[sumo] Former rikishi and sumo themed wrestlers in "pro" wrestling

["owen A" <oshakam@hotmail.com>]

Reading the posts of those of you who are talking about Wrestlmania, I 
started thinking about all the wrestlers over the years who have used sumo 
as part of their persona.

The one who wrestled as Yokozuna was a Samoan.  I think his real name was 
Rodney Anoia.  He was a relative of the one known as Rikishi and they are 
both part of the same family that includes the old time wrestlers The Wild 
Samoans.  They were brothers who were tag team champions back in the '70's.  
If I remember right, Rikishi is a son of one of them and Yokozuna was the 
son of their sister.  I do not recall at the moment but I do remember that 
there are several other Samoans who are also part of this family.

John Tenta was also mentioned.  He has been discussed several times on the 
list so I will not got into detail here.  The one who was not mentioned was 
the wrestler known at various times as Haku, King Haku and Meng.  While I am 
not certain, I believe he is one of the Tongans who were in sumo but ran 
away from the heya and were thrown out of the kyokai.  He may have been the 
one who was in the hospital at the time and wanted to stay in sumo but was 
denied by the kyokai.  Several times over the years in his interviews, there 
were mentions of his sumo prowess and in one match I remember he used 
tsupari on his opponent.

Of course there is also Rikidozan, Futahaguro and I believe Wajima too a few 
times after he lost Hanakago beya.  I have no idea how many former rikishi 
may have wrestled in Japan but I imagine there would be a few of them.

Lastly, growing up in Hawai'i where there is a huge Japanese population, 
there were a few "sumo" themed wrestlers there for the local wrestling 
promotion back in the '60's and '70's.  The one I always wondered about was 
named Kongozan.  He had the build and a name that sounded real.  Does anyone 
remember a person using that shikona?  I guess if he really was in sumo it 
would have been in the '50's.

Did I miss anyone?  Or should I say, how many have I missed?

Aloha, Owen


[EndPost by "owen A" <oshakam@hotmail.com>]