10 Top Secret Wrestling Gimmicks That Will Blow Your Mind
8. Kenzo Suzuki Is "The Return Of Hirohito"
Xenophobic gimmicks were once the norm in pro wrestling. Promoters reasoned that domestic audiences in the United States hated German people, Russian people, Japanese people and...pretty much anybody who wasn't born in the good ol' USA. That restricted such characters to playing stereotypical heels who hated the country they were now working in.
Kenzo Suzuki took one look at WWE's plans back in 2004 and thought, 'no chance'.
The company planned to bring Suzuki in as the "grandson" of Emperor Hirohito, who had ruled Japan from 1926 up until his death in 1989. WWE only aired one vignette for "The Return Of Hirohito" before pulling the plug, and it's just as well they did - a pro wrestler vowing revenge for atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was too much. Way too much.
It was likely something Kenzo was uncomfortable with behind the scenes too. This insensitive idea shouldn't have made air at all, but it's definitely for the best that WWE changed course with Suzuki in the end.