Yokozuna

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by shoe

here in my photo, you see , he literally looks like this in his prime. i saw a photo of him literally with his small face looked like a bean in a mass of mountainous flesh.
now he looks like below.

Hahahahaha... that is CLASSIC!

I wish I knew him personally, I'd send him this picture. I bet he'd get a kick out of it.

 

[sho'nuff]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

Hahahahaha... that is CLASSIC!

I wish I knew him personally, I'd send him this picture. I bet he'd get a kick out of it.

hehe

i thought you knew him

 

[mizanation]

Originally Posted by Dragon

My all time favorite is Chiyonofuji. He was small like Wakanohana, but was much more muscular. I think he is near the top of the all time win record too.
+1 for Chiyonofuji. He was one of the first sumo wrestlers to weight train seriously. He wasn't fat, but was more muscular than anything. He fought with a lot of heart and was a symbol for 80's era japan--hard-working, ambitious and proud. At the end of his career, he would often dislocate his shoulder, but he would keep on fighting. They called him the Wolf.

 

[FidelCashflow]

Originally Posted by Hombre Secreto

The WWF one. R.I.P.

I heard he was forced to leave the WWF due to health problems and was never cleared by doctors to come back. Sad. (BTW, I stopped following pro wrestling around that time)

 

[sho'nuff]

Originally Posted by mizanation

+1 for Chiyonofuji.

He was one of the first sumo wrestlers to weight train seriously. He wasn't fat, but was more muscular than anything. He fought with a lot of heart and was a symbol for 80's era japan--hard-working, ambitious and proud.

At the end of his career, he would often dislocate his shoulder, but he would keep on fighting.

They called him the Wolf.

so is sumo really meant for the wrestler to be in CHiyonofuji's shape? why is all sumo mostly all big fat?
are they not training seriously to maintain /gain muscle and keep fat in check? just curious. i thought they were encouraged to get very fat.

 

[Nantucket Red]

Originally Posted by mizanation

+1 for Chiyonofuji.

He was one of the first sumo wrestlers to weight train seriously. He wasn't fat, but was more muscular than anything. He fought with a lot of heart and was a symbol for 80's era japan--hard-working, ambitious and proud.

At the end of his career, he would often dislocate his shoulder, but he would keep on fighting.

They called him the Wolf.

I'm also definitely in the Chyonofuji camp. He was the phenomenon of sumo during my first stint in Japan, and it was impossible not to know who he was. I remember watching him get his topknot cut off in his retirement ceremony on TV, which was an emotional moment for many watching. Women were wild about him. He really broke the mold.

 

[mizanation]

sumo are encouraged to be heavy because it is a definite advantage in the sport.

but, under that fat is a ridiculous amount of muscle mass.

i know a guy who travelled all over the world doing different martial arts and was a professional shootfighter for some time. he said sumo fighters were the strongest guys he had ever met by far.

 

[SoulPatcher]

Originally Posted by FidelCashflow

I heard he was forced to leave the WWF due to health problems and was never cleared by doctors to come back. Sad.

(BTW, I stopped following pro wrestling around that time)

lol thats ridiculous.

He's gone from the WWF (and the earth, unfortunately) because he lost a casket match to the Undertaker.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

I find it somewhat amusing that the WWF's "Yokozuna" was not only NOT a Yokozuna, but was never even a sumotori.

That would be like some wrestler billing himself as "World Heavyweight Boxing Champ"... when not only had he never won a boxing championship of any kind but he didn't even know how to box.

I

yellowface.

 

[acidboy]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

I find it somewhat amusing that the WWF's "Yokozuna" was not only NOT a Yokozuna, but was never even a sumotori.

That would be like some wrestler billing himself as "World Heavyweight Boxing Champ"... when not only had he never won a boxing championship of any kind but he didn't even know how to box.

I

yellowface.

haha. that's so funny. so you mean to tell me that undertaker's not really a dead person? or val venis isn't really a Appreciation actor? or that midget they're showing now isn't really a leprechaun? wait.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by acidicboy

haha. that's so funny. so you mean to tell me that undertaker's not really a dead person? or val venis isn't really a Appreciation actor? or that midget they're showing now isn't really a leprechaun? wait.

What I'm saying is that pro wrestling would never, for example, make up a character claiming that he was the Superbowl MVP. Or an "Olympic Gold Medalist" in wrestling. (without actually winning one, or even competing) I think there's a difference, and a big one, between lying about being a supernatural entity for entertainment's sake, and lying about being an actual person for entertainment's sake. I mean, how many zombies do you think got pissed off because the Undertaker belittled the achievements in their lives by mocking them on publich television?

 

[acidboy]

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

What I'm saying is that pro wrestling would never, for example, make up a character claiming that he was the Superbowl MVP. Or an "Olympic Gold Medalist" in wrestling. (without actually winning one, or even competing)

I think there's a difference, and a big one, between lying about being a supernatural entity for entertainment's sake, and lying about being an actual person for entertainment's sake. I mean, how many zombies do you think got pissed off because the Undertaker belittled the achievements in their lives by mocking them on publich television?

True, but Yokozuna the wrestler was developed during the time when wrestlers were more like cartoon characters. He was the foreign bad-guy that people would love to shout U-S-A at. Also, I guess when the dental practitioners, millionaires, communists, repo men, the IRS, garbage collectors and cowboys didn't raise a fit when a stereotype of fake repute "rassled" the promoters thought they could pretty much do any character they see fit.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Originally Posted by acidicboy

True, but Yokozuna the wrestler was developed during the time when wrestlers were more like cartoon characters. He was the foreign bad-guy that people would love to shout U-S-A at. Also, I guess when the dental practitioners, millionaires, communists, repo men, the IRS, garbage collectors and cowboys didn't raise a fit when a stereotype of fake repute "rassled" the promoters thought they could pretty much do any character they see fit.
I am also upset that Sgt. Slaughter was not actually in the army, not responsible for directing any troops, (Even G.I. Joe! - who evidently, wasn't a real G.I.!) and never, to the best of my knowledge Slaughtered anyone. I am never trusting Vince McMahon or cartoons for factual information ever again!! I dunno, maybe I just see a big difference between playing the character of a "cowboy" or a "clown" or whatever... and playing a "Yokozuna" or a "Sheik" (especially, when the character is obviously a heel) Yokozuna is a rank that so few people ever achieve that is was explicitly obvious that it was an unflattering racist caricature. I knew this when I was seven and first watched professional wrestling. I understand that it was a different, less PC timeframe, and everything, but the fact that Americans are insensitive to other country's cultures, are frequently stereotypical and negative about them, doesn't really matter that it's all done in "innocent fun" for entertainment purposes. I can laugh along with the joke, but the problem is that nobody has ever bothered to do anything BUT the joke. If McMahon was interested, he could have easily gotten an actual Sumotori. Instead, he dressed a Hawaiian up (rather poorly) as a Sumo and tried to pass him off as having acheived the highest level or a sport he'd never been involved in for the sole purpose of having someone to boo.

 

[sho'nuff]

and the Rock is not even a real rock. he's some guy who raises his left eyebrow.

 

[FidelCashflow]

Originally Posted by acidicboy

True, but Yokozuna the wrestler was developed during the time when wrestlers were more like cartoon characters. He was the foreign bad-guy that people would love to shout U-S-A at. Also, I guess when the dental practitioners, millionaires, communists, repo men, the IRS, garbage collectors and cowboys didn't raise a fit when a stereotype of fake repute "rassled" the promoters thought they could pretty much do any character they see fit.
I'm still choked about the time that IRS repossessed Razor Ramon's gold chains!