10 WWE Big Men Who Were Surprisingly Good Wrestlers
6. Yokozuna
Slow, plodding, monotonous: Yokozuna was all these things and more in his later years. This came as a combination of two things: 1. His rapidly escalating weight issues, and 2. WWE’s insistence that he “slow down” and wrestle a more traditional monster style.
In his WWE career’s early stages, Yokozuna was able to pull-off super kicks and suplexes with the greatest of ease. Coupled with his intimidating size and strength, this made him one of the most compelling WWE monster characters of all-time. Yokozuna was one of the best heels in the business with Mr. Fuji by his side, and much of his mystique came from his unique and surprisingly varied skillset.
Yokozuna smashed his way through wrestlers like Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan en route to two WWE Championship reigns. His Banzai Drop finishing move crushed many a ribcage on his road to the top, and it felt like he was shaking the ring off its axis every time he moved a muscle. Yokozuna, in his prime, was a good worker with an excellent gimmick, and one of his era’s biggest stars.
Conditioning was always a major issue for him, however, and it was estimated that he weighed close to 600lbs by the time he left WWE in 1996. He’d shed a few pounds towards the end, but Yoko found himself unable to pass the physical tests required to wrestle in a number of states across America, and he tragically passed away while on tour in the UK in 2000.