Rikishi is focused on the business side of the situation.
On the October 21st episode of WWE Raw, Jey Uso lost the WWE Intercontinental Championship to Bron Breakker after The Bloodline interfered and cost him the match. This came just weeks after Uso beat Breakker to win the gold on the September 23rd episode.
Speaking on his Off The Top podcast, Rikishi, Jey's father, shared his thoughts on his loss to Bron Breakker.
“I thought it was too soon. Too soon. If I’m the promoter, and I’m gonna speak business-wise, yes, finally Jey had gotten his flowers with the belt, rightfully earned and deserving. Now, okay, we got it on this kid, he’s well over, you got so much you can see now. This character, this ‘YEET’ man, it is through the roof as far as notoriety. Probably selling the number one hottest merchandise, if not close to [Roman Reigns], maybe he’s surpassed. Now you see the different sides of merchandise, he’s got merchandise with every city he goes to, it’s like there’s a ‘YEET’ shirt. So from a marketing standpoint, you’re only gonna do even more better good business if you leave that on this kid. Not saying because he’s my boy, not saying that. I’m probably speaking as a promoter now. Because at the end of the day, this is what it’s about it, man. It’s about numbers, it’s about revenues, it’s about okay, we build, try to find the right person that’s over, the right heel that’s over, and let’s run the storyline because at the end of the day, it’s that. So for me, I would have protected this character of ‘YEET’ a lot longer. ‘YEET’s’ been around 17 years as far as with a tag team, and he’s won over a lot of hearts when he went on the single run," Rikishi said.
Rikishi continued by explaining that by putting the title back on Breakker too early, WWE was not giving the fans enough time to invest in him. He compared it to how John Cena's push was rushed earlier in his career. Rikishi also questioned where WWE would go moving forward, and he also wondered what te merchandise numbers would look like.
"Now Bron, we know where Bron comes from. But wrestling Bron too early, you’re not giving me time to get invested into Bron Breakker. I need to watch this kid struggle, watch his growth, his progress, where you’re gonna, as a fan, I feel Bron deserves a chance now. Versus a lot of time, back in the day, and I’m not saying this is Bron, but back in the day, they would just rush people. They did it to John Cena, just rushed him, and people just, he was a great guy, but people just booed him and boos him until finally the people fell in love and was invested. So that’s the case here with Jey. I feel like, from a business standpoint, yeah, maybe it was taken off too early. I wouldn’t have done it if I was the guy in charge, if it was my company. But that’s just my opinion. Now, we have it on Bron. So okay, where do we go from Bron now? From a business standpoint, is there merchandise being made? What’s the sales on this? At the end of the day, I always look at everything that’s done in a business standpoint. It has nothing to do with the person himself. I’m looking at the characters. I look at the characters that are out there, and then I look at, okay, what’s the revenue?" Rikishi said.
Rikishi later congratulated Breakker and Uso on their match, and he said that the way that The Bloodline got involved was smart as well. He shared his belief that this finish didn't hurt anybody who was involved.
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