AN AMERICAN wrestler bound for Southampton next month has been found dead in his hotel room.

Yokozuna - real name Agatupu Rodney Anoei - had been touring Britain when he died just hours before he was due to perform with the Wrestlemania American roadshow on Monday night in Stockport, Cheshire.

The 34-year-old grappler, who was World Wrestling Federation champion at the height of his fame, would have performed at Southampton Guildhall on November 16.

Scott Conway, who runs Lordswood-based promotion company Wrestling Alliance, said the show would go on without the former sumo wrestler, whose death was due to natural causes, add-ing: "Yokozuna was very famous and was about 42 stone but I don't know if his weight or the stress of his job contributed to his death."