Original subtitles

My father's name is very important, especially to me.

I named my son after him.

This is Rodney, named after his grandfather, Rodney Onowai.

Yokozuna.

Oh,

look at that!

Get ready for his defeat.

You didn't have to groom him. He was already ready.

Unbelievable! Wow!

They don't come along every day like he'll come.

Definitely one of the greatest big men ever.

But he had that demon.

It's hard to talk about.

He was larger

than life.

But that is what ultimately took him out.

Yokozuna looks like he's gotten even bigger.

He would never tell you that he's hurting.

He would do everything with a smile and continue on.

Stand up guy, give you the shirt off his back.

He took his platform and he helped people that he loved. He helped people

were in need.

That's the teachings of our culture of the Samoan dynasty.

This was the Yokozuna that people didn't know.

Rodney and the White.

Where Rod grew up in L .A., 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, you know, 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

he'd get his ass whipped by his dad.

But in a good way, a soundboard way.

He's 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

it was a lot.

You know, it got all the way to the month of graduation when they found out

wasn't going to graduate from high school.

He wasn't like 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 uncle.

Here comes the Wild Samoans heading out into this filled Madison Square Garden.

Capacity's proud on their feet, giving a welcome to the Wild Samoans.

Often, Sika the Wild Samoans were a legendary tag team in the 1970s and

1980s. We just want to make money. 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're training in my backyard.

And I told these kids, you got to work your butt off.

This is how the game is, you know, you got to lay a man.

During the time when we're all training, we all became very, very close.

Uncle Alva and Sika no longer became Uncle Alva and Sika.

They were like father figures to us.

My parents would talk with my uncles a lot, you know, to see how Rob was doing

and making sure he doesn't get out of line.

And if he didn't like it, then he can always come back home.

But he loved professional wrestling.

You know, I would think he's tired because he's the bigger one from up.

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 Coquina and Jimmy Beckham.

He started to independent circles as Coquina Maximus.

Impressive, impressive wrestler. This guy goes about 375 pounds.

And for as big as Rod was, he was a natural.

And he's nasty, and he's mean, and he's everything that the Windhams don't want

to see on a Saturday night.

And I think, you know, as he kept going, you tend to see the birth

of this big kid, you know, moving around lightning speed like that.

I knew that he's very smart, he's very athletic, and with the

proper discipline, we know that he could do it.

I was very proud of him. I was proud

that, you know, my brother wanted to do this.

Coquina, welcome!

He was accomplishing something with his life, and, you know, we were all proud

of him.

It's now 1987.

Rodney, 21 years old.

Him and his girlfriend have a daughter, Kaylani, 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 and 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.

Wanting someone who looks like an attraction.

So I had taken a trip and saw Coquina and thought, wow,

this guy has it.

He moved like a 200 pounder. He's so fast. I don't mean fast for a big man.

is just fast.

Amazing.

We asked Rodney to come in and do a tryout, and how could you not be

Welcome to an exciting evening with the superstar!

When the WWE calls, you're not only going to take it, you're ecstatic.

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, Coquina!

Initially, he was Coquina the Wild Samoan, the giant Coquina. He was

Maximus.

Unfortunately, that wasn't working.

How much does this man weigh?

Does he speak English?

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, what a talent.

He said, yeah, I know. But I got seven Samoans now.

What am I going to do with him?

So my wheels started spinning.

Two more wrestlers.

Vince is like.

Send the kids to my office.

That's how exciting it was for me.

He said, put his hair in a bun, you know, like one of those sumo wrestlers.

name Yokozuna came from the number one sumo wrestler was the Yokozuna.

So we had the greatest of all, the Yokozuna.

Get ready for deceit.

We're back.

Sushi weighing 505 pounds.

Yuko Sushi.

Where America was with its understanding of Japanese culture, sushi was

literally just becoming a popular cuisine in the late 80s and early 90s.

really didn't have a lot of experience, I think, with Japanese culture in this

country at that time.

Yokozuna jumped off the pain.

Indeed, the pride of the rising sun for sure.

And when Yoko took off the robe, the first time that he appeared in the

Look at the size of this 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.

When he first came in, he was truly amazing.

I'd never seen anything like it.

The way that guy can move, he was incredible. He was a big man,

but he was an awesome big man.

It is an understatement to say he has made quite an impression.

Yokozuna.

Watching him perform in the ring, I'm like, holy sh... Wow.

He walked out, it was like a stegosaurus walking out to the ring. It's like,

holy sh... Look at this guy, Al.

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.

Like a big, giant heel like King Kong Bundy or

Abdul the Butcher.

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 a earthquake.

And the arena just...

reacted to every single thing Yoko did.

Vince knew what he had. He had a rare killer heel.

But Yokozuna backstage was

totally different than what the fans saw on TV.

He seemed like he was always in a good mood.

You know, what I remember most was 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 did a video one time with Yokozuna

at a steakhouse.

With the chef cooking up steak and lobster and shrimp and everything for

noticed you cut up two steaks for Yoko.

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 you guys ate, man? Hey, you ate all the sushi. You ate

them all. You guys ate all the damn sushi. We 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.

They were giving him the big push.

Then liked the reaction he was getting. That's what everything was based on. So

obviously he was strong. That's how they moved you along the card.

To

get

a push like that that early was...

A phenomenal opportunity for him.

Our whole family was like, we could see it become reality.

Yokozuna from introduction to get to that point.

I think it was kind of a hell of a fairytale ride for Yoko.

And Yoko kind of went through it 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 Federation 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 was ready.

But in WrestleMania, he was a real pro in the ring.

The place was already electric, you know, it was like we dropped a bomb in

ring.

To be on that card with the legend Hulk Hogan, I don't think that Vince would

have given that opportunity to Rod or anybody if Vince didn't trust the

And knew that he can handle the pressure.

Then all of a sudden, your boy and Hulk was traveling all over the world

together.

And that set up the championship match at King of the Ring.

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

You know, nothing's going to hand it 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.

You know

who that is, baby?

Who is that?

Who's that?

He gave me a birthday.

As a kid, you know, just breaking things or whatever.

So when I watched his matches and he would do the bonsai, he would yell

my name.

He would just yell, Busty!

I did hear that.

It's so shocking, too, just that he shouted my name out like that.

Yeah, he just won the biggest of them all. It's just, yeah.

Yokozuna has defeated Hulk Hogan to win the WWF Championship.

To work with him, you know, it was just a pleasure.

And 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.

All right, here he is, Yokozuna, and his advisor, Jim Poinette.

That set him on his way, man.

From there on, he became the big star that he was.

He wasn't overwhelming.

He wasn't, like, 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.

Every time, 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.

Back in the day when I was a head shrinker, Yoko was making a lot of

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 rot.

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.

And I was... And he was around during the hard times and

bad times.

And Iraq is going to always be there for me.

And I will ever 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 values of Samoan culture, you know, you carry it 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.

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 the limo.

All the kids were like, 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 rocky.

But when it came time to be Yokozuna, that's where you see this face come.

Well, 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, if you think, who's going to beat somebody

like Yokozuna?

Here we go!

Can you believe it? 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 in WrestleMania two years in a row

phenomenal.

many more other WrestleManias, but the question was, could he

keep up?

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.

Then you started to see he's a step behind in the ring. He's a little bit

slower.

And 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, like, hate?

To traveling.

As his size increased, it became increasingly difficult to travel.

We had first business class seats, first class seats, but he was so big that he

still didn't, he couldn't sit in the seats.

One night we were in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and poor Yokozuna went

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...

Like, I didn't know what to do.

He actually cut his butt cheek on some of the broken porcelain. I remember it

was, 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 Yoko'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 should be around 400.

Like, I was...

you know, eating a half a bucket of chicken myself.

But he got to the point where, you know, we're like, hey, yo, dog, man, you

know, maybe it's time to lose some weight.

You know, we had that conversation.

You got to, you know, focus on yourself right now.

It's okay for you to take care of you now, Rod.

Rod being Rod, there ain't nothing wrong with me. I can still go.

What do you eat for breakfast?

Let's say more than you do.

I'm sure he was in denial about it.

You must have taken two seats in the frame.

Oh, yeah, every day.

You know, he really wouldn't want to engage in it. You know, everything's

Everything's going to be, you know, everything's good.

And what is your current weight?

I know, 6 .1.

Then we had to send him to, like, a loading dock where they weighed crates

things like that to weigh him.

And that was a slap in the face. That was a big, like, 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.

Yoko was off for whatever it was, maybe three months.

Maybe even longer.

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 start to notice, you know, I could be having a conversation with him, and next

thing you know, I see he's just, you know, 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. And he's, like, jumping, like, looking for

And I just went and jumped on him. Hey!

He woke me up, and he cursed at me.

What the hell?

You're not breathing.

And he come back again.

Sleep. And he started, like, choking, looking for air again.

And now you're stuck with...

He's going to die.

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

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!

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

there.

I don't think him working in a lower level means that much other

than, you know, he

felt like he let us down.

And 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 um at

the

time he also had a wrestling school out there in las vegas so he uh

he taught brother why are you here The reason why I'm here in Las Vegas is to

come out here and fulfill everybody's dream, and that is to become a

professional wrestler.

Anybody out there that's got the heart... He was taking in people, kids

know, didn't have a place to go.

He, you know, was mentoring them.

He just couldn't see them on the street, 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 called him to

come over for a month -long tour.

Right now, he's one of the most recognizable stars of the mighty world

wrestling. The big man himself, Yokozuna!

He was doing what he loved, and whether it was in WWE or not.

Rod was really passionate about wrestling, and

it was his life, and that's all, you know, he loved to do.

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, we wrestled.

Then we went back to the hotel.

And everybody said goodnight, went to our rooms.

He just finished the show.

We called home.

And then he said he was really, really tired.

But it was weird. I guess he had called a couple of people.

I don't know if he knew that he was not well or whatever.

But, yeah,

he just said he was really, really tired.

And everybody said, go to sleep.

He called us.

And just, you know, saying goodnight.

And one of the last thing I tell him was he needed to take care of himself.

And then, you know, 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

his phone.

And they finally went in.

He was sitting up, and he had a remote, TV remote there.

He was gone.

I remember getting the call from my dad.

And he broke down and told me that, you know,

Rod passed away.

I was in shock.

We were very close, and that call I'll never forget.

It was devastating.

You know, I just dropped the phone.

I wish I was there.

Yeah, it'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, just blessed, you know.

And then his big heart stopped that night.

It was tough.

It was tough on all of us.

He's 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 it 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 that.

Rodney, just know that not a day goes by that we don't think about

you. All your good deeds, your...

your fatherhood, your kids miss you, your siblings, your whole family.

Thank you for leaving your mark in this family.

We'll continue to make you proud and move through. Thank you.

When you look at that Samoan legacy, obviously you've got Appa and Fika.

In their time, they were it.

They have 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 at 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.

Definitely one of the greatest big men ever.

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

family.

You live through your kids.

But 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 Rodney that's behind the scenes.

That I only wish that, you know, one day that, you know, everybody can know the

person, the man, the legend, the icon.

Rodney Anoa 'i.

Yokozuna.