During this tour, he repeatedly teamed with Big Van Vader and Mike Kirchner, with his opponents including Kengo Kimura, Masa Saito, and Riki Choshu.

In October and November that year, Anoaʻi made a third tour of Japan as part of NJPW's "Toukon Series"; during this stint, he again repeatedly teamed with Big Van Vader, while his opponents included Choshu, Kimura, Masahiro Chono, and Osamu Kido.

On the final day of his tour, he and Vader unsuccessfully challenged Masa Saito and Shinya Hashimoto for the IWGP Tag Team Championship.

[8][9] In 1989, Anoa'i received his first major exposure in the United States when he joined the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as "Kokina Maximus".

[11] Anoaʻi made his final appearance with the AWA in April 1990, losing to Yukon John Nord in a lumberjack match at SuperClash IV.

For the remainder of his tenure in the UWA, Anoaʻi continued to wrestle primarily in two-out-of-three falls matches (including teaming with Black Scorpio and Buffalo Allen in a loss to André the Giant, El Canek, and Villano III in May 1992), as well as again unsuccessfully challenging El Canek for the UWA World Heavyweight Championship on several other occasions.

[15] Anoaʻi made his initial debut as Kokina in an untelevised match on September 1, at a WWF Superstars taping in Hershey, Pennsylvania, defeating Ron Neal.

Managed by Mr. Fuji, Yokozuna debuted on the October 31, 1992 edition of Superstars with his then new gimmick of a stereotypical sumo wrestler, who competed under the Japanese flag; though the WWF tactfully acknowledged his Samoan roots.

[16] Anoaʻi also revamped his appearance as Yokozuna by gaining additional weight, becoming clean shaven and transforming his unruly hair into a chonmage.

He made his pay-per-view debut on November 25 at Survivor Series, easily defeating the much smaller Virgil with his huge weight advantage.

[17] Yokozuna's career soon took off and he was billed as a potential favorite to win the Royal Rumble match on January 24, 1993, doing so by last eliminating Randy Savage.

[18] Having cemented his movement towards main-event status, Yokozuna was a competitor in the first-ever match in Monday Night Raw history, defeating the much smaller Koko B. Ware with his signature finisher, the Banzai Drop.

[19] On the May 10, 1993, edition of Monday Night Raw, Yokozuna served as one of the lumberjacks in a match between Duggan and Shawn Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship.

Yokozuna knocked Duggan to the floor and nailed him with a leg drop, then rolled his unconscious body back into the ring as payback for the earlier attack.

To celebrate, he held a "Bodyslam Competition" aboard the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, on Independence Day.

[25] The contract Luger had signed for the match, as orchestrated by Yokozuna's new spokesman and advisor James E. Cornette, stated that if he did not win the championship, he would not get another shot at the title.

[2] The match occurred on January 22, 1994, at Royal Rumble, which Yokozuna won by shoving the Undertaker in the casket with help from multiple heel wrestlers.

He opened his eyes and said the Undertaker would not rest in peace; he then disappeared in a smoke and light show, rising to the top of the titantron and seemingly levitating all the way to the arena ceiling until vanishing.

At the end of the match, Yokozuna seemed ready to hit his finishing maneuver, the Banzai Drop, but lost his balance and took a fall from the ropes.

[32] At King of the Ring on June 19, Yokozuna and Crush failed to win the WWF Tag Team Championship from The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu).

The two met in another casket match on November 23 at Survivor Series, this time with actor/karate expert Chuck Norris as the special enforcer to keep the other heel wrestlers away from ringside.

[39] He competed in the Royal Rumble match on January 21, eliminating Bob Backlund, King Mabel, and Swat Team member #2 before being tossed out by eventual winner Shawn Michaels.

[41] On March 31 at WrestleMania XII, Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson and Jake Roberts lost to Vader, Owen Hart and British Bulldog.

The splash was shown on television as a leg break, but in reality, it was performed to allow Yokozuna to take some time off to lose weight.

He made his final televised WWF appearance at the Survivor Series on November 17, still going after Vader, however he only briefly entered the match illegally and it ended with all remaining wrestlers being disqualified.

[46] His final match in the WWF was on November 20, 1996, at a house show in White Plains, New York in a battle royal won by his cousin Rocky Maivia.

[47] For a second time, Yokozuna went to his home in Los Angeles to lose weight through exercise and dieting, being replaced by other wrestlers on a late November 1996 tour of the United Kingdom.

[39] Despite dropping a reported 100 lb (45 kg), he still could not lose enough to satisfy the WWF officials, and was not medically cleared to wrestle in some states because of his physical condition.

Yokozuna was ultimately unable to pass a physical examination required for professional wrestlers by the New York State Athletic Commission, and was released from the WWF in May 1998.

[51] He also suffered from arachnophobia, and claimed to devour 240 eggs, 12 pieces of chicken and a bucket-sized portion of Japanese rice every day.