10 Wrestlers With Incredible First Years

4. Yokozuna - WWE

Kurt Angle KOTR
WWE.com

An unexpected hit when Vince McMahon felt WWE desperately needed another monster, Yokozuna won his first Royal Rumble, headlined his first Wrestlemania and Summerslam Pay-Per-Views, ended Hulkamania, and became the best believable heel champion WWE had rolled the dice on since the 1984 expansion.

Winning the Royal Rumble less than four months into his WWE tenure, he then brutalised Hacksaw Jim Duggan in a fabulous TV angle, and smashed Bret Hart to bits in their emotive Wrestlemania contract signing.

Now an established threat, he survived the farcical circumstances behind his ludicrously short first WWF Title reign at Wrestlemania 9, and was deemed acceptable by Hulk Hogan to legdrop him right out the company.

Yoko wore it well, gleefully squashing the Hulkster to set up his grandiose programme with new American Hero Lex Luger, who could only defeat him by count-out in Summerslam 93's laboured finale.

Whilst not always a guarantee to deliver in-ring, he more than fit the bill as an unbeatable beast for his first year. Bret Hart's climactic World Title victory over him at Wrestlemania 10 sticks long in the memory thanks to Yokozuna's noble run with the gold.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett