Whatever Happened to Mrs. Yamaguchi?

Brian Damage

Ah Yes….’The Attitude Era’…an era where characters came and went within a blink of an eye in the WWE. It was an era where one week a certain character had a seemingly major role and the next they disappeared never to be seen or heard from again. Such is the the case with the latest subject of ‘Whatever Happened to?‘ Today’s edition features a woman known simply as Mrs. Yamaguchi-san.

Mrs. Yamaguchi was the kayfabe wife of Wally Yamaguchi…the heel manager of the Japanese faction known as Kai en Tai which consisted of Dick Togo, Mens Teioh and Sho Funaki. Mrs. Yamaguchi began making appearances on RAW in the summer of 1998…where she portrayed the subservient wife to Mr. Yamaguchi. In reality, Mrs. Yamaguchi wasn’t a wrestler by trade…in fact….she was an aspiring model/actress real name Shian-Li Tsang.

A feud developed between Kaientai and the porn star turned wrestler Val Venis. During the feud, Venis revealed his latest porn starring himself and Mrs. Yamaguchi. Wally Yamaguchi then began to torment his wife by threatening to spank her with a paddle until Val Venis made the save. That led up to one of the most infamous moments in the Attitude era for the WWE.

It started with Mr. Yamaguchi taking a samurai sword and slicing a salami in half and then getting on the microphone telling Venis he was next. To be more exact, Wally Yamaguchi said he was going to “Choppy, Choppy his pee pee.” The next week, Venis teamed with Taka Michinoku to take on Dick Togo and Sho Funaki.

During the match, Michinoku turned heel and attacked his partner Venis essentially joing the Kaientai faction. It was then revealed that Mrs. Yamaguchi was in fact…Taka’s sister. Kaientai then dragged an unconscious Venis to the back where Mr. Yamaguchi was ready with his samurai sword to castrate Val until the lights went out. We would later find out that the infamous John Wayne Bobbit (Who had his penis legitimately cut off) was the one who shut off the lights and saved Venis from utter doom.

As for Mrs. Yamaguchi….she eventually faded into oblivion never to be seen again on WWE television. The character appeared in a total of 8 Raw episodes and one episode of Shotgun Saturday Night. So this begs the question…Whatever happened to Mrs. Yamaguchi?!?

Shian-Li Tsang continued her acting and modeling career for a while and even scored a role in the 2002 movie Mary and Joe. Tsang however had bigger plans for her life and career. She returned to school and received a PhD in Communications media and Instructional Technology, a BS in Marketing and an AAS in Fashion Merchandising Management. Tsang then began a career in fashion and marketing with companies such as Coach and Dick’s sporting goods. She has written several articles, was an instructor at a University and currently works as the director of brand marketing for Dick’s Sporting Goods. She is also married and resides in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.

***Update***

Shian-Li Tsang has since moved to Portland, Oregon and is now a Sr. Director at adidas.

 

All previous ‘Whatever Happened to?’ pieces can be found here.