Welcome to Last Word on Mania month at Last Word on Sports! All month long we will be doing articles to build up for WrestleMania 31 on March 29, 2015. Be sure to read everything this month by clicking this link. Enjoy!
In a world dominated by athletes with muscles in places most average humans don’t have places, and others that can fly from one side of the ring to the other and hit just about every technical maneuver in the books, there isn’t much place for a bulky type wrestler that doesn’t have the ability to jump off the top rope or wrestle an opponent around for 20 minutes. But for every rule, there is always an exception, and Rikishi Fatu was the exception of the early 2000s.
Pre-WWE
In 1985, Salofa Fatu Jr. made his wrestling debut for the International Wrestling promotion in Montreal, where he was featured in several tag team matches, teaming up with the promotion’s bigger faces of the time. After the promotion announced it’s closure, Salofa and his brother, Samula, signed in Puerto Rico with the World Wrestling Council. There, they adopted the gimmick that was wildly popularized by their relatives, the wild Samoan gimmick. Making their way to the ring barefoot and not speaking a word of English, they quickly became the WWC Tag Team Champions, however, they left the promotion just over one month later, dropping the titles in the process.
In 1988, Salofa and Samula dawned the tag name The Samoan Swat Team, and made their way to Texas, where they wrestled for World Class Championship Wrestling. On August 12th of the same year, the SST defeated Kerry and Kevin Von Erich for the WCWA Tag Team Championship. One month later, they would lose the titles to Michael Hayes and Steve Cox, however, the SST would go on to regain the gold, just four days later. The belts would swap hands again and vice versa in a musical chairs style game of “Who’s the champion this month?”
Before leaving the WCCW in 1989, the SST became double champions, defeating the team of “Hollywood” John Tatum and Jimmy Jack Funk to capture the WCWA Texas Tag Team Championships. They would later vacate both championships prior to their departure from the promotion.
From 1989 to the summer of 1990, Salofa wrestled for World Championship Wrestling, still under the Samoan Swat Team name. The tag team did not do much notable outside of competing in the Iron Team Tournament at StarCade 1989, where they went by their new name, The New Wild Samoans.
Early WWE, Pre-Rikishi
Salofa joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1992, along with Samu, and they were given the new ring name of The Headshrinkers, although they kept their wild Samoan characteristics and mannerisms. In April of 1994, after occasionally challenging for the WWF Tag Team titles and sparring in various other tag team matches, The Headshrinkers sought out the guidance of Captain Lou Albano as their new manager and on an episode of Monday Night Raw. In May, The Headshrinkers captured the tag titles.
Their run lasted until August, where they dropped the gold to Shawn Michaels and Diesel at a house show, just one day before the Summerslam PPV, where The Headshrinkers were set to defend their belts against Bam Bam Bigelow and Irwin R. Schyster.
After Samu departed from the WWF to deal with ongoing injuries, and Salofa’s new partner, Sione, left for WCW in 1995, Salofa was re-branded as a new character and pushed as a singles competitor. “Make a Difference” Fatu was born. When the “straight from the ghetto” style didn’t catch on, creative fired away at the dartboard, and the needle ended up hitting the gimmick of The Sultan. By 1998, Fatu and his list of characters had vanished, allowing him to polish up on his training and become something else.
The Birth of Rikishi Phatu
Fatu returned in November of 1999 under a new name, Rikishi Phatu. The name Rikishi was derived from the Japanese term for sumo wrestler, much like his cousin did with Yokozuna, and Phatu was a stylistic change of spelling of his last name. Phatu was dropped rather quickly, but with added weight and blonde locks, Rikishi and his new persona was here to stay.
When remembering certain wrestlers of the Attitude era, there’s always one signature trait to tie the character to. Stone Cold with his middle fingers, The Rock and The People’s Eyebrow, Triple H and his sledgehammer, for Rikishi, there was a certain asset that was commonly utilized, much to the entertainment of fans, and the embarrassment of his opponents. It would often make them the butt of all jokes. It would be hard for them to turn the other cheek to such a display of torture. For a lack of a better term, it stank.
Did we lay it on thick enough? Of course we’re talking about the Stinkface. Staying true to the sumo style, Rikishi wore a long robe to the ring. Upon removing it, once in the ring, Rikishi revealed a thong with his name stitched into the sash. The thong bottoms were a custom to sumo wrestlers, but the common pro wrestling fan in North America found it hilarious to see a big guy, with his buttocks out in the open, wrestling matches, and quite often using his greatest “asset” to leave a sour taste in their mouth, before dropping it like it’s hot and using his weight advantage to crush opponents and keep them down for the three count.
In 2000, Rikishi captured the Intercontinental Championship after defeating Chris Benoit, but dropped the belt two weeks later to Val Venis after outside interference from Tazz. During that time, Rikishi also qualified for the King of the Ring tournament, and made it to the finals, before losing to Kurt Angle. Perhaps one of his most memorable moments from the year came in defeat, during a cage match against Val Venis, at Fully Loaded. Rikishi was well on his way to victory as he climbed to the top of the cage while Venis was down and out. On that day, Rikishi paid tribute to Samoan-native Jimmy Snuka, turned around, and delivered a splash from the top of the cage.
“I did it for The Rock.”
Almost a year after the Survivor Series angle that involved Stone Cold Steve Austin being run down by an unknown driver, the identity of the assailant was revealed to be Rikishi, who admitted to doing it. The reason behind why he did it was to help his family — in this case, The Rock — reach the top of the mountain, and put a stop to the white man holding down the Samoan talent, much like Bob Backlund and Hulk Hogan did to Jimmy Snuka. The reveal quickly turned Rikishi heel, and led to the return of Austin, who made no plans of waiting to get his revenge, attacking Rikishi as soon as he could. The two wrestled at No Mercy in a No Holds Barred match, however, the match ended in a No Contest, after Austin was arrested in the parking lot, after attempting to run over a battered and beaten Rikishi.
The two battled inside a steel cage on an episode of Monday Night Raw, where Austin made quick work of Rikishi, bouncing him repeatedly off of the steel structure before delivering a Stunner, to put away the hit-and-run big man. However, later in the story, a swerve was thrown into the mix, when Triple H revealed himself to be the true mastermind behind Austin being run over, gloating about being the one to have paid Rikishi to pull off the attack. While this propelled the Austin and Triple H feud, emotions between The Rock and Rikishi boiled over after Rikishi cost Rock his WWF Championship, after accidentally superkicking him, which then led to an Angle Slam, crowning Kurt Angle as the new champion.
At Armageddon, Rikishi was involved in the infamous six-man Hell in a Cell match for the WWF Championship. While the Samoan superstar failed to capture the gold, he will always be remembered for the chokeslam he took from the hand of The Undertaker, off of the top of the cell structure, and into the back of a truck full of hay.
In the 2002-03 span, Rikishi was not a common face on the card, tagging back with Scotty 2 Hotty and capturing the WWE Tag Team Championships, defeating the Basham Brothers. After a two and a half month stint, they would lose the titles to Charlie Haas and Rico, which then led to Rikishi seeing less and less time on TV. By 2004, Rikishi departed from the company after repeatedly denying requests to lose some weight.
On the July 16th, 2012 episode of Raw, Rikishi returned for a surprise appearance to take on Heath Slater. Rikishi squashed Slater in the short match, using the Samoan Spike (in tribute to the late Umaga) followed by a Banzai Drop (in tribute to his cousin, Yokozuna) before earning the pinfall victory. Taking the place of Too Cool, The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) danced alongside their father post-match. Rikishi would return a week later with a crew of Legends to aid Lita in defeating Heath Slater. The cast of old stars was a tribute to the 1,000th episode of Raw. Once more, the master of the Stinkface returned to action, teaming with Too Cool in a winning effort against 3MB on an episode of Raw.
Making The Case for Hall of Fame
When taking a look at his accolades, there certainly isn’t much to go on. A 1-time Intercontinental Champion, 3-time Tag Team Champion, and 2000 King of the Ring finalist appears to be an underwhelming list, however, his contributions to the sport of pro wrestling go beyond that. His two sons, whom both had their roads paved for them by their father, quickly have become one of the more popular tag teams in the WWE. Two time tag team champions already, Jimmy and Jey were noted as PWI’s best tag team of 2014, and earned the Slammy award for best tag team that same year. Jimmy and Jey also finished at 24 and 25, respectively, in the PWI-500 in 2014. In a short amount of time, The Usos have built a solid foundation in which they can build a legacy on, and their contractor in this story is none other than Rikishi.
While his feuds with Steve Austin, The Rock, and Kurt Angle may have never led to great results, they still stand out on their own. Forever known as the guy that ran over Stone Cold, and the person to be chokeslammed off of hell in a cell, Rikishi’s lower points in his WWE run are nothing to get down on.
Did we mention he dances, too? How cool is it for a big, Samoan guy with sumo wrestler traits, to suddenly break it down in the middle of the ring and surprise the audience with some swift moves, keeping up with Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty, two men who are no strangers to the art of dance.
Are there more deserving candidates out there at this time? Absolutely. The name Owen Hart immediately comes to mind, despite ongoing personal battles between his widowed wife and the company. Then again, there are some members currently in the Hall of Fame that do not have an Intercontinental title run, nor a Tag Team title run. The fact of the matter is, Rikishi still wrestled high profile matches, was featured in some intense spots, won championships through a lengthy career in the company, and will always be remembered for his deep blood roots in the WWE, and the one thing fans seem to forget is the ability to leave your mark in the history books of wrestling. Any wrestling fan will be able to remember the ripples in Rikishi’s bottoms as he bent down, turned to his opponent who was down in the corner, and taunted for the Stinkface. His charisma and wrestling ability also help, in this case.
