This WWE Superstar is reminding fans who originally came up with the Yokozuna gimmick.
During a recent interview with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard, Jacob Fatu was asked what he thinks Yokozuna would have been doing if he hadn’t portrayed the iconic Japanese sumo wrestling-inspired character.
“I don’t know,” Fatu said. “It was a different time back then. So with that being a different time and a different movement back then, I don’t know, it was kind of hard, because I kind of do see him throwing sand, being the Japanese. So, I don’t know. It was too many Samoans in at the time. I mean, hell, there’s too many Samoans now up in here. But, I don’t know, man, I think that might’ve been the right gimmick for him.”
The Samoan Werewolf also took the opportunity to give a shoutout to WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter for pitching the Yokozuna gimmick.
“And shout out to Sgt. Slaughter, man, for making it happen. Sgt. Slaughter came up with it. They talked about it during the documentary, which was awesome.”
Sgt. Slaughter on creating Yokozuna character for WWE
Sgt. Slaughter previously shared this story during an interview with Bill Apter for Sportskeeda.
The WWE legend recalled how Vince McMahon initially struggled to find the right direction for Rodney Anoa’i’s character before Slaughter suggested the sumo wrestler gimmick.
“I created Yokozuna at that time,” Slaughter revealed. “Rodney was there, and Vince said, ‘I don’t know what to do with this guy.’ I said, ‘He is a hell of a talent; I’ve worked with him many times.’
He said, ‘Yeah, but I’ve got ten Samoans now; I don’t know what to do with him.’ So I started thinking about a Sumo wrestler, and he came through with flying colors.
“We all stayed there. We fought that war. We won the war.”
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