Rikishi Recalls Ups & Downs When Cousin Yokozuna Won & Lost Title At WrestleMania 9

Rikishi still remembers the day his cousin Yokozuna had the best and worst moment of his career. It all happened at WrestleMania 9 back in 1993.

"When we rolled into WrestleMania, we rolled deep. We kind of took over the whole freaking green room up there, the family green room," says Rikishi on the "Off The Top" podcast. Their massive Samoan family came to cheer on Yokozuna as he fought Bret Hart for the WWE Championship.

When Yokozuna won the match and became champion, his family went wild with joy. 

"So we're up there and Yoko won the belt and it was like back home in the island. Some of the family members grabbed a folded chair and hit it on the ground. It's like our way of celebrating a lot. The louder the noise is, that we can grab something and make loud noise, that's like a cheerful moment for us."

But the happiness didn't last long. Just minutes after winning, something unexpected happened. Hulk Hogan came out and challenged the tired new champion to another match right away.

"Out of nowhere, here comes Hogan. And that quick finish, that quick switch, dude, he lost the belt that day," Rikishi explains. "That cheerful noise that was in the green room, it almost turned into a battlefield in there."

The sudden loss hit Yokozuna's mom really hard. "Yoko's mom, boy, she cried. She was so heartbroken, and she liked Hulk Hogan. Oh, she just wanted to reach out there, if she can rake Hulk Hogan's eyes or hit his ass with a chair, she probably would've."

For this famous wrestling family, that day showed how quickly things can change in wrestling – from the thrill of a major career accomplishment to the low of experiencing a controversial booking decision in just a few minutes.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Off The Top" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for transcription.