Brian Damage
Kenzo Suzuki was on an excursion in the United States and wrestling for the upstart TNA wrestling in 2003, when WWE scouts took notice of the 6ft 3in 300 pound Japanese wrestler. In 2004, WWE made Suzuki an offer to join the company’s developmental brand Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW). Vince McMahon saw the wrestler the perfect project to expand his wrestling empire to the far east. Suzuki agreed to sign the deal and was sent to Jim Cornette in Louisville, Kentucky for seasoning.
The initial reports out of OVW, was that Suzuki needed a lot of work. Despite the negative comments, McMahon decided to rush Suzuki up to the main roster. The initial plan was to rename Kenzo Suzuki simply ‘Hirohito’ a direct descendant of the former Japanese emperor Michinomiya Hirohito who infamously ruled Japan during World War II. Kenzo’s version of Hirohito who would seek revenge for his family name as an anti-American heel. The Hirohito character would be carried to the ring by several men very similar to the way the likes of Jerry Lawler and King Haku were. Kenzo was not a fan of the gimmick and pleaded with McMahon not to go through with it.
According to Suzuki, Emperor Hirohito was still beloved by many of his fellow countrymen and portraying the name Hirohito as a heel would offend many Japanese fans. Despite Suzuki’s pleas, Vince still gave the gimmick the greenlight and moved forward with the idea. Suzuki asked that his real life wife Hiroko join him and be a part of his character as his personal translator. Hiroko was looking to advance her own career as an actress and model in the States. She expressed a strong interest in posing for Playboy magazine. Vince agreed and made her character into a geisha/valet to Hirohito. McMahon was also supposedly in negotiations with bringing over Kensuke Sasaki (One of Kenzo’s original trainers) as Hirohito’s personal bodyguard. Unfortunately for Vince, Sasaki saw the opportunity as a step down in his career. Plus, Sasaki did not want to leave Japan to be a full time wrestler for WWE, so Sasaki declined McMahon’s offer.
The first Hirohito vignette aired on Monday Night Raw in April of 2004. The plan was to air several vignettes hyping Hirohito’s debut which was scheduled the very next month. After the initial vignette aired, there was an almost instantaneous backlash from fans both in the United States and in Japan. Japanese magazines heavily criticized WWE for attempting to debut such a gimmick. Kenzo and Hiroko seeing the hate the character was already receiving before he ever stepped foot in a WWE ring, returned to Vince to beg him to drop the gimmick. Begrudgingly, McMahon agreed to drop the Hirohito character after just one vignette.
Kenzo would later debut for the company as Kenzo Suzuki with his wife Hiroko by his side in June of 2004. Many believe that once the Hirohito character was dropped, McMahon almost immediately lost interest in Suzuki as a wrestler and made him into more of a comedic character. Despite the lack of faith in Kenzo, he did manage to capture one half of the tag team titles with Rene Dupree, before ultimately being released in 2005.
david fullam
Lord, Vince and his need to have the Japanese be heels.