History Wrestling / Yokozuna

'''''[[CatchPhrase "BANZAI!"]]'''''

* AwesomeButImpractical: The aforementioned Banzai Drop. Was every bit as final as you'd expect from a 600-pound giant crashing down onto someone butt-first. However, the slow, specific setup meant that he had to wear them down into outright immobility before he could even attempt it.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: He would wear flip-flops to the ring, only to remove them before his match. He did, however, tape his ankles quite thoroughly.

* DownerEnding: His death in 2000 at the ''tragically'' young age of only 34 from a pulmonary edema.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokozuna_(wrestler) The Other Wiki]] has a good writeup about his life and career.

** [[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.

* 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, devoured enough food to serve twelve people.

* 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.

* ArchEnemy: Wrestling/HulkHogan, Wrestling/TheUndertaker, Vader

** [[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 literally murdered Hulk Hogan in front of thousands of young children. All of whom are still, to this day, traumatized.

* 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.

* TheGiant: A rare weight-only example, as he was pretty short, but had bulk to compensate.

* {{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).