Like the Doink the Clown/Crush angle from
Episode #8.3 (1993), the USA vs. Japan aspect of "Hawksaw" Jim Duggan vs. Yokozuna earned the WWF some negative press. According to the February 15th edition of Wrestling Observer, KTTV in Los Angeles refused to air the Yokozuna/Duggan match that past weekend because of heavy protests from the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists, the Japanese American Citizens League, and the Media Action Network for Asian Americans. A KTTV spokesman said the station refused to air the match because they were "not in the business of perpetuating stereotypes." When contacted, Steve Planamaneta of Titan Sports claimed to have not seen the Duggan/Yokozuna match, but said that it wasn't the WWF's intention to offend anyone. Wendy Fujihara Anderson of the AAPAA saw a tape of the match and said the scenes and commentary promoted very negative stereotypical images of Asians and promoted Japan-bashing. "They made it into an East-West type of thing." Anderson said in an article in a Japanese newspaper in Los Angeles. She complained about the comments about Mr. Fuji and Yokozuna being sneaky and underhanded. "It just perpetuates the hate. The general American population is being educated wrong on who we are." Planamenta said Yokozuna had been very well received by fans since he was brought in, and defended his company saying that the WWF had another Japanese wrestler,
Gen'ichirô Tenryû, who was a good guy. KTTV said that future matches of Yokozuna would be monitored, and decisions made as to whether to air them would be made on a case-by-case basis. When the show aired on Saturday, it was interrupted by
Lord Alfred Hayes, who said because of the graphic nature of the match (as opposed to the real reason), it couldn't air and they put the
Ric Flair vs. Mr. Perfect (
Curt Hennig) match from
Loser Leaves Town (1993) in its place. A Chicago television station also refused to air the Duggan/Yokozuna angle.