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REVIEW: WWE NETWORK'S ICONS DIVES DEEP INTO YOKOZUNA WITH STRONG DEBUT

It's really quite appropriate that the first edition of WWE Network's new documentary series Icons opens with a look at the life and career of WWE Hall of Famer and two-time WWF Champion Yokozuna, Rodney Anoa'i.

If there was a talent who, at one point in time was perhaps the most important wrestler in a certain year of WWE history but was later seemingly forgotten, it may very well be Anoa'i, who, as it was pointed out, was the only monster heel in company history to hold onto the top Championship for any period of time.

In 1993, Yokozuna may have been one of the best performers in the world for WWE.  Although he will always be remembered as one of the greatest "big men" performers because he could move so swiftly and had amazing in-ring timing for someone of his size, Anoa'i would have been considered a great wrestler even if he was 175 lbs.   There are no “...and then I was injured wrestling Yokozuna” stories like there were for scores of other big men, because while his size accentuated what he brought to life in the ring, it was never, during his prime, a weakness.  Instead, it hid how flawless he was as a performer in terms of protecting those he was in the ring with.

While he had been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, not even being enshrined there properly placed Anoa'i back into the forefront of WWE history as well as Icons attempts to do.  This is presented as a deeper, more mature dive into WWE history as they trace the life and career of Anoa’i before, during and after his WWE tenure.  Watching, one can feel echoes of ViceTV’s Dark Side of The Ring, which was certainly in some form an inspiration for this series, which resurrects Yokozuna’s place in the WWE pantheon during its pilot episode.

Indeed, as Roman Reigns adeptly points out during Icons, Yokozuna is the performer who put his family’s legacy within the professional wrestling business over the top forever, cementing their importance within WWE.

It seems so long ago, but in 1993, WWE was trying to find itself as it evolved from the overindulging Hulk Hogan era to the smaller, faster style that allowed the rise of Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart as the definitive talents for the company.  Yokozuna landed as the bridge between eras, perfectly playing the foreign menace heel of the time who was chased by The Undertaker, Lex Luger, Hart, Hacksaw Duggan and others and in doing so, allowed WWE the time needed to journey towards their future. 

He was, in many ways, the mighty oak who held strong during the storm.  There are endless great matches and performances during that run - some were house show bouts so good they would have been remembered forever had they aired on PPV, such as a July 1993 Steel Cage Match against Bret Hart in Madison Square Garden which still stands out decades later as one of the best Cage matches I've ever seen live, but, just a few years later, weight problems would result in his exit from the company and eventually, his passing, all of which is covered in great detail by Icons.

While Vince McMahon does appear, Bruce Prichard is very much the voice of the company during the film, breaking down scouting Anoa’i for the company, his original envisioned role as a tag team performer, how an injury changed that, the Hall of Famer who suggested the Sumo Wrestler role and what made him such an over the top star as Yokozuna.  

If the measure of a man is how much he is missed after he is gone, Rodney Anoa’i was beyond beloved as everyone you could imagine with the exception of The Rock appears over the course of the documentary - Steve Austin, The Undertaker, McMahon, Hart, Hulk Hogan, Savio Vega, Jerry Lawer, The Godfather and just about every member of the Anoa’i family one might think of who worked in the business (and some who didn’t) appear over the course of the documentary, which seeks to show who Rodney the person - kind, loving, benevolent towards his loved ones - was as much as it seeks to trace his on camera persona beat by beat.  

Photos, family footage and content dug up from pre and post-WWE events help give viewers an idea of who Rodney was, especially footage and photos with his son and daughter.  Behind the scenes WWE footage shows a far more affable personality beyond the serious, angry monster that invaded their television programming at the time.

Icons does a very good job at providing an overview of Yokozuna’s on-camera run without getting bogged down in storylines and feuds.  It focuses more on how great he was as a performer - at one point, Undertaker recalls basically begging Vince McMahon backstage to feed him Yokozuna after having wrestled some talents he described as “limited” -  and who Rodney, the person that WWE fans never truly got to know on camera, was behind the scenes and in his life beyond the persona.  

After the climax of his run as WWE Champion, Icons delves into the darker side of Anoa’i’s story as his weight begins to rage out of control.  The serious nature of his weight issues and early death bring a starkly different tone than one would expect from most WWE produced fare.  There is a moment with one of his trainers, his Uncle Sika getting especially emotional about Rodney’s passing during a tour of Great Britain, still feeling great guilt himself over having placed his nephew on the path in professional wrestling and eventually, his passing.  Bret Hart wonders if he could have done more to help or reach out, a question that sadly, he’ll never know the answer to.     

Bruce Prichard goes into great detail as to what the company did to try and assist Anoa'i with his issues before he is released after failing a New York States Athletic Commission-mandated physical. The doc does not ask or answer what the root causes of the issues may have been or whether portraying Yokozuna may have exacerbated them instead focusing on the company trying to convince him numerous times to address the issue including mandating he go to Duke University in North Carolina for a weight loss clinic he had previously pushed back against attending.

Rikishi’s love for Yokozuna truly highlights the documentary.  He is one of the true stars of the piece, emotionally bringing to light who Rodney Anoa’i was as a person, the support he provided and the immense sense of loss he still carries for him to this day.    Rodney’s sister and his children help bring him to light as well, and the pauses they need to deal with the waves of emotion his death still brings up is at times hard to watch.  He is presented as someone who was in many ways the connecting force and the light of the family that was snuffed out far too soon.

Icons’ Yokozuna documentary is greatly enhanced by their excellent job of finding footage beyond the WWE library to feature, including camcorder footage of a Q&A during the UK tour that was Anoa’i’s last, footage of one of his final matches teaming with Greg Valentine, commercials from his school in Las Vegas, footage from the Anoa'i family’s Yokozuna Memorial Event and independent appearances on the West Coast.

Whether someone was a fan of Rodney Anoa'i time as Yokozuna or they are discovering him for the first time through the documentary, viewers are likely to come away knowing far more about him and certainly, feeling the loss of someone gone far too soon, a loss that still greatly resonates and impacts his loved ones today.  The true measure of a documentary is whether it makes you care and feel about the subject and only the most callous viewer could walk away saying Icons failed to accomplish that task.

Future installments of Icons will feature Davey Boy Smith, Lex Luger, Beth Phoenix and Rob Van Dam.  It should be interesting to see if they follow the deeper, more insightful strategy that prevails throughout the Yokozuna profile and what sort of ripple effect this series will have on WWE’s other, ever-growing collection of documentary programming.  If so, they are off to a strong start.

WWE provided PWInsider.com with an advance review copy of Icons - Yokozuna.  The episode will debut Sunday 1/31 on the WWE Network.

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