Mr. Wonderful spoke about things like this when he was alive. Basically said it's pathetic to hurt someone when they give you their body, it's not a real fight you didn't prove anything,
@@Brahaja You wouldn't think its funny if Yoko's fat ass crushed your rib cage or Davey boy smith hit you so hard, you had to eat with a straw for the next 6 months. They're Scumbags for doing this.
Because they were actual jobbers.Now they use washed up talent and people on the level up roster for enhancement talent...the jobbers are actually trained and professional now!
@@jasons2270 They were trained professionals back then too, since a lot of the "jobbers" came from smaller, local wrestling promotions. Or do you think they just collected people from the local bar?
He didn't 'take care' of anyone out of respect. The top guys said that they woukdn't work with him if he didn't start working safer and 'Taker told him that he better listen, or his time in WWF would be very short. He never would have gotten away with taking liberties with jobbers if Andre was still alive then. Andre would have put manners on him the same way he did to Studd and The Iron Sheik, both of whom Andre HATED because they hurt job guys for no reason.
Not even true , you may want to go listen to Undertakers Podcast about Yokozuna and get you some facts, he literally says for as big of a man Yoko was he took care of you in the ring if he liked you . Think you’re getting your facts mixed up with Mable who was hurting everyone in the ring .
@@Majorhotshot "If he liked you". They act like it's badass but it's cowardly. The other guy is trusting you but if Yoko for whatever reason doesn't like you he's going to genuinely hurt you? Pathetic.
It's one of those things where even if you protect the person taking the move, even if Yoko holds onto the ropes & doesn't kick his feet out, that's still over 500 pounds..600 pounds..hell even Yoko at his heaviest! That's a lot of weight dropping down on someone.
Oh get over it, you know damn well things were different back then and complaining about it will not change anything. In fact they still do stuff like this today I can almost guarantee it and it will not change!
@trendmassacre8423 lol great reasoning ability. " different time" purposely hurting someone was pretty frowned upon in the 90s dude. You have no argument. Literally.
Damn never knew Yoko was basically the Road Warriors in those early days of Raw. As Jim Cornette says "when the enhancement talent would see they were working the Road Warriors and you'd see their hearts sink."😫
@@donovanbradford8231 I love wrestling so much but the persons doing it are so cringe in their weird perception of "strength". With the knowledge of today a lot of them (especially the "Old School Guys") come off as the most insecure assholes you can imagine. I guess it's a byproduct of faking a real sport and constantly playing a tough guy.
@@newjerseyballerdisrespected a Hawaiian playing a Japanese racist stereo type ,and who also allegedly KILLED AND BARBAQUED THE PET DOG OF A MAN HE DIDNT LIKE ...THAT GUY,,?
I had always been told that Yoko was genuinely a nice dude, but that's a dick thing to do. You should be willing to protect all workers, not just the stars.
Agreed. Really curious if this was Yoko just not caring about these guys and taking it upon himself to make the move look more dangerous, or if Vince or a producer actually told him "ok, really make the Banzai Drop look devastating" and pseudo encouraged him to not worry as much about safety.
This takes me back. I forgot about the days when Superstars at house shows almost always wrestled local enhancement talent, and rarely each other. Even back then I noticed some matches let the local guy get over and get some applause first; but mostly there were squash matches. The lack of respect got painful. It was so nice when guys with the company took on that role, like Disco Inferno, who lost every match but you could see he was having fun.
As a kid in the 90s, I noticed the difference in the way a lot of finishers looked, but I thought it was because the enhancement guys just sold it more than the stars to make the stars look good. I didn't realize it was because the finishes were being executed more stiffly on the enhancement guys. That sucks.
@@tylerlittleton6583foley has said he was making 4x what roster guys( minus the super stars obviously)were making during his enhancement talent days without realizing it until years later
I really don't care what good stuff people say about him. If you do something like that on purpose, you're a pos. I really don't care. These guys lay there, waiting for him, trusting and hoping, that he takes care. Without someone free willingly laying there, there would be nothing. How many lifes he probably destroyed. I would be in fear of heart failure every day after this. If someone is reckless like that, that really says everything I need to know about a person. Very well said in the end Stevie 👍
But tbf youbare just a loser. All your comments are " you are a good guy syevie ❤". Why are you acting like a little princess? Grow a pair, little boy. You are such a drama queen.
Alsooo, idiot, taking a banzai drop is going to hurt NO MATTER WHAT. You can make that move safe when a 450 pounds guy is jumping on you. It's gonna hurt no matter what.
An honest wrestling opinion from Stevie is what you always get, because he knows the business is all about the fans and not bigging himself up like most other guys.
Stevie, I’m so glad you chose this as a topic to cover. I have tremendous respect and admiration for Yokozuna and he’s always been one of my favorites, but this part of his career is *never* discussed. It is always willingly glossed over by wrestlers and fans who talk about him being light as a feather.
Well he's a big dude and the concept of gravity exist that banzai drop is dangerous no matter how many ropes he grabbed or how many times he landed on his feet when he lands on you it's going to hurt.
@@TheLastProtheanJavik Which is why he should take special care each time to try and do it safety. And with everybody,not just the big stars. With somebody that heavy it wouldn't take much for somebody to get legit bad hurt.
@@tritchie6272 Reckless and moronic 'cause both Ripley and Flair are bigger named talents than her and she has a habit of being downright dangerous in the ring.
@ The marks are idiots like you that think hurting your opponent on purpose is normal in pro wrestling. I know you’ve lived the last 38 years in your mother’s basement without this knowledge, but I’ll let you in on a secret: wrestling is fake.
@clarencegutsy7309 it's a well known theory of herd mentality. Look it up. It speaks to following the crowd when each one knew ot was wrong. If they all spoke up. Nothing could be done.
Crock of bs that these wrestlers treated guys, with the sole job of making them look good, with such a lack of care. They’re not gonna steal any shine off you, they’re getting beat in a min or two. You don’t have to pretend like they’re NPCs without lives.
I agree, but in thier point of view its like a combination of hazing or paying your dues. Kind of shitty though considering what these guys were getting paid and the majority of them not ever getting past the "jobber" stage and lots living with some injury complications for life
@@adamg2031 You're a mark lmao. The point of wrestling is to simulate violence without actually hurting your opponent. Purposefully hurting your opponent is not the point of the profession lol.
@@MarcantonioStanga No one pays a dime because they want to see the "enhancement talent". Until you're putting butts in the seats, you're worth nothing to the business, so at that point you can either shut up and earn your money by taking your lumps or you can leave and never come back. Nothing in this world comes free, son.
A great podcast showing detailed analysis. I never knew Yokozuna's finisher had two different types of the banzai drop. Top talent were really protected, compared to enhanced talent.
I have seen loads of wrestlers talk about this sort of thing, where these guys come to help and make the big guys look good, and then they are abused and hurt. For the most part, they weren't earning thousands per match and had to go back to a day job also. So if they got injured via negligence or disrespect, whilst giving someone their body, then they could lose their livelihood as well. Bobby Heenan said it best in a shoot he did.
Yoko was given the edict by the office to land on the enhancements unprotected. WWF wanted to push Yoko as vicious and your not going to do that with your travelling talent. The reason he was rough on Duggan was because Jim was on his way out so he got it snug.
Steve talks the fine art of wrestling in a similarity NFL explanation. Best way to explain this to anyone. Love ya work Steve in your retirement. Great watch💯👍🔥👌
I remember watching WWF Metal on SkyOne as a kid and thinking JBL was like this with the enhancement talent, I was surprised he didn't break someone's neck with the clothesline from hell it seemed like he was doing it every week.
I do remember those drops where his legs just hanged out. I thought he was just tired or trying something different. You can break a sternum with that.
Ribs are very strong, each rib absorbs less pressure than it would otherwise as it's spread across the chest. So not a result of care ir anything, just Yoko underestimating human bodies
Late 90s I'm reffing an indy show in New Castle PA. Headshrinker Samu vs Julio Sanchez. The spot was Samu is charging Julio in the corner for an avalanche. I'm supposed to be right next to Julio. At the last second Julio moves and as he moves, he grabs me and pulls me into the corner and Samu avalanches me. Samu told me in the locker room before we went out not to flinch or turn sideways, he'll protect me. I saw him coming on a full sprint and i flinched and turned slightly. He hit me so hard I heard something crack. I was in horrible pain. The only time I ever got hurt in the ring as a ref. I was screwed up for 7-10 days. I never got it checked, but I heard something crack and knew immediately I was going to be screwed up for awhile. And Samu and I were pals. We worked tons of indies together and we'd go out for beers after the shows all the time. So I trusted him and don't think he tried to hurt me. But wow. Afterwards he told me "I told you not to flinch and you'd be ok, but you flinched."
Where's all the "Stevie and James are hot-shotting this channel! It will be dead in 2 months!" haters now? The channel has a bunch of momentum and is a total treat to listen to.
I absolutely love watching Stevie and James breaking down matches, one observation I made is perhaps Stevie zooms in too far on certain clips, maybe zooming half the distance gives him more space to draw the lines and explain things in full rather than a full zoom and having to explain things in 2 sections, the start and the finish. Just a small critique but i do love the content
I knew Rodney. I hung out with him a lot! He was a good dude with a ton of cool stories to tell. Pun intended! I talked to him the day before he passed. He was abroad and coming home. We were supposed to hang out when he got home. He was trying to make a come back and he could still go. I was amazed to see him hit the ropes and take bumps still. Luckily I save a few messages he left me on my answering machine including him singing happy birthday to me! RIP Rod!
Glad to see people that have worked in the business for a long time call this type of thing out, always thought this was complete bullshit when anyone does it, but especially a man that damn heavy just dropping himself on your chest.
And what about the two versions of the Razor's Edge that Razor Ramon would do? He would do a regular powerbomb that planted the big names relatively flat during the move, but he would straight up slam jobbers right on their neck/head causing them to flip over on impact.
Pretty much was a given in the pre-attitude era that old school Boomer wrestlers got beat up when they started, then became the bully when they got older/more experienced.
I am very grateful for the wrestling UA-cam "community" or whatever, for keeping me from having to think about election related bullshit all day. Id much rather listen to Stevie talk wrestling. Only wish Dutch was healthy enough to be here too. Hope he gets well soon
Not Mike Bell…. RIP. He was in his younger bros movie Bigger, stronger, faster. And was gone for his other movies. Wwe released him when they had taken everything he had. He got injured. Started taking pills.
@@joeyhoser I have a union job, and I can tell you the only reason they wouldn't work is if the union is, figuratively speaking, "in bed" with the management. If management gives a union representative some money, the union rep could tell the workier, "Ibdid everything I could, but no dice." When all they did is play ducking golf with management over the weekend. A wrestling union CAN work, provided all of the talent is on board with the idea, no rat-finks like Hulk Hogan tattling for the promise of an under the table bonus. What's a promotion going to do? Hire untrained meat-head scabs off the street and hand them title belts to ACTUALLY murder each other for because they don't know what they're doing in the ring? Those promotions would get shut down. Wrestlers have promoters by the balls, and they don't even realize it. Meanwhile, Saffney shoots herself in the heart because TNA made her do dangerous ring work that concussed the shit out of her? How long before another Chris Benoit situation happens?
I'm thrilled you did this episode, I've been wanting to cut up these clips to make this exact point for some time now. Recently went through Yoko's '92-'94 run and you didn't even show some of the worst examples. Wish I could remember his name, one guy was literally gasping for air and begging the ref for Yoko to get off him. I'm so glad talent isn't treated that way anymore, it's hard to watch.
Videos like this I think really highlight how valuable Stevie's POV on the business is. Its so different from the top guys we more frequently hear from. Top guys try their best not to criticize the wrestlers of their era/before their era. Part of that is because their view from the top didn't show them things like this, they worked with Yoko and were taken care of. Then backstage he was a friendly guy they all liked. They aren't going to call out the era of wrestling that made them mega stars and where they had the most fun as a toxic environment. They also still want to get on legends contracts, so they aren't gonna call out Vince's booking decisions or his vindictive little ways he fucked with wrestlers just to amuse himself/prove points. (And from their POV Vince was a great booker most of the time, they made millions off his booking decisions and got big pushes, they have nothing to complain about! Of course they all have a weird amount of loyalty to him.) So Stevie's much more grounded, realistic POV on things is a breath of fresh air in wrestling videos.
Rikishi would do that, he said in a shoot interview that he would make sure he either didn’t shower or wipe (or both) properly if he didn’t like his opponent. Vince even asked rikishi to make sure it was extra ‘dirty’
When I first heard this, I watch some of Yoko's matches with jobbers and superstars. With jobbers, Yoko would kick his legs out and bounce off their chest (asshole move) but with stars who would squat and barely touch them. It shouldn't matter what their rank is. They're giving him their body. TAKE CARE OF IT!!
I see all these wrestlers talk so great about Yoko, but I saw that dude a number of times give banzai drops at 500+ pounds and land on guys chests with his legs straight out and did nothing to break his own fall to protect the enhancement talent. That is an incredibly despicable thing to do. Him dying at 34 was karma.
6:10 the worst part with this one is he sits on him for awhile, then Rougeau comes in and does an interview. It was leading up to wrestlemania vs Brett and Mr. Fuji goes "respect?! You wanna see about respect?!" Yoko proceeds to pick him up beat on him, another belly to belly followed by a banzai drop worse than this one in the video. Then sits there while Fuji keeps talking and Rougeau keeps yelling get him off of him. If that guy wasn't injured it would be a miracle.
Really interesting watch, and love the channel! the one thing I'd request for next time is for those of us not familiar with seeing these clips before, it would be better to play the drop first in normal view, and then zoom in and rewatch after. Sometimes I found it a little hard to follow or get the real impact of what Yokozuna was doing for a while as I'd first seen a zoomed in shot watching his feet position. Just a minor thing as you show the full view after and maybe just my personal preference
Back in the mid and late 90s I wrestled in the indies. I worked a few WWF tapings and I remember what my trainer said as were walking into the building the first time I worked a set of tapings. Keep your f'ing mouth shut. The only time you should be talking before being spoken to is when you're introducing yourself. Someone speaks to you, you look them in the eye and it's yes sir, no sir, thank you sir. The word Brother doesn't ever come out of your mouth. You don't know anybody in there, so you act like everyone is someone important. If there are guys working out in the ring and you're just hanging out in the back, you're in the wrong place. Do not Fk up in that locker room. You do not want to look at the match card and see your name across from Bradshaw, Vader or Yokozuna. My name and rep are on the line, not only will you get punished in that ring, you count on the only things you'll be trained in for the foreseeable future is running the ropes and taking chops. It was a different time and a different business.
This was when I started watching wrestling. I was 7 or 8. Yokozuna was something else. When Lex Luger, who I only knew as The Narcissist, body slammed him, it was a huge deal. That was probably the first major face turn I saw.
Nia Jax uses this for her finish currently, and after watching this, I suspect she may be dropping all her weight on some people. She about killed poor Lyra Valkyria at the Queen of the Ring with this move! I honestly thought Lyra was legit messed up after that.
Stevie Richards 100% correct if you look at everybody The Undertaker Chris Jericho sting any type of those moves that were dangerous enhancement Talent got the worst. Look at the walls of Jericho for instance it is so much more tame when he's against a major star the tombstone Undertaker practically carries them to the ground but if you're an enhancement Talent drives you into the mat
That’s why I don’t really respect a lot of these older wrestlers people praise. If you go out of your way to hurt someone in wrestling you’re a piece of shit, end of story. In some small way all of their health problems are just karma catching up to them.
Deliberately not taking care of someone who is trusting you with their body. F*** Yokozuna and any so-called wrestler that did this. That's not professional and it's a piece of s*** thing to do. It being a jobber who was making the big star look good for a tiny pay off and probably had to go work a regular job afterwards just makes it worse.
@johnbeer4963 wow you are such a Karen. Now you use grammar as a comeback? You are such a snowflake. The fact remains, little boy, that those jobbers remained jobbers, broken spine or not, nobody cares. While others who abused jobbers still are huge stars. You can cry as much as you want, you can call them pieces of stars, the truth is the same. You can hate those huge stars as much as you want, they are still more successful than you are, and more loved than you. While those jobbers... Well we don't even know their names. Oh well
I was friends with Virgil and we talked about this. He was pretty good buddies with Yoko, he said Yoko was always super nice to him. Said that drop was light as a feather.
The bonsai on Virgil makes me think of the old Royal Rumble game on SNES, where Yoko would hit the move out of the corner to an opponent laying near the middle of the ring. 😂
I don't get UA-cam. I WAS SUBSCRIBED TO THIS CHANNEL, I haven't gotten notifications that alot of videos lately. I need to watch words they REMOVE MY COMMENTS 😅
Guys like Nujack, these clips, any wrestler finding it "fun" to hurt another human being is just disgusting. Accidents happen but intentionally hurting somebody is terrible.
It makes a lot of sense now. I never understood why this move was over, and thought it was silly, but I've only ever seen it in matches where Yokozuna took care of the opponent.
This lines up with what Bret said about "Rodney." He said Yokozuna always protected him and was safe - at least during his main run. As he got towards the end, he couldn't control his weight as he was coming down. Once thing I'll give Vince a bit of credit for is that when it came to guys like Yoko and Ahmed, when they started hurting people, like upper mid-card and main event guys, they were gone. It didn't matter how popular Ahmed Johnson was as a babyface. Vince was willing to cut him loose when he he wasn't safe in the ring or professional. But that's as far as I go when it comes to praise for McMahon.
you are wrong to give credit to vince for anything other than considering the money of the situation, the talent he gets rid of for this are because they are bad wrestlers or cannot preform long term for him it was always pure greed edit: vince only got rid of yoko because he was eating himself to death, which he did, and was therefore not worth investing in and ahmed was terrible and everyone hated him
You can't have a wrestler hurting top guys it will hurt your company in the short and long run. Main eventer or someone getting over where they can become a main eventer getting hurt by someone being reckless is costing you money.
Facts, Vince’s hands were also tied when most states wouldn’t clear yoko because he was almost 700 at one point. Really a shame he could never put down the fried turkey butt and legs.
It really goes to show how far the business has come in terms of safety. Climbing the ladder isn't easy by any means but it's much safer and better now days than it was back then for sure. It was brutal.
Could you guys do an episode w maven? Maybe talk about the matches thry had on Saturday night heat maybe break em down. Would just love to see those 2 go back and forth
Mr. Wonderful spoke about things like this when he was alive. Basically said it's pathetic to hurt someone when they give you their body, it's not a real fight you didn't prove anything,
Yeah, but it’s funny
Maybe that's why Orndorff beat the crap out of that fake tough guy Vader with one arm while wearing flip-flops.
@@Brahaja You wouldn't think its funny if Yoko's fat ass crushed your rib cage or Davey boy smith hit you so hard, you had to eat with a straw for the next 6 months. They're Scumbags for doing this.
@@Brahaja If you find this funny, you're sick.
@@TheSilentScreamX He's probably 12, ignore him.
Jobbers back in the day had it rough. 😮
Ritual
Very much
Having to deal with the Kliq mentally and then dealing with BSK guys (& others) physically, it’s no wonder so many guys from this era imploded
Because they were actual jobbers.Now they use washed up talent and people on the level up roster for enhancement talent...the jobbers are actually trained and professional now!
@@jasons2270 They were trained professionals back then too, since a lot of the "jobbers" came from smaller, local wrestling promotions. Or do you think they just collected people from the local bar?
He didn't 'take care' of anyone out of respect. The top guys said that they woukdn't work with him if he didn't start working safer and 'Taker told him that he better listen, or his time in WWF would be very short. He never would have gotten away with taking liberties with jobbers if Andre was still alive then. Andre would have put manners on him the same way he did to Studd and The Iron Sheik, both of whom Andre HATED because they hurt job guys for no reason.
Andre was the real deal. Class act. The world was poorer for his loss.
Not even true , you may want to go listen to Undertakers Podcast about Yokozuna and get you some facts, he literally says for as big of a man Yoko was he took care of you in the ring if he liked you . Think you’re getting your facts mixed up with Mable who was hurting everyone in the ring .
@Majorhotshot yeah I get those two mixed up often
@@Majorhotshot "If he liked you". They act like it's badass but it's cowardly. The other guy is trusting you but if Yoko for whatever reason doesn't like you he's going to genuinely hurt you? Pathetic.
@@MajorhotshotAnd if he didn't like a lot of people for silly petty reasons, that's ok then? It's unprofessional
That is fckng evil. It's not supposed to matter if you like someone or not.
Yeah wrestlers are cowards, they often take advantage of the trust their opponents give to keep them safe.
Pretty sure the promoters tell them to do it, and ole Yoko is just doing what he's told
@@NoName-wi4odStill a sick thing to do
Sure, but the context matters and retconning history with current standards is ludicrous and frankly irresponsible
@@JohnTune-u2xthey could have easily shot on Yoko. Hard to call Yoko a coward.
Remember Matt & Jeff talked about Jeff having to take a bonzai drop and Yoko assured Jeff “I like you, Don’t worry Yoko take care of you”
Then he hit him with the top rope, no-hands Bonzai death drop.
Why would he talk like that? He's from California.
This is the funniest shit 😭😭
@@chrisgartung1708😂😂😂
@@twiceonsundays The op thought Yoko was really Japanese, like this "Showwie no speak Engrish."
Any wrestlers that take liberties to hurt other in the ring have some serious psychological issues
Yeah and should face legal consequences.
@@StingRayRobertson He should sue Yoko! oh wait...
A girl in lucha Libra broke a another girls arm clean in half during an arm bar just because she didn't like the other girl wrestler
For real like low ki
It's far closer to a trapeze artist intentionally letting the other guy fall than a real fight.
I remember as a kid watching Yokozuna crush enhancement talent and being convinced that wrestling couldn't be fake lol.
So committed to the kayfabe 😂
Me 2
It's one of those things where even if you protect the person taking the move, even if Yoko holds onto the ropes & doesn't kick his feet out, that's still over 500 pounds..600 pounds..hell even Yoko at his heaviest! That's a lot of weight dropping down on someone.
it looked crazy a-- anvil physics
WHAT A MARK ....
Yoko gets a lot of compliments, but the guy was a major sociopath for doing this to up and coming wrestlers
Oh get over it, you know damn well things were different back then and complaining about it will not change anything. In fact they still do stuff like this today I can almost guarantee it and it will not change!
@trendmassacre8423 lol great reasoning ability. " different time" purposely hurting someone was pretty frowned upon in the 90s dude. You have no argument. Literally.
Good thing Virgil warned Bret Hart about Yakazuma!
😂😂😂😂
LOL 😂. Nice.
Yoko took “squash match” literally
😂😂
Damn never knew Yoko was basically the Road Warriors in those early days of Raw. As Jim Cornette says "when the enhancement talent would see they were working the Road Warriors and you'd see their hearts sink."😫
What tough guys to be able to hurt someone that trusted and let them perform their moves😂
Hawk was also a crack hitting bike lad who often partied with the old school hells angels.. Dude really was about that
@@donovanbradford8231 I love wrestling so much but the persons doing it are so cringe in their weird perception of "strength".
With the knowledge of today a lot of them (especially the "Old School Guys") come off as the most insecure assholes you can imagine. I guess it's a byproduct of faking a real sport and constantly playing a tough guy.
@@sherrix6881lmao you're right he lived the gimmick. He had to be tough with that haircut and crack habit 😆
@@sherrix6881 Anyone who hangs out with bikers is a closet case dork.
That was so wrong to do that, very unprofessional, immature and cruel.
supposedly, Yokozuna did that because the jobber disrespected Mr Fuji backstage
Indeed
@@newjerseyballerdisrespected a Hawaiian playing a Japanese racist stereo type ,and who also allegedly KILLED AND BARBAQUED THE PET DOG OF A MAN HE DIDNT LIKE ...THAT GUY,,?
@ ever watched movies, dawg? wrestling is a show. Lol.
The business hasn't come all that was from its freakshow origins let's face it.
I had always been told that Yoko was genuinely a nice dude, but that's a dick thing to do. You should be willing to protect all workers, not just the stars.
It's the same as when someone is being bullied and you feel sorry for them, only to find they are also a bully to someone else.
He was a nice dude to people he liked and respected. An awful dude to new guys and jobbers who were just trying to grab a cheque
It's more than a dick move, it's a move that deserves retaliation.
Agreed. Really curious if this was Yoko just not caring about these guys and taking it upon himself to make the move look more dangerous, or if Vince or a producer actually told him "ok, really make the Banzai Drop look devastating" and pseudo encouraged him to not worry as much about safety.
@@mattm7798both likely
This takes me back. I forgot about the days when Superstars at house shows almost always wrestled local enhancement talent, and rarely each other. Even back then I noticed some matches let the local guy get over and get some applause first; but mostly there were squash matches. The lack of respect got painful. It was so nice when guys with the company took on that role, like Disco Inferno, who lost every match but you could see he was having fun.
Nah they should still do squash matches to enhancement talent.
The fact that was acceptable is just insane to me
And some people still look back at this and think it was hilarious! Such a dick thing to do.
it was acceptable because those guys didnt rect their ass back in the locker room.
@@bigbadmamajama11 rect their ass?
What would you have them do to Yokozuna?
Still kinda is in a way, wrestlers give each other receipts all the time
As a kid in the 90s, I noticed the difference in the way a lot of finishers looked, but I thought it was because the enhancement guys just sold it more than the stars to make the stars look good. I didn't realize it was because the finishes were being executed more stiffly on the enhancement guys. That sucks.
Like Nash talking about giving job guys an extra hundred bucks during nWo matches on Saturday Night and beating the dogshit out of them.
@@tylerlittleton6583foley has said he was making 4x what roster guys( minus the super stars obviously)were making during his enhancement talent days without realizing it until years later
@@54raceman good too, that clothesline from Dynamite was no joke.
I really don't care what good stuff people say about him. If you do something like that on purpose, you're a pos. I really don't care. These guys lay there, waiting for him, trusting and hoping, that he takes care. Without someone free willingly laying there, there would be nothing. How many lifes he probably destroyed. I would be in fear of heart failure every day after this. If someone is reckless like that, that really says everything I need to know about a person.
Very well said in the end Stevie 👍
Womp womp. You are such a snowflake. Cry more, little boy
But tbf youbare just a loser. All your comments are " you are a good guy syevie ❤". Why are you acting like a little princess? Grow a pair, little boy. You are such a drama queen.
Alsooo, idiot, taking a banzai drop is going to hurt NO MATTER WHAT. You can make that move safe when a 450 pounds guy is jumping on you. It's gonna hurt no matter what.
@@mihaimercenarul7467 What an idiotic take. It can OBVIOUSLY HURT 1000X MORE if the doesn't take care of you.
An honest wrestling opinion from Stevie is what you always get, because he knows the business is all about the fans and not bigging himself up like most other guys.
A man who can't even take care of his own body can not be trusted to take care of others.
Yeah sure Doctor Bullshit, you know everything! 🙄🤦🏻♂️
Well put
"Now Virgil was way out there, man"
Yep. That statement rings true.
vergil got lucky lol
now he's under there.
Stevie, I’m so glad you chose this as a topic to cover. I have tremendous respect and admiration for Yokozuna and he’s always been one of my favorites, but this part of his career is *never* discussed. It is always willingly glossed over by wrestlers and fans who talk about him being light as a feather.
Well he's a big dude and the concept of gravity exist that banzai drop is dangerous no matter how many ropes he grabbed or how many times he landed on his feet when he lands on you it's going to hurt.
@@TheLastProtheanJavik Which is why he should take special care each time to try and do it safety. And with everybody,not just the big stars. With somebody that heavy it wouldn't take much for somebody to get legit bad hurt.
@@tritchie6272 Nia Jax never held the rope and kicked her feet when she did the Banzai drop to Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley a couple of years ago.
@@bloodangel13 Sounds to me like she was reckless as well.
@@tritchie6272 Reckless and moronic 'cause both Ripley and Flair are bigger named talents than her and she has a habit of being downright dangerous in the ring.
We use to call the enhancement talent roody poohs, but as a grown man they were the real mvps for making the talent look good
Whilst dealing with egomaniac stars who tried crippling them like they were disposable straws
@@MarcantonioStanga - CM QUNNNNNT/JOHN @Eniss/Sami/Kevin/Goldturd and SEFF destroyed Sting Rollins
@MarcantonioStanga you are such a mark, little boy. Cry harder, little boy
@@MarcantonioStanga facts, they took some brutal bumps fr
@ The marks are idiots like you that think hurting your opponent on purpose is normal in pro wrestling. I know you’ve lived the last 38 years in your mother’s basement without this knowledge, but I’ll let you in on a secret: wrestling is fake.
So he was a scumbag. It's that simple.
100% There’s no excuse.
Na can’t really fully blame him if upper management was telling him to do it to make himself look like a dangerous heel different time tho
@shahrosebhatti9122 yeah true. Can't really blame the Nazis if Hitler was telling him to do it. Different time, bro.
@@paulearle3780 You know if someone didn't follow the order they'd be placed in a concentration camp as traitor, right?
@clarencegutsy7309 it's a well known theory of herd mentality. Look it up. It speaks to following the crowd when each one knew ot was wrong. If they all spoke up. Nothing could be done.
Crock of bs that these wrestlers treated guys, with the sole job of making them look good, with such a lack of care. They’re not gonna steal any shine off you, they’re getting beat in a min or two. You don’t have to pretend like they’re NPCs without lives.
cry a little harder why don't you.
It's not ballet.
I agree, but in thier point of view its like a combination of hazing or paying your dues. Kind of shitty though considering what these guys were getting paid and the majority of them not ever getting past the "jobber" stage and lots living with some injury complications for life
@@adamg2031 You're a mark lmao. The point of wrestling is to simulate violence without actually hurting your opponent. Purposefully hurting your opponent is not the point of the profession lol.
@@MarcantonioStanga No one pays a dime because they want to see the "enhancement talent". Until you're putting butts in the seats, you're worth nothing to the business, so at that point you can either shut up and earn your money by taking your lumps or you can leave and never come back. Nothing in this world comes free, son.
I KNEW that Yokozuna had two Different drops! And i didn't imagine them
Yoko was insane with some of those.
It's wild how wrestlemania:the arcade game seems like a simulation with some of these!
'Oh my god it's Stevie Richards!'
A great podcast showing detailed analysis. I never knew Yokozuna's finisher had two different types of the banzai drop. Top talent were really protected, compared to enhanced talent.
You never heard this story before?
Then you didn’t hear much about him
@@planexshifter Yokozuna's story is the first I heard.
I have seen loads of wrestlers talk about this sort of thing, where these guys come to help and make the big guys look good, and then they are abused and hurt. For the most part, they weren't earning thousands per match and had to go back to a day job also. So if they got injured via negligence or disrespect, whilst giving someone their body, then they could lose their livelihood as well. Bobby Heenan said it best in a shoot he did.
Yoko was given the edict by the office to land on the enhancements unprotected. WWF wanted to push Yoko as vicious and your not going to do that with your travelling talent. The reason he was rough on Duggan was because Jim was on his way out so he got it snug.
Steve talks the fine art of wrestling in a similarity NFL explanation. Best way to explain this to anyone. Love ya work Steve in your retirement. Great watch💯👍🔥👌
Can't finish watching this after the 2nd one. Mindless.
I remember watching WWF Metal on SkyOne as a kid and thinking JBL was like this with the enhancement talent, I was surprised he didn't break someone's neck with the clothesline from hell it seemed like he was doing it every week.
Bradshaw was always just 90’s Blackjack Mulligan.
I do remember those drops where his legs just hanged out. I thought he was just tired or trying something different. You can break a sternum with that.
Lots of toxicity in wrestling culture.
Every job has it. Different versions in an office vs a factory, but its there
They weren't employees
I’ve never understood just how Yoko never crushed anyone’s chest!
He probably did. But if the jobber said anything, it would be career suicide.
Ribs are very strong, each rib absorbs less pressure than it would otherwise as it's spread across the chest. So not a result of care ir anything, just Yoko underestimating human bodies
@@Big_Ben1988yep. Shows how insecure many of those "wrestlers tough guys" really are.
@@trojanhorsechannel Not true... you can break ribs with CPR, think about how much more pressure is behind the weight of this guy dropping on someone.
I always noticed this! Thanks for doing this topic
Late 90s I'm reffing an indy show in New Castle PA. Headshrinker Samu vs Julio Sanchez. The spot was Samu is charging Julio in the corner for an avalanche. I'm supposed to be right next to Julio. At the last second Julio moves and as he moves, he grabs me and pulls me into the corner and Samu avalanches me. Samu told me in the locker room before we went out not to flinch or turn sideways, he'll protect me. I saw him coming on a full sprint and i flinched and turned slightly. He hit me so hard I heard something crack. I was in horrible pain. The only time I ever got hurt in the ring as a ref. I was screwed up for 7-10 days. I never got it checked, but I heard something crack and knew immediately I was going to be screwed up for awhile. And Samu and I were pals. We worked tons of indies together and we'd go out for beers after the shows all the time. So I trusted him and don't think he tried to hurt me. But wow. Afterwards he told me "I told you not to flinch and you'd be ok, but you flinched."
Where's all the "Stevie and James are hot-shotting this channel! It will be dead in 2 months!" haters now? The channel has a bunch of momentum and is a total treat to listen to.
What?!
I absolutely love watching Stevie and James breaking down matches, one observation I made is perhaps Stevie zooms in too far on certain clips, maybe zooming half the distance gives him more space to draw the lines and explain things in full rather than a full zoom and having to explain things in 2 sections, the start and the finish. Just a small critique but i do love the content
Also helps avoid copywriting
I knew Rodney. I hung out with him a lot! He was a good dude with a ton of cool stories to tell. Pun intended! I talked to him the day before he passed. He was abroad and coming home. We were supposed to hang out when he got home. He was trying to make a come back and he could still go. I was amazed to see him hit the ropes and take bumps still. Luckily I save a few messages he left me on my answering machine including him singing happy birthday to me! RIP Rod!
Glad to see people that have worked in the business for a long time call this type of thing out, always thought this was complete bullshit when anyone does it, but especially a man that damn heavy just dropping himself on your chest.
Some of those jobber ones lo0ked incredibly dangerous
Because they were.
Funnily enough: Taker said he gave Hulk Hogan a different version of the Tombstone, and then was surprised that Hogan claimed he got hurt by it.
he just wanted the belt back. he got it. hogan did similar things to get it off people and onto himself
@@deandreharrison9558 Sure, yes... whatever.
Stevie did a whole video about it.
@@deandreharrison9558Hogan wanted the belt back by faking an injury????
@RG-lr4pk said similar things. like positioning himself to vince and going behind people's backs etc. it why savage and others didn't like him.
Damn I always thought Yokozuna was one of the nice guys, I was wrong.
That first one was Justin Credible
Aldo Montoya?
Yup, that's him
I thought it Al Right
Coach Stevie always has the best analysis. Keep it up, brother
The Virgil one was at the 1992 Survivor Series. Bobby Heenan was on fire during commentary. One of my favorite all time squashes.🤣
How did people not die from this? Jesus christ!
Tough, tough men.
And what about the two versions of the Razor's Edge that Razor Ramon would do? He would do a regular powerbomb that planted the big names relatively flat during the move, but he would straight up slam jobbers right on their neck/head causing them to flip over on impact.
Pretty much was a given in the pre-attitude era that old school Boomer wrestlers got beat up when they started, then became the bully when they got older/more experienced.
From what I remember, Scott talked about it once, saying that if a guy got stiff with him or sandbagged him, he got dropped.
Ain't that how DeBiase got hurt?
Another fun fact about Yoko, was along with Undertaker he was also one of the judges for wrestle court
No he wasn’t lol
@@MoparMadness93 are you dum ?
Unprofessional. You are aupposed to take care of WHOEVER you are in the ring wifh. PERIOD!
How
The useless aggression era
I am very grateful for the wrestling UA-cam "community" or whatever, for keeping me from having to think about election related bullshit all day. Id much rather listen to Stevie talk wrestling. Only wish Dutch was healthy enough to be here too. Hope he gets well soon
Fuck all dat shit you talking about Donald Trump won!!!!!! We good now my boy tax cuts for all
I really hope any enhancement guy who got put on Yoko Duty got extra pay.
Yeah hazard pay!
You know they didn't. They got their going rate and a crushed sternum for their trouble 😂
The privilege of taking The Bonsai Drop was their payment!
The made less money than the other jobbers
Not Mike Bell…. RIP. He was in his younger bros movie
Bigger, stronger, faster.
And was gone for his other movies.
Wwe released him when they had taken everything he had. He got injured. Started taking pills.
Yet another reason why wrestling needed a union.
Jesse Ventura said the wrestlers don't want it.
@@themobseat I'm generally pro-union, but even I can see that it doesn't really work for wrestling.
Wrestlers openly believe that the cons outweigh the pros it's why they try ruining every attempt
@@joeyhoserJobber-Union then?
@@joeyhoser I have a union job, and I can tell you the only reason they wouldn't work is if the union is, figuratively speaking, "in bed" with the management. If management gives a union representative some money, the union rep could tell the workier, "Ibdid everything I could, but no dice." When all they did is play ducking golf with management over the weekend.
A wrestling union CAN work, provided all of the talent is on board with the idea, no rat-finks like Hulk Hogan tattling for the promise of an under the table bonus. What's a promotion going to do? Hire untrained meat-head scabs off the street and hand them title belts to ACTUALLY murder each other for because they don't know what they're doing in the ring? Those promotions would get shut down.
Wrestlers have promoters by the balls, and they don't even realize it. Meanwhile, Saffney shoots herself in the heart because TNA made her do dangerous ring work that concussed the shit out of her? How long before another Chris Benoit situation happens?
I'm thrilled you did this episode, I've been wanting to cut up these clips to make this exact point for some time now. Recently went through Yoko's '92-'94 run and you didn't even show some of the worst examples. Wish I could remember his name, one guy was literally gasping for air and begging the ref for Yoko to get off him. I'm so glad talent isn't treated that way anymore, it's hard to watch.
Yep the "OOooooooof" guy.
If you know, you know.
My friends "that's fake"
Watches Yoko finish
Me "You sure😮"
Videos like this I think really highlight how valuable Stevie's POV on the business is. Its so different from the top guys we more frequently hear from.
Top guys try their best not to criticize the wrestlers of their era/before their era. Part of that is because their view from the top didn't show them things like this, they worked with Yoko and were taken care of. Then backstage he was a friendly guy they all liked. They aren't going to call out the era of wrestling that made them mega stars and where they had the most fun as a toxic environment. They also still want to get on legends contracts, so they aren't gonna call out Vince's booking decisions or his vindictive little ways he fucked with wrestlers just to amuse himself/prove points. (And from their POV Vince was a great booker most of the time, they made millions off his booking decisions and got big pushes, they have nothing to complain about! Of course they all have a weird amount of loyalty to him.)
So Stevie's much more grounded, realistic POV on things is a breath of fresh air in wrestling videos.
I always wondered if Yoko would just blast a fart into thier face when it did it. Especially if he didn't like them.
Listen to Jake Robert’s story about Andre the giant on joe Rogan. Apparently Andre liked doing that to a lot of people.
Hmmm, it seems that, by all accounts, Andre was little more than a very large filthy bastard.
Rikishi would do that, he said in a shoot interview that he would make sure he either didn’t shower or wipe (or both) properly if he didn’t like his opponent. Vince even asked rikishi to make sure it was extra ‘dirty’
@@d.52555😂that is so wrong! 😂
@@ODMagicMikeAndre just sounds like a mean SOB.
When I first heard this, I watch some of Yoko's matches with jobbers and superstars. With jobbers, Yoko would kick his legs out and bounce off their chest (asshole move) but with stars who would squat and barely touch them. It shouldn't matter what their rank is. They're giving him their body. TAKE CARE OF IT!!
I see all these wrestlers talk so great about Yoko, but I saw that dude a number of times give banzai drops at 500+ pounds and land on guys chests with his legs straight out and did nothing to break his own fall to protect the enhancement talent. That is an incredibly despicable thing to do. Him dying at 34 was karma.
Karma is not real. Yoko died because he was morbidly obese. But yes it was a despicable thing to do
When people like Taker or Godfather say that Yoko was a "family man" it means that he was propably a bully like them.
Soyy
Just compare the comments on this video to the Goldberg one. Smarks are the biggest marks.
@@RG-lr4pkI mean yoko was actually a good worker so unsurprising
AW STEVIE!!!!! I'm so happy YT suggested this to me. Miss your work brother!
If I had to take this move and it killed me, lie to my family and friends and tell them that I died in a dignified manner.
What if it were filmed, though? 😂
6:10 the worst part with this one is he sits on him for awhile, then Rougeau comes in and does an interview. It was leading up to wrestlemania vs Brett and Mr. Fuji goes "respect?! You wanna see about respect?!" Yoko proceeds to pick him up beat on him, another belly to belly followed by a banzai drop worse than this one in the video. Then sits there while Fuji keeps talking and Rougeau keeps yelling get him off of him. If that guy wasn't injured it would be a miracle.
When wrestlers describe one of their peers as "Family Man" it comes off like a safe way to say that he was propably a bully.
Sounds like a personal problem. Are you ok, snowflake?
@@desisdosis473 oh wait you are that weirdo who thinks shawn has surpassed bret in every aspect. You have brain damage
"Lovable rogue" etc
It's interesting, how one cheers those kind of wrestling movies as a kid, but winces as an adult...
There’s making a guy earn his stripes, then there’s crushing a guy.
But how do you make someone earn his stripes really when that's basically entertainment. There should be no point in competing.
Really interesting watch, and love the channel! the one thing I'd request for next time is for those of us not familiar with seeing these clips before, it would be better to play the drop first in normal view, and then zoom in and rewatch after.
Sometimes I found it a little hard to follow or get the real impact of what Yokozuna was doing for a while as I'd first seen a zoomed in shot watching his feet position. Just a minor thing as you show the full view after and maybe just my personal preference
Back in the mid and late 90s I wrestled in the indies. I worked a few WWF tapings and I remember what my trainer said as were walking into the building the first time I worked a set of tapings.
Keep your f'ing mouth shut. The only time you should be talking before being spoken to is when you're introducing yourself.
Someone speaks to you, you look them in the eye and it's yes sir, no sir, thank you sir. The word Brother doesn't ever come out of your mouth.
You don't know anybody in there, so you act like everyone is someone important.
If there are guys working out in the ring and you're just hanging out in the back, you're in the wrong place.
Do not Fk up in that locker room. You do not want to look at the match card and see your name across from Bradshaw, Vader or Yokozuna. My name and rep are on the line, not only will you get punished in that ring, you count on the only things you'll be trained in for the foreseeable future is running the ropes and taking chops.
It was a different time and a different business.
This was when I started watching wrestling. I was 7 or 8. Yokozuna was something else. When Lex Luger, who I only knew as The Narcissist, body slammed him, it was a huge deal. That was probably the first major face turn I saw.
Nia Jax uses this for her finish currently, and after watching this, I suspect she may be dropping all her weight on some people. She about killed poor Lyra Valkyria at the Queen of the Ring with this move! I honestly thought Lyra was legit messed up after that.
Keep up the good work fellas!
Stevie Richards 100% correct if you look at everybody The Undertaker Chris Jericho sting any type of those moves that were dangerous enhancement Talent got the worst. Look at the walls of Jericho for instance it is so much more tame when he's against a major star the tombstone Undertaker practically carries them to the ground but if you're an enhancement Talent drives you into the mat
That’s why I don’t really respect a lot of these older wrestlers people praise. If you go out of your way to hurt someone in wrestling you’re a piece of shit, end of story. In some small way all of their health problems are just karma catching up to them.
I’m gonna tell and some old wrestler is gonna suplex yall…😂
Bret Hart's last words (to Yokozuna) before the match, "Please don't kill me." 🤣🤣🤣
Nia Jax is equal opportunity at least.
Lol she made a woman pee, yoko made stone cold crap his pants 😂
Wow Stevie Richard’s was my guy! Always thought he could be the next Shawn Micheals and it’s funny how he STILL looks like older HBK.
Deliberately not taking care of someone who is trusting you with their body. F*** Yokozuna and any so-called wrestler that did this. That's not professional and it's a piece of s*** thing to do. It being a jobber who was making the big star look good for a tiny pay off and probably had to go work a regular job afterwards just makes it worse.
You are such a morob
@@mihaimercenarul7467 and you are a victoria sponge cake. Or maybe a banana, mr/mrs/other mihaimercenarul7467.... if that is even your real name
@@mihaimercenarul7467 You don't even warrant correct usage of capital letters.
@johnbeer4963 not exactly sure what you tried there, but, ok.
@johnbeer4963 wow you are such a Karen. Now you use grammar as a comeback? You are such a snowflake. The fact remains, little boy, that those jobbers remained jobbers, broken spine or not, nobody cares. While others who abused jobbers still are huge stars. You can cry as much as you want, you can call them pieces of stars, the truth is the same. You can hate those huge stars as much as you want, they are still more successful than you are, and more loved than you. While those jobbers... Well we don't even know their names. Oh well
I was friends with Virgil and we talked about this. He was pretty good buddies with Yoko, he said Yoko was always super nice to him. Said that drop was light as a feather.
Man didn't pull ribs; he smashed em!
9:51 "the mass of humanity above you" LOL
I'd probably would be still watching WWE if Stevie was sitting next to Michael Cole
It’s good to see you, Stevie!
Yoko straight up trying to kill some people.
The bonsai on Virgil makes me think of the old Royal Rumble game on SNES, where Yoko would hit the move out of the corner to an opponent laying near the middle of the ring. 😂
I hate seeing Nia Jax doing this, she is gonna seriously hurt someone.
Agreed she's too reckless of a monster, beautiful lady, but she needs to learn how to work .. reminds me of Vader now that I know more
I also agree. She looks to be legit dropping every ounce of her weight onto some, if not most, of those other women.
@@hoodafudj Vader knew how to work safely, he was wreckless on purpose. Shawn had every right to kick him when messing up the spot.
@desisdosis473 yeah he was a victim of his own training on Japan
I would like nia to do that to me. I can handle it
I don't get UA-cam. I WAS SUBSCRIBED TO THIS CHANNEL, I haven't gotten notifications that alot of videos lately. I need to watch words they REMOVE MY COMMENTS 😅
I always wondered why he did that. Literally squash guys.
I remember even as a kid, we could as tell he was killing some people, and letting off on others.
😅
Guys like Nujack, these clips, any wrestler finding it "fun" to hurt another human being is just disgusting. Accidents happen but intentionally hurting somebody is terrible.
Being a jobber back in the day has to be one of the most dangerous jobs on earth.
just another big fat bully, not as bad as Andre but still pretty fowl
We would've been fighting for real lol
You got me brother!
Hogan 😂
It makes a lot of sense now. I never understood why this move was over, and thought it was silly, but I've only ever seen it in matches where Yokozuna took care of the opponent.
This lines up with what Bret said about "Rodney." He said Yokozuna always protected him and was safe - at least during his main run. As he got towards the end, he couldn't control his weight as he was coming down. Once thing I'll give Vince a bit of credit for is that when it came to guys like Yoko and Ahmed, when they started hurting people, like upper mid-card and main event guys, they were gone. It didn't matter how popular Ahmed Johnson was as a babyface. Vince was willing to cut him loose when he he wasn't safe in the ring or professional. But that's as far as I go when it comes to praise for McMahon.
you are wrong to give credit to vince for anything other than considering the money of the situation, the talent he gets rid of for this are because they are bad wrestlers or cannot preform long term for him
it was always pure greed
edit: vince only got rid of yoko because he was eating himself to death, which he did, and was therefore not worth investing in and ahmed was terrible and everyone hated him
@@alanmacdonald1457so he ran the business perfectly? Yeah, that deserves praise.
In his book he also said he had temper and would squash jobbers
You can't have a wrestler hurting top guys it will hurt your company in the short and long run. Main eventer or someone getting over where they can become a main eventer getting hurt by someone being reckless is costing you money.
Facts, Vince’s hands were also tied when most states wouldn’t clear yoko because he was almost 700 at one point. Really a shame he could never put down the fried turkey butt and legs.
It really goes to show how far the business has come in terms of safety. Climbing the ladder isn't easy by any means but it's much safer and better now days than it was back then for sure. It was brutal.
20 minutes is the perfect length for these videos chaps
The first one he "took care of him"? 😂 looked like he could have broke his sternum...giessing the rest of these will be fun to watch
Could you guys do an episode w maven? Maybe talk about the matches thry had on Saturday night heat maybe break em down. Would just love to see those 2 go back and forth
Sunday night heat
@@ajdiaz5525 Maven is cringe.
The moment at 4:47 my soul left my body