Mr. Fuji: Ranking His WWE Managerial Clients From Worst To Best
4. George "The Animal" Steele
Shortly after ending his wrestling career, Mr. Fuji transitioned to a managerial role and started coming to the ring in his recognisable tuxedo, top hat, and cane combination. He took-on the wild, unpredictable, but undeniably dangerous George “The Animal” Steele as his first client, and while their journey wasn’t exactly paved with gold, it set the tone for the rest of Fuji’s run as a WWE manager
Steele and Fuji famously took to the ring to take-on Hulk Hogan and “Mean” Gene Okerlund together, and with the action mostly built around Hogan dominating the heels, Hogan won the special challenge match by pinning Mr. Fuji. This, coupled with Steele’s growing popularity, spelled the beginning of the end for the Steele/Fuji relationship. Steele turned babyface and abandoned his manager, who moved-on to a new charge in The Magnificent Muraco.
A typically brief relationship for Fuji’s career, but one that helped establish him as a true managerial menace in WWE. It was alongside Steele that Fuji developed his cheating-heavy management style, with Fuji’s salt-throwing gaining Steele a series of count-out victories over Hulk Hogan throughout their relationship.