The WWE and Intercontinental Championships have been defended in casket matches and the titles haven't changed hands. The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. Spanning its storied history through NWA, WCW and WWE, matches include Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum T.A., Sting vs. Rick Rude and AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens. On October 23, 2000, three weeks after his 34th birthday,[51] Anoai died from pulmonary edema in his room at the Moat House Hotel on Paradise Street in Liverpool while on a wrestling tour of the UK for All Star Wrestling. The Undertaker and Kane clashed in the first casket match to take place on Raw, just 24 hours removed from their WWE Championship match at Judgment Day: In Your House. The Best Raw Matches of the Decade 10 Greatest Matches From the 2010s The match was billed as an All-Americans (Lex Luger, The Undertaker and Steiner Brothers) vs. Foreign Fanatics (Yokozuna, Quebecer Jacques, Ludvig Borga and Crush) contest. The Best of Alexa Bliss This made Luger the next major challenger to Yokozuna's title. [14], At WrestleMania IX, Yokozuna wrestled against Bret Hart for the WWF Championship. What should have been Yokozuna's night was instead a creative misstep designed at putting the spotlight on Hogan one last time at the event he helped create. A significant weight issuehad doomed his on-screen presence and relegated him to inconsistent programs. Commentator Bobby Heenan claimed Luger's move was a hiptoss, not a bodyslam, as Yokozuna was running at Luger, but the slam was ruled legitimate. Sign up for BINGE to watch. The One and Only Ricochet However, when Luger went for the pin, Perfect occupied himself with the unconscious Fuji and Cornette who were still lying on the ring apron. Tevon is a big fan of professional wrestling, who has followed wrestling since the Attitude Era. While most of us will agree that this was a poor creative choice that was out of touch with what the fans wanted, and particularly impractical for Hogan working a part-time schedule, the Hogan-Yokozuna rivalry was logical in pitting the all-time great American hero opposite the new foreign monster. RELATED: 10 Undertaker Moments That Were Actually Hilarious. Copyright 2022 TIlt Magazine. [2][31][32] Following the match, Jim Cornette stated, "Michael Jordan's back and so is Yokozuna", in reference to Jordan's first return to the NBA. The two feuded in actuality in early 1996, cast as frenemies in Camp Cornette before Yokozuna turned face and the guys worked the house show circuit, besides working opposite sides of an underrated six-man tag at WrestleMania 12. Click here for our privacy policy. Nonetheless, Luger was physically capable of the slam and got the big push, into a rivalry that reached its climax at SummerSlam where Luger picked up a count-out victory, to be followed by the two captaining opposing teams at Survivor Series. Best of Womens Evolution [1][2][39], Yokozuna was officially released from the WWF in May 1998, a decision that came directly from Vince McMahon due to his weight issues. [45] 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. Yokozuna was bidding to become the first heel to walk out of WrestleMania as WWE Champion. So, while the point is certainly debatable, Id argue Yokozuna never had a better match than his first title win opposite Bret Hart at WrestleMania 9. After dropping the belt, Yokozuna's main event status began to fade away. On top of that, though the WWF billed him from Polynesia, he dressed in sumo garb, waved the Japanese flag and came to the ring with Mr. Fuji, clearly casting him as a representative of Japan and appealing to the WWF fanships jingoistic impulses. Undertaker and Mark Henry had a WrestleMania 22 rematch on the March 10, 2008 edition of Raw in another casket match. 'Macho Man' Randy Savage's Best Matches In 2012, his accomplishments were immortalized, as he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. RELATED: The 11 Worst SummerSlams, According To Cagematch.net. I didnt pull the trigger, however, for what I imagine are similar reasons to why the WWF never pulled the trigger on Luger taking the world titlehe just wasnt quite over or good enough in the ring to justify it. Entering at #27, Yokozuna scored seven eliminations during his time in the Rumble, including that of Bob Backlund, Earthquake, and future tag team partner Owen Hart. The reigning WWE Champion managed to contribute to one elimination by taking out Scott Steiner with a leg drop. The Best of In Your House Before the match began, Undertaker snuck up behind Goldust to gain the upper hand. The best of WWE Hall of Famer Yokozuna | WWE This video is either unavailable or not supported in this browser Error Code: MEDIA_ERR_SRC_NOT_SUPPORTED Technical details : The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported. [17] At King of the Ring, Yokozuna, whose weight had already increased from 505lb (229kg) to 550lb (250kg), challenged Hogan for the title. Yokozuna's First 10 WWE PPV Matches, Ranked From Worst To Best By Tevon King Published Dec 19, 2021 Yokozuna, a member of the legendary Anoa'i family, was an attraction and his first batch of matches on a WWE pay-per-view was a mixed bag. The wrestlers he feuded with were some of the all-time greats and that made Yokozuna look like a monster inside the squared circle. The contest, the most ludicrous and outrageously booked in WWE history, saw Yokozuna benefit from the assistance of 10 other Superstars to defeat The Deadman, shoving him into a casket as the spirit of the enigmatic competitor poured from an urn and into the Rhode Island night. The Luger-Yokozuna issue launched via Yokozunas Independence Day body slam challenge, when he stood on the deck of the USS Intrepid and dared any American wrestler to try to slam him. The two competed in a worked sumo match in which Earthquake actually got the best of Yokozuna, only for Yokozuna to crush his big foe with Banzai Drops shortly thereafter. His uncles were The Wild Samoans, Afa and Sika, who trained him from an early age in the family business. Your email address will not be published. He defeated WWE Hall of Famers Bret Hart and Hulk Hogan, in consecutive pay-per-view victories in the main event of WrestleMania IX and the 1993 King of the Ring, to win his two WWF World Heavyweight Championships, and also headlined WrestleMania X against Hart. The Hulkster, who had come to ringside to check on Hart, hit the ring, ducked another salt-fueled attack and delivered his big leg drop to capture the championship. Perfect, he was disqualified, thus making Yokozuna the first villainous champion to successfully defend the WWF Championship at a WrestleMania. The Undertaker's uninspiring rivalry with King Mabel finally came to an end in a casket match in the final WWE PPV of 1995. ! Vader vs. Yokozuna: Raw, April 8, 1996 WWE 93.3M subscribers Subscribe Share 178K views 10 months ago Two powerhouses pummel each other when they face off in the ring during Raw! It became something of a dream match to speculate on what would happen if these two collided in the ring, and I specifically remember debating who was more deadlythat a childhood friend at the time was sold on Yokozuna at a hundred-plus-pounds heavier, while I backed Vader for his more aggressive style and agility (he may have used it sooner, but 1993 was when I first saw him pull off a moonsault). After a lot of struggle (as well as damaging the Undertaker's "magic" urn), the group managed to shove the Undertaker into the casket, giving the win to Yokozuna. The feud took a painful turn a couple weeks later (April 8), when Vader jumped on Yokozuna's leg, (kayfabe) breaking it. By late spring 1994, Yokozuna was already on the decline of his WWF run, but nonetheless regained some momentum and asserted himself as the alpha-super heavyweight in a short feud with. The feud came to an anticlimactic finish with the two on opposite sides, but not blowing off much, at Survivor Series. Survivor Series 1992 was the sight of Yokozuna's WWE pay-per-view debut. Copyright 2023 411mania.com, LLC. It was an emotional night but one that ensured the story of the super heavyweight would live on in the annals of WWE. Vader gets the nod for the number four spot, though, because of the unspoken build that went down in 1993. Editors Note: This article is part of anongoing series. I write, I blog, I podcast, I edit, and I design websites. Triple H interfered and he clocked Rock in the arm with a sledgehammer. Daniel Bryans Best Matches When Cornette tried to interfere to break a pinfall, Piper decked him. This should have been the start of a decent WWE Championship run for Yokozuna but Hulk Hogan intervened, and he challenged Yokozuna to an impromptu WWE Title match. He had two children, Justin and Keilani. One week before his WWE Championship showdown with Sycho Sid at WrestleMania 13, The Undertaker and Vader collided in a casket match. Watch every Premium Live Event and enjoy some of your favorite WWE content on Disney + HotStar. WWE Best Moments of 2020, Roman Reigns' Championship Matches Nevertheless, Undertaker was representing the Corporate Ministry in his casket match with The Rock. Despite using his big size, Yokozuna lost the match to Michaels. This feud makes the cut for the memorable, if unsavory images of these two engaged in sumo combat, as Yokozuna faced his one believable rival in that context, and went on to decimate him after the match. Adam Coles Undisputed Best However, a photographer appeared on the apron, and he flashed a fireball in Hogan's face. Many wrestlers and athletes alike tried to slam Yokozuna, with no success. The casket match has become The Undertaker's signature match. While the match wasnt as good this time around, and critics generally have lukewarm reactions to Yokozuna losing because he lost his balance going for a Banzai Drop, Harts win was nonetheless the happy ending fans had been waiting for. Kane chokeslammed Triple H, and he stuffed him into the casket. Their casket match wasn't a technical masterclass but the match was tons of fun to watch. [2][20], At SummerSlam, Yokozuna, now weighing in at 568lb (258kg), and the newly reborn patriot Luger fought it out for the WWF Championship. Undertaker triumphed and the Game destroyed the casket. The two-time WWE champion dominated the main event scene, combatting the likes of Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan, Lex Luger and The Undertaker to considerable success while establishing himself as the lead villain of the era. For this match, Roddy Piper was the special referee. Ultimately, Undertaker weathered the storm and he went on to win another casket match. Yokozuna then gave the Undertaker a Banzai Drop, but the Undertaker sat up when Yokozuna went for a second Banzai Drop. The Undertaker's Most Brutal Last Rides NXTs Most Defining TakeOver Matches However, outside interference from Kane aided Michaels in a successful WWE Championship title defense. Ultimately, Bryan was victorious as he connected with the Running Knee with Kane locked inside the casket. Best of Ruthless Aggression Undertaker incapacitated Henry with Hell's Gate, and the World's Strongest Man was bleeding from the mouth. By the time his career in WWE was over in 1996, he had been at the top of the industry, traveled the world as the top dog in Vince McMahon's company and established himself as a locker-room leader. Best of Unboxing Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Goomba Stomp and Tilt Magazine. 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