superstars of Wrestling was the name of a weekly recap show hosted by Vince McMahon (or Gene Okerlund ) and Lord Alfred Hayes that lasted from 1984 through August 1986. The new version of Superstars

2516-472: The Undertaker inside the casket. He opened his eyes and said the Undertaker would not rest in peace; he then disappeared in a smoke and light show, rising to the top of the titantron and seemingly levitating all the way to the arena ceiling until vanishing. This storyline was used to allow the Undertaker to rest for several months to recover from lingering real-life injuries. In the Royal Rumble match,

2590-411: The WWF midcard in 1994. Earthquake traveled to Japan in 1993 and returned in 1994 for a short “Sumo Vs Sumo” feud with Yokozuna . For the few months Earthquake was in the WWF, no mention of the tag team was made. He then went to WCW, where he wrestled as Avalanche at first and later became The Shark and finally wrestled under his real name before leaving. Earthquake briefly returned to the WWF in 1998 as

2664-434: The WWF. The Natural Disasters were outraged that their manager would go behind their backs and get another team a shot at the title, the storyline explanation was that Jimmy Hart used the Disasters' guaranteed return match for Money Inc. When the Natural Disasters challenged Money Inc. they won the fan support as they fired manager Jimmy Hart. The Disasters first got their hands on Money Inc. at WrestleMania VIII , and again won

2738-468: 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. At WrestleMania IX on April 4, Yokozuna wrestled against Bret Hart for the WWF Championship . Hart had the match won with Yokozuna about to submit to

2812-465: The evening with the title on the line. To obviate the risk of outside interference, both title matches were scheduled to have special guest referees, with Mr. Perfect as the referee for the Luger/Yokozuna bout. Luger had knocked out Yokozuna with a running forearm smash in the middle of the ring, as well as Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette, but when he went for the pin, Perfect occupied himself with

2886-433: The eventual winners. From November to January the Disasters challenged for the tag team championship on the house show circuit, usually without a decisive outcome. At the 1992 Royal Rumble , they won a title match via countout, but not the title. In February, Natural Disasters' manager Jimmy Hart led Money Inc. ( Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) to the WWF Tag Team Championship over the Legion of Doom, who briefly left

2960-483: The fans, had Mr. Fuji wave an American flag during his matches, and challenged Vader to numerous matches. On March 31 at WrestleMania XII , Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson and Jake Roberts lost to Vader, Owen Hart and British Bulldog. Vader jumped on Yokozuna's leg on the April 8 episode of Raw , ( kayfabe ) breaking it. The splash was shown on television as a leg break, but in reality, it was performed to allow Yokozuna to take some time off to lose weight. However, instead of

3034-655: 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 Natural Disasters - Misplaced Pages Continue

3108-599: 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

3182-580: The foe who had taken him out of action. The two met in another casket match on November 23 at Survivor Series , this time with actor/karate expert Chuck Norris as the special enforcer to keep the other heel wrestlers away from ringside. Without their help (although Irwin R. Schyster successfully interfered on Yokozuna's behalf), Yokozuna lost the match and ended up locked inside the casket. Yokozuna continued to wrestle briefly before taking some time off to increase his already huge weight advantage. In April 1995, Owen Hart began promising that he would have

3256-649: The humiliation a few weeks later during a six-man tag team match featuring Earthquake and The Nasty Boys against the massive Tugboat and The Bushwhackers . It was revealed in this match that Hart secretly signed Tugboat, who turned on his partners after a few minutes of action and joined the Earthquake in laying the two New Zealanders out cold with a big splash. After the heel turn Tugboat changed his name to Typhoon and together they became known as “The Natural Disasters”, and name that had been used for Earthquake's team at Survivor Series 1990 . The Natural Disasters faced

3330-431: 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 got to wrestle Yokozuna first at the event. The winner of that match would go on to face Bret Hart later in

3404-569: The line. During the match, Hart came to the ring, only to be pinned by Diesel. The next day, due to protests from the team and the legal help of Clarence Mason , President Gorilla Monsoon reluctantly returned the belts to Yokozuna and Hart, since Hart was not an official part of the match. Their second reign was shorter, as the Smoking Gunns defeated them that night for the belts. Yokozuna, by now weighing in at 660 lb (300 kg), had little continued success in 1996. He competed in

3478-472: The masked mute Golga, as a member of The Oddities . In 2001, the WWF hosted a quasireunion of the Natural Disasters as they were both involved in the Gimmick Battle Royal of WrestleMania X-Seven , but Fred Ottman wrestled as Tugboat instead of Typhoon. Commentator Bobby Heenan alluded to their previous alliance. Earthquake wound up eliminating Tugboat. That December, he defeated a jobber in

3552-513: The match won, but a photographer , planted at ringside among a legitimate Japanese wrestling press group, shot a blast of fire into Hogan's face. This allowed Yokozuna to take Hogan out with a leg drop and regain the WWF Championship, after which he proceeded to hit Hogan with the Banzai Drop in the corner. Hogan then left the WWF to pursue other interests, leaving Yokozuna and Fuji to claim that they had ended "Hulkamania". To celebrate, he held

3626-411: The matches that were previously blacked-out took place again. Vader won their rematch. On August 17, he appeared at Free for All just before SummerSlam , where he lost to Stone Cold Steve Austin after he attempted a Banzai Drop on the rope, which broke under his weight, sending him crashing back down for Austin to win. The next night on Raw , Yokozuna faced then WWF Champion Shawn Michaels for

3700-518: The network cancelled. Although for a brief period the show continued in its same format, as time went on more and more recaps of the WWF's other programming began to fill the hour. By March 1997, Superstars was solely a summary program and continued in that manner until its eventual ending. In 1997, the format of Superstars as aired in the United Kingdom also changed and began to only feature weekly summaries of Monday Night Raw . Following

3774-430: The next major challenger to Yokozuna's title. On August 30 at SummerSlam , Yokozuna, now weighing 568 lb (258 kg), and Luger fought 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 following an injury from a motorcycle accident (it was stipulated that Luger had to wear a protective pad over it, but it

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3848-570: The phrase "Superstars of Wrestling". Since then, archival footage of the program has usually been shown with the words "of Wrestling" blurred out where applicable. When the WWF introduced Monday Night Raw on USA in January 1993, the live program usurped the show's once preeminent position in the company as the primary source of storyline development and pay-per-view buildup, and Superstars became secondary in importance. In September 1996, Superstars left syndication and moved to pay TV channel USA Network in place of WWF Action Zone , which

3922-610: The premiere of SmackDown! , Superstars served as a summary show for SmackDown! as well. When the WWF moved its cable TV contract to TNN (later known as Spike, now known as the Paramount Network ) on October 1, 2000, Superstars moved with it. The show was then discontinued in August 19, 2001. The show continued until December 2002 in the UK, until it was replaced by Heat in January 2003. Many of these title changes were not aired for up to several weeks after they took place. As these shows were aired in an era before

3996-473: The ring; the All-Americans went on to win the match. Yokozuna's next title challenger was The Undertaker, whom he was eventually forced to accept a casket match with. The match occurred on January 22, 1994, at Royal Rumble , which Yokozuna won by shoving the Undertaker in the casket with help from multiple heel wrestlers. After the match, a mysterious figure appeared on the titantron , looking like

4070-570: The show was to promote house shows and TV tapings in each market. During its syndication run, the program was re-branded and aired in some parts of Canada as Maple Leaf Wrestling (essentially replacing a program of the same name filmed in southern Ontario ), despite having almost no Canadian content other than interviews promoting matches that were to be held in Canada, along with occasional program-exclusive matches taped at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario. However, this repackaging was, at

4144-462: The show's name to WWF Superstars in the early 1990s. Albert Patterson, a Wisconsin independent wrestling promoter, successfully trademarked the phrase in 1993. Although there has been litigation between the WWE and Patterson, WWE has not been able to settle with Patterson for the usage of " Superstars of Wrestling ". Due to this issue, WWE blurs the Superstars of Wrestling banners when archival content

4218-422: The time, Yokozuna held the record for the second shortest time (after Ric Flair ) to win the WWF Championship after his debut, with 173 days (currently, Yokozuna holds the fourth shortest time, after Flair, Sheamus , and Brock Lesnar ). On June 13 at King of the Ring , Yokozuna, whose weight increased from 505 lb (229 kg) to 550 lb (250 kg), challenged Hogan for the title. Hogan seemed to have

4292-407: The time, sufficient to allow the program to count towards Canadian content requirements for local television stations. Some Canadian viewers were able to watch American feeds of the show and/or "WWF Challenge." The show also began airing in 1986 in the United Kingdom on Saturday nights on Sky Channel . For a short time, it was shown on Tuesdays on Eurosport . Early in the 1990s, it was featured in

4366-533: The title in a losing effort. Afterwards, he only made appearances on house shows. He made his final televised WWF appearance at the Survivor Series on November 17, still going after Vader , however he only briefly entered the match illegally and it ended with all remaining wrestlers being disqualified. His final match in the WWF was on November 20, 1996, at a house show in White Plains, New York in

4440-420: The title. Yokozuna and Luger continued to feud until Survivor Series on November 24, where each chose a team of allies for an elimination match, which was billed as an All-Americans (Lex Luger, The Undertaker , and Steiner Brothers ) vs. Foreign Fanatics (Yokozuna, Quebecer Jacques , Ludvig Borga , and Crush ) contest. Yokozuna was eliminated via double count-out after brawling with the Undertaker outside of

4514-447: 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

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4588-427: The unconscious Fuji and Cornette who were still lying on the ring apron. An angry Luger was disqualified after pushing Mr. Perfect, making Yokozuna the first villainous champion to successfully defend the WWF Championship at WrestleMania . Later in the night, Yokozuna defended the championship again, this time against Bret Hart, who had lost earlier in the night to his brother Owen Hart . For this match, Roddy Piper

4662-525: 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

4736-682: 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 . 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

4810-609: 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. 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

4884-455: Was portrayed as a champion sumo wrestler, with his ring name being a reference to the highest rank in professional sumo wrestling in Japan . While Anoaʻi wrestled as a representative of Japan, he was a Samoan American and was 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

4958-632: Was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012. 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 ,

5032-458: Was produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It debuted on September 6, 1986, as the flagship program of the WWF's syndicated programming. In January 2019, select episodes of WWF Superstars starting from April 1992 became available for streaming on the WWE Network . As of September 25, 2023, there are 339 episodes of Superstars available for streaming on WWE Network, dating from April 18, 1992 to February 16, 1997 (omitting

5106-399: 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. Anoaʻi was

5180-488: 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

5254-480: Was the program on which all the angles began and at times ended and on which the majority of title changes took place if not at a pay-per-view event (e.g. WrestleMania or SummerSlam ). Matches primarily saw top-tier and mid-level talent vs. Jobbers; pre-taped interviews with the WWF's roster of superstars; and promos featuring the wrestlers. At times, there was a "feature" match between main WWF talent. As with all syndicated WWF programming, another major aspect of

5328-439: Was the special referee, attacking Cornette when he tried to break a pinfall. At the end of the match, Yokozuna seemed ready to hit his finishing maneuver, the Banzai Drop, but lost his balance and took a fall from the ropes. Hart pinned Yokozuna to win the title, ending Yokozuna's reign at 280 days. After dropping the belt, Yokozuna's main event status began to fade away. He briefly tagged with Crush , another Mr. Fuji charge. On

5402-405: Was torn off in the course of the match). However, Yokozuna was knocked out of the ring unconscious and lost via count-out, though he retained the title because it could not change hands via count-out. The contract Luger had signed for the match, as orchestrated by Yokozuna's new spokesman and advisor James E. Cornette , stated that if he did not win the championship, he would not get another shot at

5476-548: Was ultimately unable to pass a physical examination required for professional wrestlers by the New York State Athletic Commission , and was released from the WWF in May 1998. 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

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