About a year ago I made a video about wrestlers appearing on Saturday Night Live, then I made one about the Jerry Springer show. Next I thought I'd look into wrestlers you might not expect being interviewed by Conan O'Brien. While Conan was on TV in the UK for a few years and that's how I found him, late night talk shows aren't really a thing in the UK like they are in America. Over the years Conan has had some pretty interesting interactions with WWE stars. Most famously he's interviewed the likes of the Rock, Triple H and Stone Cold several times over, but did you know he's also encountered many wrestlers you might not have expected him to? This isn't going to be a comprehensive list, just a few that I found unique and unexpected.
Also please let me know in the comments what modern day wrestlers you think would make great late night guests?
1) Yokozuna
Well, this goes about as awkwardly as you might imagine. On November 22nd 1993, just two months in to Conan taking over Late Night from David Letterman, Conan interviewed then WWF champion Yokozuna. Conan has many times talked about how in the early days his show was on constantly on thin ice, to the point that it was for a time renewed on a week by week basis. I can't imagine how that pressure must have felt. Conan has also noted that in the early days it was hard to get guests, which might have played a part in this weird interview taking place.
Yokozuna enters not to the tune of some jazzy live band like we are used to, but to his WWE entrance music, and the sight of him and Conan in the same shot is enough to get his audience laughing. It's a little bit misleading for me to have not yet mentioned Mr. Fuji, who is the one who does all of the talking in the interview, while Yokozuna looks like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world, maybe down the hall at SNL, what a host he would have been? Maybe the only funny part of the interview was Conan trying to get Yokozuna's attention, with Yoko just staring into the middle distance. Mr. Fuji does his best and is interesting to listen to, but it's weird hearing him playing the foreign heel in front of an audience that isn't reacting that way a wresting crowd would.
The irony of all of this is that Yokozuna, as you likely know if you've found this video wasn't Japanese, but actually Samoan. The name Yokozuna isn't even a real name, it's the highest rank you can achieve in Sumo wrestling. According to this website I found, the literal translation of Yokozuna would be "horizontal rope", referring to one that would be worn by a Sumo wrestler. Yoko was commonly known behind the scenes as Rodney Anoai and as the name suggests he's actually part of the ever growing family tree of famous Samoan wrestlers. He was born in San Francisco and so in reality spoke better english than Mr. Fuji does in this interview. Thats misleading too though as Fuji himself is playing up his accent, though he was actually born in Hawaii. His ancestry is half Japanese, as his real last name being Fujiwara like the armbar. Yokozuna was, as most wrestlers of that time were, very protective of his character, and so certainly wouldn't break that for a talk show appearance in the early 90's. There's a rare clip of footage filmed by an unknown fan in April 1994, in which the fan approaches various wrestlers in Burlington Vermont according the the source I found the clip for this video. One such wrestler is Yokozuna, who looks noticeably dismissive when the fan calls him "Yoko", but is clearly annoyed when the fan calls him Rodney. I say clearly but nothing is clear given how the footage was filmed on a potato. A thirty year old potato.
Getting back to the Late Night segment, things get more interesting when a character called Dizz enters, played by one of the shows writers, Michael Gordon. According to IMDB Michael would also play the Masturbating Bear, good for him. Dizz enters and runs around in a circle. This is an interesting character for Triumph to, well you know. Dizz does however wake Yokozuna from his boredom induced trance, as he leads Dizz by the hand out of the studio, but nothing more comes of this and Mr. Fuji resumes the interview. This whole segment is fairly odd to watch, and probably didn't earn Survivor Series 93, which Fuji was promoting, a single buy. A show by the way that Yoko lost on, as part of a Survivor Series 4 versus four main event against Lex Luger, The Steiners and the Undertaker.
2) Goldust
On March 21st 1996, Conan would interview a more eccentric WWE star, maybe the most eccentric of the 90's. Just days before Wrestlemania 12 where he would face Rowdy Roddy Piper in the wild Hollywood backlot brawl, Goldust would be interviewed by Conan. In his introduction, Conan noted that his guest is quote, "one of the most controversial figures in wrestling today. This man uses sexuality, eroticism and mystery to defeat his opponents." He then introduces Goldust, accompanied by Marlena.
What exactly did Conan mean by this introduction though? On the night Goldust made his debut at In Your House 4 in October 1995, five months before the Conan interview, the commentators Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross refer to Goldust as 'bizarre' and 'strange' multiple times, but there's not much overtly sexual about his presentation or mannerisms. The closest thing is when Vince refers to him as androgynous. In a 2018 episode of WWE Photo Shoot, Goldust explains that the word androgynous was a key part of Vince's inital pitch of the character to him, but that it took him six months to get that part of the character right. Elsewhere on this episode, Goldust refers to a match he had with Savio Vega the very next night on Raw, in which there is a moment where Goldust rubs himself on Savio who is backed into the corner. Later in the match Goldust also kisses Savio in an attempt to take him off his game. Goldust says "Now you would think today in 2018 that's not so bad, everything is accepted, but back then it was something you did not push... I thought woah this is easy, I can do this, and Goldust was for a good solid year, year and a half was the most hated wrestler on the planet."
Much like Yokozuna, Goldust enters Conan's studio to his WWE theme music, but he does so through the audience with gold confetti falling. Immediately it's clear we're going to see something very different from the Yokozuna appearance, as Goldust makes a very grand entrance, even taking time to make Andy Richter very uncomfortable. Goldust repeatedly refers to Conan as Mr. Barbarian, and I can only imagine what someone who doesn't watch wrestling might be thinking as this takes place. If you were to line up many of Conan's more famous characters over the years, Goldust might not look that far out of place. Maybe they could have booked him in a match with Pimpbot at some point?
I had that thought even before Goldust disrobed, and made his way around Conan's desk, even puling a face at Conan's Eisenhower mug that sat on his desk for decades. Conan eventually calls security and Goldust proceeds to come on to them, and I think we can file this entire segment under "it was a different time". Also, I'm not sure this earned many buys for Wrestlemania 12.
3) The Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young
I never thought I'd be talking about Moolah or Mae Young on this channel. Moolah because of the Dark Side of the Ring related parts of her past, and Mae because I've never quite forgiven her for the damage my eyes endured watching the 2000 Royal Rumble. If you know, you know.
On March 23rd 2005 Moolah and Mae were guests on Late Night about two weeks before Wrestlemania 21, but thats not what they're here to promote. In 2004 they were the most famous of six subjects of a documentary called "Lipstick and Dynamite, the first ladies of wrestling". Remember how Goldust was very much in character, well Mae was too right out of the curtain, hugging Conan and holding him for a bit too long. Conan notes that they don't have much time, as they were the end of the show guests.
Moolah was 81 years old at the time, and Mae 82. For several years by this point they had carved out a niche in WWE for making cameos where Moolah would essentially act as Mae's handler, while Mae wanted to misbehave in ways unusual for her age, to put it as politely as I can. The two would occasionally take shocking looking moves. Moolah was actively wrestling into the 21st century, even winning the Women's title at age 76, and also took an RKO aged 80. Mae Young would take a powerbomb from Bubba Ray Dudley off the stage, and a splash from the three hundred pound Jamal of Three Minute Warning, or Umaga as he's more well known.
I didn't expect to say this as I watched it, but this is the interview I would actually recommend you go and find on YouTube, as it's pretty funny to see Conan interact with the two, especially when they show a clip of Mae doing a Bronco Buster, and Conan looks appalled. Even more so when Mae offers to demonstrate the move. The audience in particular seems to like their dynamic of Moolah acting sensible and Mae wanting to cause chaos, which of course, she does. To end this segment, I offer this image from the interview, with absolutely no explanation... Look at it, I had to.
4) The Great Khali
For this one we're post the year two thousand. Sorry, the year two thousaaand. On May 26th 2005 Adam Sandler was a guest on Conan's show to promote The Longest Yard. That movie stars several top wrestling stars, Steve Austin, Kevin Nash, Bill Goldberg among others, and of all of those names, Adam Sandler brought with him to Late Night Dalip Singh Rana, who would later be known as The Great Khali. Dalip at this point was a wrestler but was not yet signed to WWE, as that would happen the following year. Who knew Adam Sandler didn't always make the right choices...
Dalip had actually begun his wrestling career in 2000, wrestling his first matches for California based APW. Within a year he would debut for New Japan as Giant Singh, teaming with Giant Silva, known by WWE fans as a member of the Oddities. In 2006 he would be signed by WWE, wrestling only two televised matches in then developmental territory Deep South Wrestling before arriving on Smackdown two months later. And the rest, was misery.
Those of you who endured the Great Khali's WWE run at the time might remember that to put it kindly, he was never really renowned for his promo skills, and he doesn't say much here either. There is one elongated joke, that he is a very big man, then the interview just resumes with Sandler while Khali awkwardly sits there. Unlike Yokozuna who at least conveys an emotion of some kind, Khali is barely shown on camera again. When Sandler does try to include him, he implies that he doesn't understand what is being said.
Before I get to my bonus entry from much later in Conan's career, here's a trivia note about a small bit of influence Conan had on a WWE promo. Conan once claimed in an interview with Howard Stern in 2022 that he unintentionally inspired one of the Rock's promo lines. While speaking about a writer who after leaving his show went to work for WWE, Conan said the writer had heard him tell someone to partake in quote "a tall glass of shut up juice". A while later the Rock would use this line at the 2000 Royal Rumble, and fans would pick up on it after, even putting it on signs. It's maybe not in the top twenty of famous Rock lines, but what are? With that in mind here are the top twenty- sorry, I'm kidding with you, I'm not making that list. It's still interesting to think that a line the Rock used started out as a nod of sorts to Conan, and only the writer knew. To be honest with you, I initially thought this was a lesser known story until I googled it and discovered that when Conan told the story everyone with a fucking keyboard covered it.
5) Danhausen
For the last entry in this video we jump forward to Conan's modern day podcast era, and the excellent Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. Since 2018 the best part of every Monday for me has been Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, but in 2021 they added a Thursday podcast called Conan Needs a Fan, and the very first guest would be a pre-AEW Danhausen.
Speaking to both Chris Van Vliet and Rene Paquette on their podcasts after the fact, Danhausen explained that he had submitted a question to Conan's podcast about four months previously, and forgot all about it until he was contacted by a producer. After a conversation with him, he was asked to appear on a zoom call with Conan, Sona and Matt, and this would become the first Conan Needs a Fan episode. He also told them both the same thing he told Conan to his face on the podcast, that he considers Conan more of an influence on him than quote "any other wrestler", and you can see that in some of the weird elements of Danhausen's character, with him going as far as to say that the character is what might occur if Conan had been possessed by a demon, hausen.
In the episode Danhausen, going by his real name Donovan, which I wouldn't normally point out but he's talking as himself on the podcast not in character. The around ten minute segment mainly consists of Donovan explaining his character, with Conan getting very hung up on the jar of teeth Danhausen used to use, but he seems to have ditched this since arriving in AEW. Towards the end of the segment Conan sounds very enthused about somehow working his way into the canon of Danhausen, even pitched that he could one day be revealed as his long lost Father, as well as some more ideas, which brings me to why I have chosen to end this video on Danhausen.
I have in fact, and ulterior motive if I'm being honest. Conan was for over a decade at home on TBS, the current home of AEW Dynamite. What if Conan was to return to TBS, show up on Dynamite and interacted with AEW's roster? Can you imagine what could happen if he met Danhausen in person, or maybe even Toni Storm? I'm not normally one for plugging celebrities into wrestling, but in Coco I trust.
Sources:
Stern https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm_L4V_B1M8 3:32
Yokozuna name meaning: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2018/09/21/sumo/sumo-101-yokozuna/
Yokozuna fan cam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te3A1fVFrAI 25:15
Photo Shoot - Goldust https://network.wwe.com/video/71877
Late Night interviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot_cxF6mFwQ
Clueless Gamer WWE 2K14 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD7Afs6OxnY
Conan and Cassandro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgGyGKbSA30
Roster Cuts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2E6dlae70M
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