[[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yokozuna_6149.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:255:As [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWE Champion]]]]
'''''[[CharacterCatchPhrase "BANZAI!"]]'''''

Rodney Agatupu Anoaʻi (October 2, 1966 – October 23, 2000) was a [=Samoan=]-American {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er best known for his time in Wrestling/{{WWE}} from 1992-1996 as Yokozuna. His [[TheGimmick gimmick]] was of a former champion [=Sumo=] wrestler (the rank of ''yokozuna'' being the highest in sumo). He was a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWE Champion]] and a 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-t.html WWE World Tag Team Champion]] with Wrestling/OwenHart. He started his career in the 1980s, first making an impression as Kokina Maximus in the Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation, where he [[{{Kayfabe}} broke Greg Gagne's leg]] and ended his career. He also wrestled in the Continental territory in Alabama and in the UWA promotion in Mexico, where he co-held the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/mexico/uwa/uwa-6.html UWA World Trios Title]] with Fatu (Wrestling/{{Rikishi}}) and [[Wrestling/TheTongaKid The Samoan Savage (Sam "The Tonga Kid"/"Islander Tama" Fatu.)]] He made his WWE TV debut in October 1992 and left after ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries'' in November 1996. He was a member of the famous WildSamoan WrestlingFamily. He was inducted into the [=WWE=] Hall of Fame in 2012.
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!!"The Banzai Trope":

* {{Acrofatic}}: Downplayed. Though neither very mobile nor agile, he had the spinning heel kick in his moveset, something not all the superheavyweights have. Also, while quite easy to execute, his Banzai Drop maneuver is still an aerial maneuver from the second rope.
* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/HulkHogan, Wrestling/TheUndertaker, Wrestling/BretHart, Vader
* AssKicksYou: His FinishingMove, the Banzai Drop, was Yoko climbing up to the second turnbuckle and coming down in a sitting position on his opponent.
* AwesomeButImpractical: The aforementioned Banzai Drop. Every bit as final as you'd expect from a 600-pounder falling on someone; but the slow, specific setup meant he had to beat them down first.
* BadassFamily[=/=]WrestlingFamily: One of the greatest in wrestling history.
* BashBrothers: with Owen Hart, Wrestling/DaveyBoySmith and Samu.
* BigEater: If Wrestling/BrucePrichard's account is anything to go by, Yoko had a fondness for food, a major factor in his gaining more and more weight. According to Prichard, Yoko once attended a party thrown by the Undertaker, who fried about a dozen turkey tails for him; Yoko devoured between 40 and 50 turkey butts dipped in mayonnaise. On another occasion, Yokozuna, while shooting a segment for Coliseum Video at a Japanese steakhouse, consumed enough food to serve twelve people.
* BoringButPractical: The Banzai Drop wasn't the most exciting finishing move, but rather the opposite, as it involved climbing up to barely more than height-high and dropping down into a squat. However, when an opponent is placed under said squat and the user weighs around 600 pounds, you can be sure it HAS potential to end a match, if not a life.
** There were occasions where Yoko would slip or otherwise not quite come down as gently as he normally would on some poor jobber (you can find several of these instances on Youtube). Those instances are absolutely frightening to watch.
* CatchPhrase: "BANZAI!"
* EnemyMine: In battle royals, since it would usually take several guys teaming up to eliminate him.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Squashing Virgil in his [=PPV=] debut at ''Survivor Series 1992''.
* FatBastard: Already weighed 505 lbs. when he debuted and only grew heavier and fatter from there. In fact, he got so heavy that he couldn't get a wrestling license because he couldn't get the necessary medical clearance.
** After a match where he was {{kayfabe}} injured (so he could take time off to lose weight), he had to be carried out on a ''real life forklift'' because he was so big.
** Ultimately what killed him, sadly. Wrestling/JimCornette and Wrestling/BrucePrichard have both said that Yoko was over 800 pounds at the last weigh-in they witnessed, two years before his death in 2000.
* {{Geisha}}: At the start of his WWE run, he'd have two flower-bearing geisha girls in the ring waiting for him before his matches.
* GentleGiant: The 2021 WWE Network documentary shows that he was this. Nobody had a bad word to say about him, and nobody has on podcasts or shoot interviews in the intervening years. Nearly everyone was in tears or near them (including The Undertaker) when they reflected on Rodney's kindness, generosity, and untimely death. When Jim Cornette and Bruce Prichard don't have a bad word to say about you, you have to be well liked.
* TheGiant: A rare weight-only example, though above average height at 6'4, its not a height that screams giant, but had bulk to compensate.
* GrievousHarmWithABody: He defeated Mark Kyle, Denny Parton and Reginald Walker in a 3-on-1 handicap match on the March 9 (taped February 20), 1996 ''WWF Superstars.'' At one point, Yoko hit the Banzai Drop on Kyle. He set up Parton for the Banzai Drop in another corner, slammed Walker onto Parton and hit the move on both guys.
* {{Heel}}
** ForeignWrestlingHeel: Oh was he ever, easily the best one of the mid-1990s, likely rivaled only by [[Wrestling/WilliamRegal Lord Steven Regal]].
** [[WrestlingMonster Monster Heel]]: Yokozuna dethroned a rising star in Bret Hart, who seemed to be leading the New Generation into the future as a fighting champion. And then, to demonstrate that it didn't matter which era a challenger came from, he destroyed Hulk Hogan in front of thousands of young children. All of whom are still, to this day, traumatized. To top it all off, this would be Hogan's final WWF appearance for nine years.
** HeelFaceTurn: After his manager Wrestling/JimCornette sided with [=Vader=] in early 1996.
* {{Irony}}: Yokozuna was booked in an actual sumo match against [[Wrestling/JohnTenta Earthquake]] on RAW in 1994. Despite being named after ''the highest actual rank in sumo,'' Yoko was not only not a real sumo wrestler, he wasn't even Japanese, while despite being white, John Tenta ''had'' actually had a very successful professional career as a genuine sumo wrestler during his time in Japan, including 3 championships. Earthquake actually won (possibly because not even WWF would have been rude enough to have a fake sumo wrestler beat a ''real'' sumo wrestler at sumo).
** The feud they were set up to have ended prematurely when Tenta went to WCW (a move he later stated he regretted).
* LegacyCharacter: Rikishi's Samoan [=Sumo=] gimmick had similarities to Yokozuna.
** Yokozuna's trainee King Dabada is a more obscure example.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: On the rare moments he spoke more than a couple sentences, he'd struggle to maintain a Japanese accent.
* PowerStable:
** (as Kokina Maximus in the AWA): The Sheik's (Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie)'s Army
** (in WWE): Camp Cornette
* SimpleYetAwesome: Sometimes used a leg drop to finish a match quickly. Given his combination of sheer mass and {{Acrofatic}}ism at times, it actually looked a good deal more devastating than Wrestling/HulkHogan's (in fact, Yoko even used it to beat Hogan himself at ''Wrestling/KingOfTheRing 1993'').
* TagTeam: with Owen Hart
** (in the UWA in Mexico): The Hawaiian Beasts
* TheVoiceless: He'd usually just stand there and let his managers do all the talking, until it was time for him to yell "BANZAI!"
* WildSamoan: {{Averted}} in WWE. While he was sometimes billed from "The Polynesian Islands", he was portrayed as a sumo champion and identified almost entirely with Japan and Japanese culture. His [[Wrestling/TheWildSamoans uncles]] are the Trope Namers, though, and his relationship to the Wrestling/SamoanDynasty was reconciled with his Yokozuna persona after his death.