10 Bizarre WWE Scenes You Totally Don’t Remember

3. Yoko's Christmas Miracle

Kane Linda McMahon
WWE

Yokozuna was a cruel and antagonistic heel for the bulk of his WWE run, but there was once a time the ginormous Samoan-turned-Japanese oppressor and his "devious" manager Mr Fuji instead made childhood dreams come true for New York city children.

He should have celebrating 1993's festive period as WWE Champion, but the audience was suddenly transported inside his nightmare as a nice guy for the benefit of the turgid "UN-BELIEVE-ABLE" campaign the company ran just ahead of coining a the "New Generation" slogan that defined the era.

Bizarrely, Yoko looked the part as jolly St Nicholas instead of the Anti-American grinch he was ordinarily cast as. Something about his cheery disposition foreshadowed a character shift that never came - by the time he did turn babyface in 1996, he was cast as a hard-talking no-nonsense brawler that had half the talent thanks to carrying nearly double the weight.

Sans Santa suit, this version could have been an interesting prospect against some of the company's decent heels, but Yoko ever being in this sort of shape again after his major run was regrettably a Christmas wish too far.

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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