19 Wrestlers From Raw's Debut Year Who Are No Longer With Us
4. Yokozuna
It could be argued that Yokozuna was the standout performer of the first year of Raw, at least in terms of accomplishments. Mr Fujis main charge was regularly featured in squash matches, in which he would literally squash his opponents with his Banzai drop, before moving onto bigger things. Yoko became the WWE champion twice during 1993, though one of those reigns only lasted long enough to allow Hulk Hogan to stroke his ego at the end of WrestleMania IX. The big man moved on quickly though and eventually regained the title while wowing fans with surprising acrobatics in the ring that contrasted his enormous size. Unfortunately that weight caused Yokozuna to suffer from a number of health issues over the years. He died thanks to a pulmonary oedema, which is essentially the build-up of fluid on the lungs, while on a tour of England in 2000. He was just 34.
Lee Price is a writer for 411mania.com and Starburst Magazine, which is published in the UK. He is currently working as a freelance writer. He hopes to one day fund his addiction to video games by writing about video games, and he maintains a sporadically updated blog at leesrandombulls*it.wordpress.com
