Rikishi appreciation thread

[SammyG]

Seriously. Rikishi was fucking awesome. What did y'all think of him? I really think his career took off after the whole Austin car storyline thingy. Also his stint with 2 Cool was amazing as well.

[NoJabbaNoBogRoll]

Teaming with Haku killed him for me.

[El Fangel]

Armageddon 2000 , nuff said.

[SammyG]

is that when he took the chokeslam off the top of the hell in a cell? By Taker I believe?

[El Fangel]

Not sure what move, but yes into the back of a truck.

[SammyG]

Yeah, i looked it up, it was a chokeslam into the back of a truck. Hell in a cell. That was a tremendous match.

[diothoir]

I like his cage match with Val Venis.

[El Fangel]

:yes:

[AdrianM]

did some good stuff in and around 2000.

Seems to be a bit forgotten when ppl look @ the years 2000-2002. But his dive off the cage against Val Venis and his part in the 6 man HIAC was awesome.
Royal Rumble 2000 was awesome with his dance with 2 Cool.

And they were the number 4 tag team in the finest era of tag teams (behind The Dudleys, The hardys & E n C.) I personally found them more entertaining than APA and the Holly's at that time.


Anyway, Rikishi was cool, but his heel turn sucked

[SammyG]

Baaaaaaaaad maaaaaaaaaaan. Lol, how fucking ridicuous was the Stink face?

[The One]

I LOVED his time with Too Cool. Than again I LOVED Too Cool all together. Hated his heel turn, especially post Armageddon when he was teaming with Haku or whatever. Ever since then I really havn't given a shit about him, even when he reteamed with Scotty, it just wasn't the same.

[Rammsteinmad]

He was a main event jobber.

[Chavo Classic]

Never like him. I think a lot of people who like/d Rikishi have the 'Samoa Joe' complex, whereby they see a large guy with a degree of athleticism and decide he's talented. Whether he was jumping off a cage onto Val, falling backwards from a cell or superkicking an opponent, I was never overwhelmed by it.

Also he lacked the charisma needed in a top tier guy. Sure he danced around with Too Cool, but that was his limit. He never had the mic skills to carry him over, and is probably one of the reasons he flopped as a top heel and ended up in a tag team with Meng. Who could forget 'I did it... I did it for... the Rock'? It was terrible.

[Mr Regal]

The stink face was the most devestating move ever seen in the squared circle.

[Gerard]

Chokeslam from the top of the cell? Last i seen taker had him by the throat and just pushed him back.

[PepperCarrotMan]

I appreciate Rikishi...not wrestling on my TV anymore. Nothing personal, but I never enjoyed him. He always made me want to change the channel.

[The One]

I think a lot of people who like/d Rikishi have the 'Samoa Joe' complex, whereby they see a large guy with a degree of athleticism and decide he's talented.

Uh, Rikishi wasn't talented, he was just fun. Either you enjoyed his character or you didn't. No one likes him based of ring skillz, cause he has none. Than again Samoa Joe has even less talent, but somehow people are confused into thinking he's worth jackshit.

[Dave Youell]

My favorite thought of him, was after he got re packaged and only just joined up with 2 cool, he was on a mega streak, no one had beaten him, and there was a lottery on smackdown to see who'd face HHH on the night.

Kish got picked, and for the first time in a while I actually thought he might take it that night because of the good job they had done with the booking of him.

Plus he used to use 'Greatings from Aspery Park' as a finish, which is awesome

[Corkscrewed]

I'm assuming that's a sitdown piledriver?

Cuz yeah, that move could look absolutely devastating at times, depending on if he had the other guy in the perfect position.

[Jeritron]

Rikishi was very entertaining and fun, and put in some great matches for a guy his size and shape.
He was absolute gold in 2000, and the thing with Too Cool was suprisingly good. He hit his peak in summer 2000 when he got a few big matches against HHH and the Regime, and IMO he was a great IC champion for that time period.

They took what was fun and entertaining, and could have been a mainstay of the uppermidcard and tried to push him, poorly.
They should have focused on moving Benoit and Jericho upwards and let Rikishi account for the IC division, with Eddie and Tazz and others.
In hindsight it would have been better to let Rikishi stay as awesome as he was, and then turned heel in a simpler, less extravagant manner...by turning on Too Cool. Then a Too Cool vs Rikishi/Haku fued might have been fun. Shit, then a reunion down the line might have worked out.

[SammyG]

Meh, I would have hated a 2 cool vs Haku/Rikishi feud. I just hated Haku/Rikishi.

[Jeritron]

Either way I miss Too Cool and Rikishi

[SammyG]

Agreed. haha, I loved their dance.

[SammyG]

too cool's music is probably in my top 5 favorite themes of all time.

[NeanderCarl]

I'm assuming that's a sitdown piledriver?

Cuz yeah, that move could look absolutely devastating at times, depending on if he had the other guy in the perfect position.

Cannot believe they let him use the Rikishi Driver, the same move that effectively ended Steve Austin's career.

[Jeritron]

seeing as his thighs and ass were about 3 feet thick there was no chance in hell of the opponent's head making contact with the mat

[Jeritron]

Was there ever a time when Rikishi was IC champion and Too Cool were tag champs?

I remember marking the fuck out once because I got a Rikishi, Scotty2Hotty, Grand Masta Sexay 3pack of figures.

Rikishi>Umaga

[NeanderCarl]

Rikishi>Umaga

Relax, you'll give them some kind of brotherly superiority complex.

[Jeritron]

I'd be willing to bet that in 2000 Rikishi and Too Cool out-drew or at least out-merchandised 98.5% of the current roster.

[NeanderCarl]

Doubt it. They were fun and entertaining, but they were strictly a midcard comedy act.

[Jeritron]

haha yea but they were sellin merch. Everything was hot at that time period, midcard acts were pretty popular. I take back saying 98%, I was exaggerating. But I highly doubt anyone in the current midcard or even some of the upper midcard and main event can even touch the business some acts were doing at that time.

[hb2k]

I think a lot of people who like/d Rikishi have the 'Samoa Joe' complex, whereby they see a large guy with a degree of athleticism and decide he's talented.

Much like how women wrestlers are so bad that Mickie James is considered talented despite horrible matches and sloppy-as-pig shit offense.

Regardless, Rikishi was entertaining in 2000. But boy, talk about running with a pat hand for too long - he should never have been around anymore after 2001.

[Jeritron]

I didn't think Rikishi was entertaining in regards to his in ring work, though it was solid for a guy his size. It was more his character and gimmick and overall he was very entertaining.

The samoa joe complex? What's that? I don't even like Samoa Joe that much. I hate Umaga. And I found Rikishi entertaining.

[Juan]

I guess I never really minded the guy much, that is, up until the whole Austin thing.

[NeanderCarl]

They turned him too soon, in my opinion. He could have lasted another year as a popular upper mid-carder without going heel. The turn screwed his career really, and he had a lot of bad luck with injuries, really killed his momentum.

I do believe that, in mid to late 2000, a face Rikishi could have been accepted as a main event challenger to Triple H on PPV.

[Jeritron]

Yes he could have. And if they had left him be he probably would have continued in the IC picture for a while, and maybe have gotten that main event push in a fued with a World Champion for one or two ppvs. Not a title win, or a long term stint at the top, but a main event push nonetheless.

After that rub, he could have continued in his gimmick for quite sometime before turning heel. More simple and small scale heel turn such as turning on Too Cool for "holding him back" and being all about "shennanigans and fun and not success" would be effective.
Depending on how that heel push went could determine whether or not he would get any more over, but there'd always be the window for an official Too Cool reunion and not that crap that just wasn't the same.

[Theo Dious]

Rikishi was a good solid guy, his heel turn was retarded though.

[The Mackem]

I don't know what people thought at the time but when it was revealed that it was Rikishi that knocked over Stone Cold - it seemed like the biggest anti-climax...ever. Come to think of it, I'm not sure what he done of worth on the back of that which is probably due to the poor mic skills that was highlighted earlier.

[Theo Dious]

See, if they had revealed the whole "HHH convinced me to do it" thing that night, and if the two of them had teamed up, it would have been a better climax. But the whole "HHH mastermind" business seemed like an afterthought to cover up the crappiness of "Ah did it fah the Rock!"

[The Mackem]

"Ah did it fah the people"

[lort]

Rikishi pissed me off so much, it has to be said. Too Cool were fun, but I hated Rikishi with them. When they were trying to push him as a main eventer was just a joke. He ruined what could have been a great angle (Who hit Austin) I mean anyone else in the whole federation would have been a better pick.

Though... I seem to remember him having good matches with Val Venis.