I named my son after him.
This is Rodney named after his grandfather Rodney Anoa'i,
Yokozuna.
- Banzai.
- Oh, look at that.
- Get ready for defeat.
- We didn't have to groom him.
He was already ready.
- Unbelievable.
Wow.
- Yokozuna, that's all I can think about right now.
- They don't come along every day like Yoko.
- The Daily News wants to wrestle you.
- Definitely one of the greatest big men ever.
- But, he had that demon.
It's hard to talk about.
[laughter]
- He was larger than life, but that is what
ultimately took him out.
- Why Yokozuna looks like he's gotten even bigger.
- He would never tell you that he's hurting.
He would do everything with his smile and continue on.
- It's banzai time.
- Stand-up guy, give you the shirt off his back.
- He took his platform and he helped people that he loved.
He helped people that were in need.
- That's the teachings of our culture of the Samoan Dynasty.
This was the Yokozuna that people didn't know,
Rodney Anoa'i.
- Here comes the man of speed.
He got him.
[bell rings]
♪
- Where Rod grew up in LA it was a rough neighborhood, man.
It was a rough neighborhood.
There's a lot of gangbangers back in the day.
The Bloods, the Crips, blah, blah, blah.
But for him, he comes from a father that was in the service
in the Marines, and his father he didn't play, man.
If Rod stepped out, what he wasn't supposed to be doing,
you can rest assure he'd get his ass whooped by his dad.
But in a good way, Samoan way.
- He has always been a good kid.
But my parents didn't know that, you know,
he was skipping classes.
You know, probably to some people him skipping class
wasn't you know a huge thing.
You know, everybody does it.
Everybody's kids does it.
But to my parents, it was a lot.
You know, it had got all the way to the month of graduation
when they found out he wasn't going to graduate
from high school.
He wasn't one of those troubled kids, but my dad didn't want him
sitting around not doing anything with his life either.
So, you know that's how he ended up with my uncles.
- Here come the Wild Samoans heading out into this filled
Madison Square Garden.
Capacity crowd on their feet giving a welcome
to the Wild Samoans.
- Afa and Sika the Wild Samoans were a legendary tag team
in the 1970s and 1980s.
- We just want to make money.
- You're smart.
- We just want to beat people up and go home and be
happy with my children.
- They also created the Wild Samoan Wrestling Academy
with branches in Pennsylvania and Florida.
And that's where a young Rodney and some of his cousins
received their early training and seasoning.
- We trained them in my backyard and I told these kids,
you got to work your butt off.
- This is how the game is.
You know, you've got to lay them in.
- During the time when we're all training,
we all became very, very close.
Uncle Afa and Sika no longer became Uncle Afa and Sika.
They were like father figures to us.
- My parents would talk with my uncles a lot you know to see
how Rod was doing and making sure he doesn't get outta line.
And if he didn't like it, then he could always come back home.
- But, he loved professional wrestling.
You know, I would think he's tired because he's
the bigger one from us.
He never quit.
He wanted to keep going and keep going and he wanted
to be the best at it.
- Now I'd like to go to the ring for this next match, featuring
the brother team of Kendall and Barry Windham against the
Great Kokina and Jimmy Becklin.
- He started the independent circles as Kokina Maximus.
- Impressive, impressive wrestler.
This guy goes about 375 pounds
- And for as big as Rod was, he was a natural.
- That is nasty, that is mean, that is everything that the
Windham's don't want to see on a Saturday night.
- And I think as he kept going-
- The greatest man that God ever created.
- -you tend to see the birth of this big kid you know
moving around lightning speed like that.
- Look at this. Oh.
- I knew that he's very smart.
He's very athletic and with the proper discipline,
we know that he could do it.
- Geez
- It's over.
- The Giant Kokina Maximus.
- I was very proud of him.
I was proud that you know my brother wanted to do this.
- Kokina, welcome.
- That's okay, Kokina.
That's okay.
- He was accomplishing something with his life and
you know we were all proud of him.
- It's now 1987.
Rodney is 21 years old.
Him and his girlfriend have a daughter, Keilani,
and they have a son, Justin.
- As a father, he was one of the best, but the pressure was on.
- He's already got two children, a lot of pressure.
And frankly, if he's not able to make it in the family business,
what's he going to do?
- And so the Wild Samoans you know being family
they went to WWE.
They said, I got this big guy, really big guy.
And at the time we liked really big guys.
- Vince McMahon has a natural predisposition to big men.
- Listen to this tremendous ovation for the Undertaker.
- Wanting someone who looks like an attraction.
- So, I had taken a trip and saw Kokina and thought, wow.
- Whoa.
- This guy has it.
- Oh, man.
- He moved like a 200-pounder.
- He's so fast.
I don't mean fast for a big man.
He is just fast.
Oh.
- Amazing.
We asked Rodney to come in and do a tryout and how could you
not be impressed?
- Welcome to an exciting evening with the Superstars.
- When the WWE calls, you're not only going to take it
you're ecstatic.
You got an opportunity of a lifetime.
So, here's Rodney, he doesn't even have a high school diploma.
He's got two kids.
He's got to make this wrestling thing work.
- At 400 pounds, Kokina.
- Initially he was Kokina "The Wild Samoan", the Giant Kokina.
He was Kokina Maximus.
Unfortunately that wasn't working.
- How much does this man weigh?
Does he speak English?
[groaning]
- So we knew that we wanted to do something with him.
- And Vince comes to me and he says, "See that kid over there,
Rodney?"
I said, "Yeah, quite a talent."
He said, "Yeah, I know, but I've got seven Samoans now.
What am I going to do with him?"
So my wheels started spinning,
"Sumo wrestler."
- Oh, my.
- Vince was like, "Send the kid to my office."
That's how excited he was by him.
- He says, "Put his hair in a bun you know like
one of those sumo wrestlers."
The name Yokozuna came from the number one sumo wrestler
was the Yokozuna.
So we had the greatest of all, the Yokozuna.
- Get ready for defeat. With agony.
[Yokozuna music]
- Coming down the aisle with Mr. Fuji, weighing 505 pounds,
Yokozuna.
- Where America was with its understanding of Japanese
culture, sushi was literally just becoming a popular cuisine
in the late 80s and early 90s.
We really didn't have a lot of experience, I think,
with Japanese culture in this country at that time.
So Yokozuna jumped off the page.
- Indeed, the pride of the rising sun for sure.
- And when Yoko took off the robe the first time
that he appeared in the gimmick.
- Look at the size of this man.
- Very, very, very impressive.
- It was an "Oh, my God," gasp.
- 505 pounds.
- That's your holy -- moment.
Kind of the aha.
We've got it.
[crowd cheers]
♪
- Oh, my goodness. Oh, no.
- When he first came in, he was truly amazing.
- Yokozuna.
Oh.
- I'd never seen anything like it.
- Banzai.
- Here he comes [indistinct]
- The way that guy can move, he was incredible.
He was a big man, but he was an awesome big man.
- Boom.
- It is an understatement to say he has made quite an impression.
Yokozuna.
- Oh, my goodness.
- Watching him perform in the ring, it's like, "Holy --."
Wow.
- He walked out, it's like a stegosaurus walking
out to the ring.
It's like, "Holy --.
Look at this guy." you know?
- As a fan, I was just like, "Wow, I love seeing the big guy.
He represented me.
- He came along when the WWE desperately needed
a monster heel.
- [foreign language]
Banzai.
- A big giant heel like King Kong Bundy or
Abdullah the Butcher.
- Banzai.
- Oh, no.
Get this man away.
Get him out of here.
Is there no dignity whatsoever?
- Most fans recognize that not too many guys are going
to mess with a guy like Yokozuna.
That's what you could see coming out of him.
That was the aura of him.
- Kind of like Andre the Giant in a way, Yokozuna
became an attraction immediately.
- Just waiting to see the big guys like Yokozuna coming
out to wrestle, maybe cause an earthquake.
- And the arena just reacted to every single thing Yoko did.
[crowd boos]
- Vince knew what he had.
He had a rare killer heel.
- Oh, no.
- Banzai.
[crowd boos]
[laughing]
- One, two, three.
- But, Yokozuna backstage was totally different
than what the fans saw on TV.
[yelling]
[laughing]
He seemed like he was always in a good mood.
- You know what I remember most was that how much fun he was
in the dressing room.
He'd have the music going, he'd be singing in the shower.
- Watching Yokozuna eat was a sight in and of itself.
- We have steak entree
for 10 people with a huge amount of rice stew.
- We did a video one time with Yokozuna at a steakhouse.
With the chef cooking up steak and lobster and shrimp
and everything for him.
- I noticed you cut up two steaks for Yokozuna.
- And boats of sushi.
- Oh, look at this.
Oh, you've got to be kidding me.
- We cooked enough food, no kidding, for probably 20 people,
and Yoko-
- Oh my word.
- -he ate the whole thing.
- Where's all the sushi that you guys ate, man?
- Hey, you ate all the sushi.
- You ate them all.
- You guys ate all the damn sushi.
You took it back.
- In the case of Yokozuna, I'm sure it became that much
easier for him to eat freely because there's always a
pressure for pro wrestlers to look the part.
His look was incumbent on him being huge.
So you wonder whether or not it was semi-intentional and whether
he thought, oh, let me just keep building to my size,
or if at some point, it just becomes an unfortunate
part of your lifestyle.
But, at that time, it was working.
[crowd cheers]
- Yokozuna with "The Macho Man" Randy Savage,
one of them will become the challenger at WrestleMania IX.
- WWE at that time was like they were giving him the big push.
- Oh, Banzai.
- Vince liked the reaction he was getting.
That's what everything was based on.
So obviously, he was strong and that's how they moved
you along the card.
- Oh, there you go.
[bell rings]
[crowd cheering]
- Yokozuna on his way to WrestleMania IX.
- To get a push like that that early was a phenomenal
opportunity for him.
- Our whole family was like we can see it become reality.
[fans cheering]
- Yokozuna, from introduction to get to that point,
I think it was kind of a hell of a fairy tale ride for Yoko.
And Yoko kind of went through an even keel, but there was a bit
of that kid from Kansas in New York City a little bit awestruck
and looking around going, "Wow, I'm here."
I don't think that he saw himself doing that.
- The Daily News wants to wrestle you.
- So much happening here, and of course, the big one we're
looking forward to features the World Wrestling --
Champion, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, squaring off against the
505-pound challenger from Japan, Yokozuna.
- You're going in there and you're a main eventer, nothing
prepares you for that.
That's a lot of pressure
- As far as Yoko went him being the main event
kind of guy, most wrestlers I think thought he wasn't ready.
- Yokozuna.
Oh.
- But at Wrestlemania, he was a real pro in the ring.
- Center of the ring, right though Hart.
What?
Hulk Hogan here.
- The place was already electric you know?
It was like we dropped a bomb in the ring.
- The crowd wants him to go for it.
- To be on that card with the legend Hulk Hogan,
I don't think that Vince would have given that opportunity
to run or anybody if Vince didn't trust the person.
- Hulk Hogan is in the ring.
- Ding-ding.
- And knew that he can handle the pressure.
- Yokozuna.
Hogan drops the leg.
Hogan in the cover.
- No.
- Hooks the leg.
- And then all of a sudden, Yoko and Hulk was traveling
all over the world together, and that set up the championship
match at King of the Ring.
- Yokozuna drops the leg on Hogan.
Yokozuna with the leg hooked.
- One, two, ring the bell.
[bell rings]
[music]
[crowd cheering]
- It was another moment that touches my heart.
How proud I am to see one of our kids was blessed
for this opportunity, and it brings me back to what we
have always drilled in them about hard working
you know, nothing's going to be handed to you.
- Yokozuna obviously, to me, is a grand champion.
- I know when he became champion, he broke down.
He was just happy.
You know, he made it.
- Yokozuna drops the leg on Hogan.
Yokozuna with the leg hooked.
- One, two,
Yokozuna beat Hogan.
[bell ringing]
- Do you know who that is, baby?
Who was that?
- Who was that?
- Papa.
- Yeah.
- He gave me Busty.
As a kid, you know just breaking things, whatever.
So, when I watched his matches and he would do the Banzai,
he would yell my name.
He would just yell "Busty."
- Busty.
- That's it, Hulkamania.
- Hulkamania is dead.
- I did hear it.
- I've seen the American dream right there.
- It's so shocking too it's just that he shouted my name out
like that and yeah he just won the biggest of them all.
It's just- man.
[crowd cheering]
- Yokozuna has defeated Hulk Hogan to win
the WWE Championship.
- To work with him, you know it was just a pleasure.
Hopefully, it gave him a platform to get to the next
level, but he was already ready you know for the spot.
- I mean that was it.
For him to beat Hogan that way, when you beat the golden goose,
right, and you beat him in that fashion,
that means you've arrived.
[fans cheering]
- All right, here he is.
Yokozuna and his advisor Jim Cornette.
- That sent him on his way, man.
- From there on, he became the big star that he was.
[fans cheering]
- But he wasn't overwhelming.
He wasn't full of himself as a lot of the good ones are.
He was just one of the boys.
- This big mega, mega, mega superstar in the industry never
let the industry change him.
He took his platform and he shared and he helped
people that he loved.
He helped people that were in need.
Everyone, when I say-- I'm talking about our whole clan,
everything changed for everybody because of Yoko.
Because of Yoko.
- When he was making the money, he just wanted to make sure
everybody was always taken care of.
He would always pay for everything out of love.
- The Headshrinkers
- Back in the day when I was a Headshrinker,
Yoko was making a lot of money
and we were kind of doing so so. you know?
I just moved into this home, pretty much dumped everything
that I have into this home, and I needed heat in my home.
I had no money, and Rod, he gave me a blank check
and he signed it.
and I came home and put a new system in the home.
My family and my kids, we had heat in the house.
And he was around during the hard times, and bad times,
and Rod will always be there for me.
I'll forever love him for that.
Sorry.
- That's culture.
You know, that's just the way the island people are,
I think that's the way we were raised.
- Once you are taught these you values of Samoan culture,
you know you arry with you through the rest of your life
and you pass it on to your kids and your family as well.
♪
- He was a really good dad.
That's all he ever wanted to do was just make sure
his kids were okay.
- He was awesome, he really was my best friend.
- When he couldn't drop us off at school, he was in a limo.
All the kids went, "Oh, who's this?
Who's this?"
It was a little too much, but then it was like, man,
you know that's how Pops was.
- When Rodney come home, he was that Rodney,
but when it came time to be Yokozuna,
that's where you see this face come.
- You want to talk about champions?
Let's talk about the 568-pound, maybe 600-pound by the time
the bell rings Yokozuna.
- You know when I think of Yokozuna as being
the WWE Champion at the time, he was very believable.
As a matter of fact, he was so believable
you think who's going to beat somebody like Yokozuna?
- Here we go, oh .
- Oh.
Can you believe this?
- In the modern WWE era, Yokozuna is the only heel in
that period of time that was dominant.
- Then the fact that he was the main event at WrestleMania two
years in a row is phenomenal.
- This is it.
- Wait a minute.
He's losing his balance.
- He's hit his head.
He hit his head.
- One, two, three.
- No.
[bell rings]
♪
- I think that there would've been many more of the
Wrestlemanias, but the question was, could he keep up?
- Mr. Fuji, let me ask you, how much is Yokozuna
weighing right now?
- 569 and a half pounds.
- There was a point where you just started to notice that
Yokozuna was getting bigger.
- Are you concerned at all about his cardiovascular conditioning?
- Oh, no, no, no.
He's in excellent shape.
- Then you started to see he's a step behind in the ring,
he's a little bit slower.
- Oh, my God, I think he's getting bigger.
Either that or that fabric is shrinking.
- Then you start watching and going,
"Hmm, he's not doing well."
Yoko liked food and the weight issue,
it was obvious.
- What do you like the best about wrestling?
- The business itself, in and out of the ring,
in front of the crowd.
- What's the worst part about wrestling?
What do you hate?
- The traveling.
- As his size increased, it became increasingly
difficult to travel.
We had first business class seat, first class,
but he was so big that he couldn't fit in the seats.
- One night we were in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and
poor Yokozuna went into the bathroom and he sat on the
toilet and the toilet just came off the wall.
- I came around the corner and we heard this big explosion.
I thought someone flushed a hand grenade down the toilet
and I was like-- I didn't know what to do.
he actually cut his butt cheek on some of the broken porcelain.
I remember it wasn't any fun.
- I remember being exposed to turkey ass with Yoko having a
barrel of oil and cooking turkey ass and taking the turkey ass
out, dipping it in mayonnaise and eating like 75 Turkey ass.
- It's hard to tell somebody like, "Hey" you know
because Yok's always been big like that.
It's hard to tell them, "Hey, you need to back off."
- The first time that I got to meet him, I ended up being
the Yoko go-get-it guy.
"Hey, Mark, go get me a bucket of chicken."
What am I going to say?
"Yoko, man, you're 600 pounds.
You know you should be around 400."
I was eating half a bucket of chicken myself.
- But he got to the point where you know, we're like,
"Hey, Yoke, dawg, man, you know
Maybe it's time to lose some weight."
- You know we had that conversation,
"You got to focus on yourself right now.
It's okay for you to take care of you now, Rod."
Rod being Rod, "Ain't nothing wrong with me.
I can still go."
[laughter]
- I'm sure he was in denial about it.
- You know he didn't really want to engage in it you know.
Everything's fine, everything's going to be you know
everything's good.
- Then we had to send him to a loading dock where they weighed
crates and things like that to weigh him.
And that was a slap in the face, that was a big,
"Holy --. You've got to drop some weight."
So the next step was to take Yoko and we looked
into Duke University.
And Duke University had a weight loss program.
Yoko didn't want to move to North Carolina or wherever
it is that Duke University was.
So Yoko said, "I'll do the program,
but I'll do it at home."
- Let's get you ready baby.
- I'm ready.
Let's do this.
- You'll be in a lot better shape.
- Yoko was off for whatever it was, maybe three months,-
- The new and improved Yokozuna
- -maybe even longer-
- Well done-
- Banzai.
- Well done, right there.
- Woo.
- Right there.
- -and came back bigger than ever.
- And I think that's when it got worse, and that's when
I really started getting worried about him.
- I started to notice I could be having a conversation with him
and next you know I see he's just in a deep sleep or I notice
while we're in the locker room I'm talking to him and
he nods off falling asleep.
- He was sleeping.
You know one time he scared me.
He's jumping, looking for air and I just went and jump on him,
"Hey."
He woke up and he's cursing me,
[mimicking]
"What the hell happened?"
"You're not breathing."
And he come back again, asleep, and he start choking,
looking for air again.
- And now you're stuck with-
"He's going to die."
- [yelling]
- Let's go man.
- Don't let go, ref.
- In 1997, his weight had ballooned to, I'd say,
in excess of 600 pounds, maybe even more.
And the New York State Athletic Commission forced him
to take a physical.
And he actually failed.
It really left the company with no choice but to release him.
- I just want to let everybody know the big man comes back,
he's going to kill every one of them jabronis out there.
- I think they really feared for his health at that stage.
and so here you have Rodney.
Now he has to figure out a way to support his family.
And so he ends up working on the independent circuit sometimes
in front of you know 100 or 200 fans, and not for a lot of money
- Yokozuna.
- The fans are up at the announcement of Yokozuna,
the largest athlete in the sport of professional wrestling.
Wow, what a massive individual.
- It would be hard on anybody going from selling out Madison
Square Garden or any kind of arena and then working
independent shows where you only have 100 people there.
- Banzai.
Oh, no.
- Cincinatti Red, that's it.
- I don't think him working in a lower level, it means that much
other than you know,
he felt like he let us down.
- Then a sort of depression might have set in.
That's why it was hard because we loved him regardless.
He didn't have to prove anything to us.
- At the time, he also had a wrestling school out there
in Las Vegas.
So, he taught.
- Yokozuna, brother, why are you here?
- The reason why I'm here in Las Vegas is to come out
here and fulfill everybody's dream.
That is to become a professional wrestler.
Anybody out there that's got the heart--
- He was taking in people,
[chuckles]
kids you know who didn't have to a place go.
He was you know mentoring them.
He just couldn't see them on the streets, so he took them in.
I've always looked up to him for doing something like
that for other kids.
He's always been like that.
- In the year 2000, the All-Star promotion in the UK calls him
to come over for a month-long tour.
- Right now, he's one of the most recognizable stars of the
mighty world of Wrestling, the big man himself, Yokozuna.
[crowd cheers]
- He was doing what he loved.
Whether it was in WWE or not.
[crowd cheers]
- Squash him.
- Rod was really passionate about wrestling.
And it was his life.
And that's all you know he loved to do.
- People like you guys should have appreciate me
and the Hammer right here.
- We were there for a month.
And we bonded in a month like that.
I mean we became blood brothers we were that close.
This guy was a gem.
At the end of our tour-
- Yokozuna.
- -we wrestled,
we went back to the hotel,
and everybody said goodnight, went to our rooms.
- He just finished the show.
We got home.
And then he said he was really, really tired, but it was weird.
I guess he could called a couple of people.
I don't know if he knew that he was not well or whatever.
He just said he was really, really tired.
Everybody said, "Go to sleep."
- He called us and just you know saying goodnight.
- And one of the last thing I tell care him was he needed
to take of himself.
And then the phone call come like 24 hours later.
It was--
- It's October 23rd, 2000.
Rodney is in the UK.
He's on this month-long wrestling tour.
So he calls home just to check in, say hey to his family.
Then he goes to bed.
- The next morning, I'm waiting to get picked up to do a show,
and he won't answer his phone.
And they finally went in.
He was sitting up, and he had a remote, a TV remote there.
He was gone.
- I remember getting the call from my dad.
And he broke down and told me you know that Rod passed away.
I was in shock.
We were very close.
That call I'll never forget.
- It was devastating.
You know, I just dropped the phone.
- I wish I was there.
Yeah, that's my fault.
I told my brother that I was going to take care of his son.
I'm sorry, brother, that things didn't go the way
that we planned for the good of our kids.
- His cause of death was pulmonary edema where fluid
overflows your lungs.
- His heart was, man, it was just blessed you know.
Then his big heart stopped that night.
I'm sorry.
♪
- It was tough, it was.
It was tough on all of us.
He was a good dude, man.
- That's a brother, that's a brother.
It's like, "Man, why we have to lose people like that?"
- Yoko was too young to die.
But i was tragic in that Yoko was a larger-than-life
character in that he was larger than life.
But that is what ultimately took him out.
And that was sad.
- Rodney, just know that not a day goes by that
we don't think about you.
All your good deeds, your brotherhood, your fatherhood,
your kids miss you, your siblings, your whole family.
Thank you for leaving your mark in this family.
We continue to make you proud and move through.
Thank you.
♪
- When you look at that Samoan legacy, obviously,
you got Afa and Sika.
In their time, they were it.
- Samoan.
Oh, my word.
Pandemonium breaking out.
[bell rings]
[crowd cheers]
- They've had such an influence and have contributed to the
business with their offspring and their offspring's offspring.
- Three men, one Bloodline, four championships.
- Roman Reigns and the Usos.
This is what greatness looks like.
- But as far as who people remember, and who they look
at as megastars, Yoko is right up there in that top echelon.
- He's our first top guy, first title bearer that held
the responsibility in a global product professional wrestling
sports entertainment ring.
He will be the most massive presence that our family
ever puts out there.
- Oh, no.
- Yokozuna on a tear.
Look out.
Banzai.
- Definitely one of the greatest big man ever.
[crowd cheering]
- He loved what he became and what he did for the wrestling
industry and being an icon and everything but for us, we miss
him as just a loving family member, cousin, uncle, dad.
- His heart was full of love, full of caring, you know,
full of giving.
But this is the type of family that he comes because all this
starts within our living room and it's the teachings of our
culture, it's the teachings of love, it's the teachings of our
faith, it's the teachings of who we are as the Anoa'i family.
You live through your kids and now you're going to live even
stronger through your grandkids.
You got one of your grandkids named after you, Rodney.
Wow.
This was the Yokozuna that people didn't know.
This is the running that's behind the scenes that I only
wish you know that one day that everybody can know the person,
the man, the legend, the icon,
Rodney Anoa'i, Yokozuna.