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Yokozuna

The former champion is out for revenge!!

4 attires, logic, and parameters.

(1995 - 1996)

At In Your House 3 on September 24, 1995, Yokozuna teamed up with Davey Boy Smith to take on Shawn Michaels and Diesel (the back story being that Hart was with his wife as she gave birth to one of their children) with Diesel's WWF Championship, Shawn Michaels' Intercontinental Championship and Hart and Yokozuna's Tag Team Championship on the line. During the match, Hart came to the ring, only to be pinned by Diesel. The next day, due to protests from the team and the legal help of Clarence Mason, President Gorilla Monsoon reluctantly returned the belts to Yokozuna and Hart, since Hart was not an official part of the match. Their second reign was shorter, as the Smoking Gunns defeated them that night for the belts.

Yokozuna, by now weighing in at 660 lb (300 kg), had little continued success in 1996. He competed in the 1996 Royal Rumble match, managing to eliminate Bob Backlund, King Mabel, and Swat Team member #2 before being tossed out by Shawn Michaels, the eventual winner. Although Cornette had tried to make peace between him and new acquisition Vader, many observers felt Yokozuna was being relegated. After several run-ins, Yokozuna left Cornette and began a short stint as a fan favorite. He spoke English to the fans, had Mr. Fuji wave an American flag during his matches, and challenged Vader to numerous matches. It was during this feud that Yokozuna teamed up with Ahmed Johnson and Jake Roberts in a six-man tag-team match at WrestleMania XII, facing off with Vader, Owen Hart and British Bulldog. The feud took a painful turn a couple weeks later (April 8), when Vader jumped on Yokozuna's leg, (kayfabe) breaking it. The splash was shown on television as a leg break, in reality it was performed to allow Yokozuna to take some time off to lose weight. However, instead of a stretcher, a real forklift had to be brought to carry Yokozuna out on that edition of RAW. It was the only way to move a man of Yokozuna's size.

Yokozuna returned at In Your House 8: Beware of Dog to wrestle Vader. During the event, a severe thunderstorm in the area caused the pay-per-view broadcast feed to blackout. In one of the matches not broadcast, Yokozuna defeated Vader. The event was rescheduled two days later, in which the matches that were previously blacked-out took place again. In the rematch, Vader defeated Yokozuna. He appeared at Free for All just before SummerSlam, facing off against Stone Cold Steve Austin. Yokozuna took the advantage near the end of the match, but when he went for the Banzai Drop, the rope broke under his weight, sending him crashing back down. Austin attained the victory.

The next night on Raw, Yokozuna faced then WWF Champion Shawn Michaels for the title, teasing turning heel again. Despite using his big size, Yokozuna lost the match to Michaels. He made his final WWF appearance at the 1996 Survivor Series, still going after Vader, however he only briefly entered the match illegally and it ended with all remaining wrestlers being disqualified. For a second time, Yokozuna went to his home in Los Angeles to lose weight through exercise and dieting, being replaced by other wrestlers on a late November tour of the United Kingdom. Despite dropping a reported 100 lb (45 kg), he still could not lose enough to satisfy the WWF officials, and was not medically cleared to wrestle in some states because of his physical condition. Yokozuna was unable to pass a physical required for professional wrestlers by the New York State Athletic Commission.

Music: Yokozuna - Sumo.mp3