Rikishi

Early Life and Family

Solofa F. Fatu Jr, best known for his ring name Rikishi, hails from the famous Anoa’i wrestling family

of American Samoa. Other than his sons Jey and Jimmy Uso, many other frontline wrestlers of WWE

are related to him, like The Rock, Roman Reigns and Umaga.

Rikishi started out in 1985 as a babyface in Lutte Internationale promotion in Montreal. Later he

signed up with WWC with his cousin Samula Anoa’I and appeared as The Samoan Swat Team. He

also teamed up with his brother, The Samoan Savage for WCW as well as independent promotions.

WWE Career

Rikishi joined WWE (then WWF) with Samu in 1992 being renamed as The Headshrinkers but

retained their savage gimmick. The team helped Yokozuna win a casket match against The

Undertaker at 1994 Royal Rumble. Rikishi later paired with Sione (formerly, The Barbarian) after

Samu left WWE to recover from injuries. From 1995, Rikishi started going single.

Rikishi was all about helping the community. His slogan “Make a Difference” became so popular that

fans started to use it to refer to his gimmick. Rikishi was repackaged as The Sultan for two years for a

gimmick of a masked wrestler whose tongue was cut out, before he left to train.

When he returned, it was with a completely new avatar honouring the Japanese Sumo tradition. His

alliance with the Too Cool duo was particularly memorable as he was most popular during that time.

His Dancing Fun gimmick was a hugely popular with the fans and remains a highlight of his career.

Together they feuded with Edge, Christian and Kurt Angle, snatching a victory at Judgement Day.

Rikishi was also involved in an angle where he attacked Stone Cold in a car. It was actually to wrote

Stone Cold off television so he could have surgery, but in kayfabe he said he had attacked Stone Cold

for his cousin, the Rock. Later it would be revealed that he was actually under orders from Triple H.

Hall of Fame

Rikishi was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015 by his sons the Usos.