Yokozuna is one of the best monsters in professional wrestling. Throughout his four-year WWE run, the gigantic Samoan-turned-Japanese wrestler brought an aura to the room like very few before or after him. It didn't take too long for Yokozuna to establish himself as a main eventer, winning the 1993 Royal Rumble match just three short months after his WWE debut.
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Accompanied by Mr. Fuji and his "American spokesperson" Jim Cornette, Yokozuna won the WWE Championship twice throughout his relatively short WWE career. He was also a two-time holder of the Tag Team Championship alongside fellow Camp Cornette member, Owen Hart. Yokozuna losing was very rare, especially while he was in the main event scene. Here is a look at all the eight times Yoko's shoulders got pinned to the mat in WWE.
8 Hulk Hogan (WrestleMania 9)
By now, everything has been said about the ending to WrestleMania 9. Yokozuna earned the right to challenge Bret Hart for the WWE Championship at 'Mania by winning the Royal Rumble. In the main event (or so we thought) of that show, Yokozuna defeated The Hitman with the help of Mr. Fuji's ceremonial salt to claim his first WWE Championship. Until everything took a left turn...
Hulk Hogan, ever the hero, came down to ringside to check on the defeated Hart, his best friend in the whole world. Seeing the Hulkster at ringside, Mr. Fuji challenged him to an immediate title match for reasons unknown. Hogan entered the ring to officially cash in his "Brother in the Bank" clause, and was WWE Champion 30 seconds later. And this was the way they ended Yokozuna's undefeated streak.
7 Bret Hart (WrestleMania 10)
One year after that fiasco of a WrestleMania ending, Bret Hart and Yokozuna got to properly main event the tenth edition of WrestleMania, held in Madison Square Garden.
Both men had already wrestled once before in the evening, with Bret defeating his brother Owen in arguably the greatest opener of all time, and Yokozuna retaining the WWE Championship over Lex Luger. This happened because Luger also won the Royal Rumble along with Bret, and Luger won a coin toss to get his shot first. Don't give me that look, I'm just reporting what happened!
Given Yokozuna's size at the time, and especially considering this was the big man's second match of the night, their match was decent. The match ended when Yoko went for his Banzai Drop in the corner, but slipped off the turnbuckle and The Hitman covered him for the win and his second WWE Championship.
6 Ahmed Johnson (Survivor Series 1995)
Do not adjust or refresh your devices, this was indeed Yokozuna's third pinfall loss on WWE programming. Nearly 20 months after losing the WWE Championship to Bret Hart at WrestleMania 10, Yokozuna was a part of an eight-man "strange bedfellows" Survivor Series elimination tag team match.
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His team only scored one elimination when Razor Ramon pinned Sid, while his partners (Razor, Dean Douglas and Owen Hart) were all eliminated. Thus, Yokozuna found himself in a three-on-one situation against The British Bulldog, Shawn Michaels and Ahmed Johnson in the end. Michaels connected with Sweet Chin Music, and Ahmed immediately followed it up with a splash on the huge Yokozuna for the victory.
5 Shawn Michaels (RAW - January 29, 1996)
By early 1996, Shawn Michaels' mega push to the top of the WWE mountain was in full effect. He won the Royal Rumble match for the second year in a row, and would win the WWE Championship from Bret Hart in the famous 60-minute Iron Man Match at WrestleMania 12.
One week later, Shawn actually got to defeat Yokozuna via pinfall in a singles match on Monday Night Raw. Owen Hart entered the ring while Jim Cornette distracted the referee, only to errantly kick the big man instead. Michaels finished off Yokozuna with Sweet Chin Music afterwards. This was done to set up Yokozuna's eventual face turn.
4 Vader (In Your House 8: Beware of Dog, 1996)
Yokozuna indeed turned face in early 1996, being replaced by the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion in Camp Cornette. The two behemoths were in opposing teams in a six-man tag team match at WrestleMania 12, which Cornette's side won. Immediately afterwards, Vader destroyed Yokozuna and wrote him off television for a couple of months.
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When Yoko returned, a singles clash with the monster from the Rocky Mountains was inevitable. Given the technical issues from this event, they ended up wrestling twice on the same show across different days. Yokozuna won the first match in three minutes, which did not air. Two nights later, the outcome was different with Yokozuna putting Vader over in the match that did make the pay-per-view broadcast.
3 Owen Hart (RAW - June 10, 1996)
The former partners and World Tag Team Champions were booked in the first round of the famous King of the Ring 1996 tournament. By then, Yokozuna's health was very concerning and the former WWE Champion was struggling to even move during his matches.
As a result, it's no surprise that the match didn't even last four minutes from bell to bell. The King of Harts was able to avoid Yoko's Banzai Drop before stealing the win with his feet on the ropes. The writing was clearly on the wall for Yokozuna at this point in his career.
2 Steve Austin (SummerSlam 1996 Free For All)
Stone Cold Steve Austin was of course the winner of the aforementioned King of the Ring 1996 tournament, last defeating Jake Roberts in a tournament before cutting the promo that changed his career forever. On the SummerSlam Free For All, which is similar to the free "kickoff show" WWE does nowadays, Yokozuna battled WWE's new mega star.
This was a really sad match that lasted just a little over a minute, and is basically only famous for Austin hilariously s******* his pants during the short bout. The finish saw the ropes literally explode when Yokozuna went for the Banzai Drop to his weight, allowing Austin to pin him.
1 Shawn Michaels (RAW - August 19th, 1996)
As you might have noticed throughout this article, Yokozuna went from being pinned twice in his first two years to being pinned twice in two nights here. On the episode of Raw after SummerSlam, Yoko wrestled yet another singles match against Shawn Michaels, who was the reigning WWE Champion coming off a successful title defense over Vader at the summer extravaganza.
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Michaels won yet again, this time cleanly after reversing a leg drop from Yokozuna and hitting Sweet Chin Music. This would be Yokozuna's final match ever on Monday Night Raw, wrestling his final WWE match ever at Survivor Series a couple of months afterwards.
