8 Famous Wrestlers Whose Careers BRUTALLY Faded Away

8. Yokozuna

Despite carving a legacy that most could only dream of, Yokozuna is primarily remembered by modern audiences for three things: the shambolic circumstances surrounding his WrestleMania 9 victory and defeat, being slammed by Lex Luger on a helipad because 'MURRICA, and having an ass that was at least twice the size of Triple H's ego.

Yoko's weight was equally career-defining and career-destroying. At his heaviest frame (a reported 660 pounds, or 300 kilograms, by the dawn of 1996), his body had become so immobilised that, following an angle in which Vader supposedly broke Yokozuna's leg, it legitimately took a forklift to remove his lifeless body from the ring because a stretcher couldn't do the job.

This was done to allow Yokozuna time off to lose weight, the first of two company-mandated weight loss directives issued to him in 1996. Regrettably, despite shifting an impressive 100 pounds (45 kilograms), it wasn't enough to convince the WWF that his employment was worth the risk, and so he was let go in 1998. What followed Yokozuna was what followed every unemployed WWE wrestler of his time: a slate of indie bookings that would leave them sweating buckets in a half-filled high school gymnasium while paying the once-famous Superstars in hot dogs and handshakes.

Tragically, Yokozuna died on 23 October 2000 while on a tour of the United Kingdom. He was just 34 years old.