The world of entertainment wrestling is full of talent, and in recent years, WWE has been signing more and more names to add depth to its roster. However, having talent is easy, but finding an attraction is rare. One can argue that the current locker room has the best attractions in Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, LA Knight, and many more.
However, they will all turn into dust when they come face to face with the evergreen charm of Rikishi. Hardcore fans of the show know how the wrestler can be quite an entertaining figure and was perhaps the most adaptable figure on the roster.
Be it a babyface or a heel, he surely has put up moments that have attracted fans and made him such a fun figure to be around. Here are 5 moments that are as iconic as if they happened yesterday.
5. A flamboyant Rico freaked out Rikishi
The year was 2004, and a SmackDown segment featured Rikishi & Scotty 2 Hotty, who were the Tag Team Champions and were challenged by Charlie Haas and his mystery partner, Rico. The match was kicked off by Rico and Rikishi, which soon had the Champs fearing the ‘homosexual’ gimmick of Rico.
Right after the match bell rang, Rico was shoved into the corner, which made him showcase his affection for the Samoan by blowing him a kiss. This infuriated him, and he ran to give him a clothesline only to be dodged and see him bending right in front of him and provocatively shaking his hips. However, that was just the beginning because the Samoan’s hip-based moves were an invitation to his unorthodox opponent.
During the match, Rico humped Rikishi, which freaked him out and incited a roar of excitement from the fans and the announcers. This was just the beginning because later in the match, when Rikishi was going to squash and slapped his back to warn his opponent, he spanked back, making him go pale and say, “Holy sh*t?!” The slap petrified him so badly that he ran to his corner and tagged his partner.
Much later in the match, when the former IC Champion was part of the action and was about to deliver his iconic Stink Face to Haas, Rico decided to substitute himself in his partner’s place. To make the situation more hilarious, he applied some lipstick from Ms. Jackie and braced for maximum impact from the enormous and partially exposed back of his tantalizing opponent.
Needless to say, he enjoyed every bit of the moment and is perhaps the only superstar who has willfully taken the horrifying move. To make the match more iconic, Rico and Haas won the match, thanks to the former’s little lip-to-lip assist.
4. Getting “Dropped” from the top of the Hell in a Cell structure
Rikishi’s WWE career is full of iconic matches, but his most popular would be the one where he is part of a Six-Man Hell in a Cell match, featuring him, Kurt Angle (c), The Undertaker, The Rock, Steve Austin, and Triple H, for the WWF Championship. The match was brutal, and all six men were hitting each other with an unmatched intent to hurt.
Needless to say, the match was full of hard bumps and spots that would make one cover their eyes. But the most iconic moment and what became the highlight of the match was Rikishi taking the hardest knock among the 6 men. He was given a choke slam from The Deadman, and that too from the roof of the steel structure on a truck full of hay.
The scene remains iconic, even after 25 years, and even during an interview, he mentions that he was out of his mind to perform such a stunt and even said that he had mentally prepared himself for what could have been the last fall of his career. Luckily, that was not the case, because he was perfectly fine and went on to compete in WWE until 2004.
3. Rikishi’s controversial Hall of Fame speech
The annual Hall of Ceremony speeches are always iconic because fans finally get to see a glimpse of the real faces of their favorite wrestlers. Each year, these speeches are full of emotions and gratitude, taking everyone on a trip back to memory lane. However, that was not the case with Rikishi’s speech because the Cool Samoan decided to omit people with whom he spent a major time of his career.
To everyone’s surprise, his speech did not mention the Too Cool group that featured Brian Christopher and Scotty 2 Hotty. This act infuriated Hotty, and he took to his X (then Twitter) via WrestleView, reminding the world about Rikishi’s ungrateful act of ignoring the people who helped him to achieve greatness.
2. Giving Stink Face to Vince McMahon
It is not surprising that the Stink Face is one of the most iconic moves in WWE that not only deals physical but also psychological damage as well. From John Cena to Trish Stratus, this menace of a move has been delivered to superstars irrespective of their gender. But hitting the same move on your boss, that’s a whole different story.
In 2001, Vince McMahon started a Kiss My A** club, where people had to join the faction by kissing Mr. McMahon’s behind. Several people and superstars were forced to join over the threats of suspension or immediate firing. One such name was Trish Stratus, and he wanted to remind the fans of their history by making her a part of his faction.
However, The Rock saved the day when he fired verbal bullets at the Genetic Jackhammer and forced him to join his own club by shoving his face into Rikishi’s back for a nasty Stink Face.
1. Rikishi gave CPTSD to Booker T
The WWE roster is no stranger to the infamous Stink Face and avoids it at all costs if they are booked against Mr. Too Cool. Sadly, they are not fortunate enough to save their faces because sooner or later they all get their faces rubbed on by the big back of Rikishi. Naturally, this move has led to numerous instances of how the superstars are left horrified as they try to recover from the mental hurt it caused.
Heath Slater, Lita, Stephanie McMahon, and even Paul Heyman had an obnoxious reaction to it, but none can compare with how Booker T reacted to it. In 2002, when the two wrestlers were booked in a match in a SmackDown segment, King Bookah found himself in the corner of a ring. The Samoan lined himself up and gave a long and smelly Stink Face to him.
King T was wretched, and it was so bad that he ended up throwing up all over Michael Cole. The match ended in a no contest, leaving the Superstar horrified and the commentator getting showered in puke. Thus, making it the best and the worst Stink Face of all time.
Friday Night SmackDown can be seen at 8ET/7CT on USA Network and on Netflix internationally.
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