Professional wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Fame Rikishi who is also a former WWE Intercontinental Champion and a former three times WWE Tag Team Champion recently revealed who help him to come up with his signature move the Stinkface.
Rikishi started his professional wrestling career in 1985 and he came to WWE in 1992. By that time he was known as Fatu. He was a member of the stable named the Headshrinkers. He carried the gimmick of Fatu till 1996 before he was repackaged as the Sultan.
Rikishi Reveals How He Came Up With The Stinkface
His face was covered in a mask when he was carrying the gimmick of the Sultan and according to the storyline he did not have a tongue so he could not speak. WWE repackaged team as Rikishi for the first time in 1998 and after this he never had to go through another gimmick change.
In year 2000 he got a main event push when he got involved in a storyline with the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. His main event push continued till 2001 and after that he became a mid card once again. His main event push was really well built up. It seemed like WWE had really high hopes for him.
But for some reason the push got sacrificed. He worked in WWE till 2005 and after that he was let go by the promotion. He joined the independent circuit on the same year and worked on the Independent circuit till 2019. He worked in different promotions during the time as well. In 2015 he was inducted into WWE Hall of Fame.
Rikishi who is also a former WWE Intercontinental Champion and a former three times WWE Tag Team Champion recently spoke to The Domenick Nati Show where herevealed who help him to come up with his signature move the Stinkface. He said;
“Big Boss Man. For those who don’t remember, he’s back in the 80s. Big Boss Man was actually the one that kinda, you know, helped me form that move, the Stinkface. Yeah, well, we had a show in Mobile, Alabama. How many times, do we all see somebody clothesline somebody? The person takes a bump, and then, you know, that was it.
“Well, he took the bump and when he took the bump, he took a bump in the corner and fell down. And then all of a sudden, I didn’t see him fall down. This was a house show, meaning no cameras. And then Mobile, Alabama, you know, it’s country folks out there. And all I can hear I think, ‘Rikishi, turn around and stick your butt in his face.’
“And I was looking down because 15,000 people, I’m looking around like this, trying to find out who the hell is that old lady’s voice from? Where is she? And as I turned around, I see Big Boss Man, bless his heart. Ray Traylor, he’s sitting there in the Stinkface position and in this business, Dom, we work off what is called a pop.
“A pop, meaning you hear the crowd erupt, and so, I turned and I looked at him and he’s sitting in position. I took the first step, as I took the first step, you can hear the crowd. The voices start to get higher,” he recalled. “I took the second step, it was getting louder. The third step.
“By the time I got to him, it was probably the loudest pop I’ve ever heard in my career and I’ve been in it for well over 20 something years. And when I turned around, keep in mind I’ve got a thong, everybody knows Rikishi wears a thong, and when I turned around — and we’ve never tried this move before, I didn’t know what I was going to do. As soon as I turned around, I sh-t you not, Dom, it was like an eruption of a volcano [from the fans].”
H/T and transcribed by Wrestling Inc.
