Well, let me tell ya somethin’ about this fella, Yokozuna. Big fella, I tell ya, HUGE! He was a wrestler, you know, like those fellas on TV, always grunting and slammin’ each other around. He was a big ol’ mountain of a man, they said he weighed somethin’ like 500 pounds, maybe even more! Can you imagine that? That’s like three of me, maybe four!
Yokozuna, that wasn’t his real name, you know. It was somethin’ else, somethin’ fancy, but nobody could ever remember it, so they just called him Yokozuna. Sounded Japanese or somethin’, but he was from America, I think. California, maybe? Anyway, he was big and he was strong. He’d go in that ring and just throw those other fellas around like ragdolls.
He had this move, see, they called it the “Banzai Drop”. He’d climb up on those ropes, the high ones, and then he’d just… well, he’d just sit on the other guy. Sounds silly, I know, but it worked! Those fellas would just lay there, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. Yokozuna, he’d win a lot of matches that way. He won the WWE Championship, that’s a big deal, you know. Beat some famous fellas, like that Bret Hart fella, the one with the long hair. Beat him at WrestleMania, that’s like the Super Bowl of wrestling.
- He was really, really big.
- He had a move called the Banzai Drop.
- He won the WWE Championship.
But see, being that big ain’t always good for ya. It puts a strain on your heart, on your lungs. Yokozuna, he had some trouble with his weight. He tried to lose it, they say he lost a whole bunch of weight, like 200 pounds! That’s like a whole person! But it wasn’t enough. His heart, it just couldn’t keep up. He was too young, only 34 years old when he passed away. It was real sad, you know. A big fella like that, gone too soon.
They say he died from somethin’ called pulmonary edema. That’s when fluid builds up in your lungs. Sounds awful, don’t it? All that weight, it just put too much strain on his body. It’s a shame, really. He was a good wrestler, they say. Entertainin’. People liked watchin’ him. He was somethin’ special, that Yokozuna.
I remember seein’ him on TV sometimes. My grandkids, they loved him. They’d jump around and pretend to be wrestlers, tryin’ to do the Banzai Drop on each other. I’d always tell ‘em to be careful, you don’t wanna hurt nobody, especially not your own brother or sister. But them kids, they just loved Yokozuna. He was like a giant teddy bear, kinda, even though he was throwin’ people around.
He had a friend, too, another wrestler called The Undertaker. That fella was spooky, always wearin’ black and lookin’ all serious. But they say him and Yokozuna were good friends. It’s kinda funny, thinkin’ about those two, one so big and jolly, the other so dark and mysterious. But that’s the way things go sometimes, ain’t it? You find friends in the strangest places.
So yeah, that’s what I remember about Yokozuna. A big fella, a strong fella, a fella who made people happy, even though he was beatin’ up other fellas in the ring. He’s gone now, but people still remember him. They still talk about him. And that’s somethin’, ain’t it? To be remembered, even after you’re gone. That’s what makes a fella a legend, I guess. Even a big ol’ 500-pound legend like Yokozuna.
Yokozuna’s career highlights were somethin’ else. He wasn’t just some big body in the ring; he really made a name for himself. And even though he’s gone, people are still watchin’ his old matches, checkin’ out his highlights, and rememberin’ the good ol’ days when he was king of the ring. You can find videos and stuff online, all about Yokozuna. It just goes to show ya, he left a mark on the world, that fella did.
Tags: WWE, Yokozuna, Wrestling, Wrestler, Champion, Banzai Drop, Obituary, 1990s, Sports Entertainment, Undertaker
