Yusuke " Wally" Yamaguchi (May 5, 1958 – March 9, 2019)
Professional wrestling career
A lifelong fan of professional wrestling, Yamaguchi's career began in the 1970s as a writer for
Gong Magazine. In the 1980s, he began working for various Japanese promotions in both behind-the-scenes and in-ring positions such as referee, manager, and commentator. Because of his fluency in English, he was responsible for booking gaijin talent in Japan, as well as booking Japanese talent overseas. He would also accompany Japanese talent booked overseas to not only oversee the tour, but to assist them in making the travel easier and fun.
World Wrestling Federation (1998)
In March 1998, Yamaguchi signed with the
WWE (WWF) under the
ring name Yamaguchi-san. He recruited
Shoichi Funaki, Mens Teioh, and
Dick Togo to form the stable Kai En Tai, who feuded with
Taka Michinoku. They defeated Michinoku and
John Layfield at the pay-per-view.
Following this, the stable began a storyline with
Val Venis, who had been sleeping with Yamaguchi-san's wife, Kiyoko, with an enraged Yamaguchi-san being shown a pornographic video of the incident. The following week, during a Val Venis match, Yamaguchi-san cut a promo in which he chopped a salami in two with a sword as a threat to Venis that he would "[Castration|choppy pee pee]]".
Taka Michinoku turned on Venis during a tag team match against Togo and Funaki, effectively turning heel and joining Kaientai,
Yamaguchi, Togo and Teioh were later granted their release and returned to Japan, while Taka and Funaki stayed and became a regular tag team.
Personal life
Yamaguchi's younger brother, Shun, currently works for WWE as a Japanese commentator for pay-per-view events.
Death
Yamaguchi suffered a
stroke in December 2017 that left him bedridden.
He died on 9 March 2019 at age 60, after a lengthy battle with an undisclosed illness.
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