The Yokozuna Benefit Memorial Show was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

event produced by

World Xtreme Wrestling World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) is a Florida-based independent circuit, independent professional wrestling promotion which has held events across the United States and toured in Japan, the Middle East and South Pacific region including American Sa ...

(WXW) promotion which took place on 29 November 2001, at the Lehigh Valley Sports Zone (WXW Arena) in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

. It was held in memory of wrestler Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoa'i, the nephew of promoter Afa Anoa'i and former two-time

WWF World Heavyweight Champion The WWE Championship is a world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, representing the Raw brand division. It is one of two world titles on WWE's main roster, alongside SmackDown's ...

, who died of

pulmonary edema Pulmonary edema, also known as pulmonary congestion, is excessive edema, liquid accumulation in the parenchyma, tissue and pulmonary alveolus, air spaces (usually alveoli) of the lungs. It leads to impaired gas exchange and may cause hypoxemia an ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England during a tour of Europe the previous year. The show served as a benefit show for his widow and two children, Keilani and Justin. Eleven professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card, with two including championships. Wrestlers from the

Heartland Wrestling Association The Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA) was a Midwestern independent professional wrestling promotion based in Cincinnati, Ohio. A former developmental territory for World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation during the 199 ...

Jersey All Pro Wrestling Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) was an independent wrestling promotion based in New Jersey, United States. History 1997 Jersey All Pro Wrestling was an independent wrestling promotion that was founded by "Fat" Frank Iadeavia and Angel Surita ...

and the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

appeared on the show, as did members of the

Anoa'i family The Anoaʻi family ( ) is a family of professional wrestlers originating from American Samoa. Family members have comprised several tag teams and stables within a variety of promotions. Famous members of the family include Rosey, WWE Hall of Fam ...

including

The Wild Samoans The Wild Samoans was the professional wrestling tag team of Afa and Sika in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The Samoans held 21 tag team championships around the world. Gimmick The Wild Samoans ra ...

, Afa and

Sika Anoa'i Leati Sika Amituana'i Anoa'i (born April 5, 1945), better known as Sika Anoa'i or simply Sika, is an American Samoan retired professional wrestler. He is best known as one-half of the tag team The Wild Samoans with his brother Afa. Championships ...

, Afa Anoa'i, Jr.,

The Tonga Kid Samuel Larry Anoa'i Fatu (born October 11, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names The Tonga Kid and Tama and with World Championship Wres ...

, and HWA Tag Team Champions The Island Boys ( Ekmo and

Kimo KIMO (107.3 FM, "The Mighty Mo 107FM") is a commercial radio station located in Townsend, Montana and serves the Helena area. KIMO airs a country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in ...

WWF Hall of Fame The WWE Hall of Fame is a List of halls and walks of fame, hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when Andr ...

Bob Backlund Robert Louis Backlund (born August 14, 1949) is an American retired amateur and professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation from 1976 to 1984 and in the 1990s, wher ...

and Extreme Championship Wrestling

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Bill Alfonso also made surprise appearances during the event. The

main event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

was a standard wrestling match between Da Hit Squad (

Monsta Mack Steven Carrasquillo (born May 3, 1979) is an American professional wrestler better known as Monsta Mack. He is perhaps best known for his stint in Ring of Honor with Dan "Mafia" Maff as the tag team Da Hit Squad. Mack currently performs on the ...

and Mafia), and their mystery opponents, The Headshrinkers ( Rikishi and Samu), in their first match together since 1994. In the semi-main event,

The Brothers of Destruction The Brothers of Destruction were a professional wrestling tag team in WWE composed of storyline half-brothers The Undertaker and Kane. With more deep-seated drama and dysfunction than other WWE tag team combinations, their relationship/brothe ...

(

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by the ring name The Undertaker, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway spent the vast majority ...

and Kane) wrestled

The Acolytes Protection Agency The Acolytes Protection Agency (APA) was an American professional wrestling tag team who consisted of Bradshaw (John Layfield) and Faarooq (Ron Simmons). They wrestled for the American promotion World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (WWF/E) b ...

( Faarooq and Bradshaw). Another featured match was Shannon Moore versus Jamie Noble, in a revival of sorts of the

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

between

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

rivals

3 Count 3 Count was a professional wrestling stable in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) which formed in 1999. The group consisted of Shane Helms, Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias and they were given a boy band gimmick. For a brief time, Tank Abbott was a ...

and

The Jung Dragons The Jung Dragons were a professional wrestling faction and tag team. Originally formed in World Championship Wrestling, the Dragons consisted of Kaz Hayashi, Yang and Jamie-San, and their manager Leia Meow. The Jung Dragons were notable for thei ...

, which Moore won. A second former WCW star, and graduate of the Wild Samoan Training Center, Billy Kidman beat Low Ki, and

and The Hungarian Barbarian defeated The Twin Tackles ( Gene Snisky and Robb Harper), accompanied by Bill Alfonso, in a non-title match for the WXW Tag Team Championship. Two of the participants, Malachi and

Supreme Lee Great Jon Trosky (born November 12, 1980) is an American College Professor at Penn State University Hazelton, an actor / stuntman in the Screen Actors Guild professional wrestler known by his ring name Supreme Lee Great, who competed in North American ...

, both called the show one their all-time favorites; SLG named the show one of the top three highlights of his career. Sal Corrente, co-founder of

WrestleReunion WrestleReunion (or Wrestle Reunion) is a professional wrestling event, and fan convention, founded by Sal Corrente in 2005. WrestleReunion 1 The first WrestleReunion event occurred January 29, 2005, at Doubletree Hotel in Tampa, Florida. The at ...

, was also in attendance and later wrote "It was a night that won’t easily be forgotten if I ever forget it". The WWF's involvement in the event was featured in '' WWF Raw Magazine'' in March 2002.

Results

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website at WXWwrestling.com
Professional wrestling memorial shows 2001 in professional wrestling 2001 in Pennsylvania Professional wrestling in Pennsylvania

Results

See also

References

External links