WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi talked to the Miami Herald recently. He divulged who came up with the Stinkface idea and how proud he is of The Usos and Roman Reigns, among other topics.
For those of you who don't remember, Rikishi's signature move was to back his be-thonged buttocks up to an opponent down in the corner and wiggle.
It looked something like this:
And the fans LOVED it.
Until now, the person responsible for the "Stinkface," as it was called, was unknown. However, Rikishi has revealed the culprit.
"It was collaboration with myself and Vince McMahon," Rikishi said. "They wanted to do a spin-off of the late Yokozuna, but I wanted to add my own identity to it. I didn't have a problem wearing a thong and bleaching my hair. I wanted to have some type of ideals of what would a sumo do and not do. Coming up with the dancing and stuff, I didn't want to be exactly like my cousin, which I couldn't even fill Yoko's shoes, respectfully. The first time I came out in that character the people knew it was me, but it was a different look, and when I took that kimono off, pretty much my whole bare ass was hanging out, and it was probably one of the largest pops I've ever heard . They say this, 'Shake what your momma gave you.'"
And shake it, he did.
Rikishi is part of the Samoan Dynasty in WWE, the father of the Usos and uncle to Roman Reigns. He also spoke to the Herald about how proud the family is of them.
"The boys and Roman Reigns are doing well. All the family is proud of them, doing such a great job representing the family and continuing the legacy and the Samoan Dynasty," he said. "In our family, we don't know why there are so many of us in wrestling. We think about it at the dinner table when we have big family reunions, and it just comes from a passion and love we have for the industry."
Rikishi also spoke about his younger days in WWE (he was part of the Headshrinkers tag team in the early to mid-90s) and about getting inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015. You can read the entire interview at this link.
