Line #49 Wrestling/Rikishi


1	[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rikishiwwf_166.jpg]]
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3	Solofa F. Fatu Jr. (born October 11, 1965) is a UsefulNotes/{{Samoa}}n-[[UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates American]] {{Professional Wrestl\|ing}}er best known for his work in Wrestling/{{WWE}} in the 1990s and early 2000s as Fatu, The Sultan and, especially, as Rikishi. He debuted in 1985 in the International Wrestling territory in UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} as Alofa the Polynesian Prince. He switched to the Fatu name when he and his cousin Samu started teaming in the World Wrestling Council promotion in Puerto Rico as the Samoan Swat Team. They would go on to compete in World Class, [[Wrestling/AmericanWrestlingAssociation the AWA]], Wrestling/{{WCW}} and many other promotions. In 1992, they arrived in WWE and were renamed Wrestling/TheHeadshrinkers. This lasted until Samu left in 1994 and was replaced by [[Wrestling/TheBarbarian Sionne (The Barbarian)]], who left in 1995. Fatu was repackaged with a gimmick based on his own life, as a street-smart, tough Samoan who had survived getting shot and wanted to use that to send an anti-drugs/anti-violence message. He was billed as "Make a Difference" Fatu. In late 1996, [[Wrestling/BobBacklund Mr. Bob Backlund]] brought back Wrestling/TheIronSheik as the co-manager for Sheiky's new discovery, the Sultan. This gimmick had Fatu wearing a mask and not speaking. He jobbed a lot in this gimmick and he disappeared in early 1998. He returned in late 1999 as Rikishi Phatu (shortened to just Rikishi after a couple months), doing a dancing sumo gimmick, which got over far more than anything he had done before. He had a brief heel run from late 2000-mid 2001 after he claimed to have been the one who had run over Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin at ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 1999''. He suffered an injury that put him on the shelf for a while and when he came back he was a {{face}} and his previous heel run was never acknowledged. He left WWE in 2004 and would go on to compete in Wrestling/{{TNA}} as Junior Fatu and for numerous independent promotions. Among his in-ring achievements, he is a former [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion]], a former 2x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-t.html WWE World Tag Team Champion]] (1x w[=/=]Samu and 1x w[=/=]Wrestling/{{Rico\|Constantino}}), a former [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-t.html WWE [=SmackDown!=] Tag Team Champion]] w[=/=]Scotty 2 Hotty, and in 2000 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' gave him their "Comeback of the Year" Award.
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5	Inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015.
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8	!! "Back That Trope Up!"
9	* ActionDad: He has five children including Wrestling/TheUsos and Solo Sikoa. He once danced inside a wrestling ring just like he used to do with Jey and Jimmy.
10	* {{Acrofatic}}:
11	** As Rikishi, he's a 425 lb fat guy who could fly off the top of cages.
12	** Look at how he sells [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tziKnlqEG8 this clothesline]] from The Rock.
13	* [[AngryBlackManStereotype Angry Samoan Man Stereotype]]: He claimed that he ran over Austin because of how Samoan wrestlers had been mistreated by WWE. This flopped because he had never shown any signs of this in the whole time he had been doing the Rikishi gimmick...though, it was later revealed (or retconned) that he had [[HijackedByGanon been working for Triple H the whole time]], so this may have been a lie, or at best an excuse.
14	* AssKicksYou: Has several moves for this purpose, the Stink Face being his best known.
15	* BigFun: As a face.
16	* BigGuyLittleGuy: With Scotty 2 Hotty.
17	* CoolMask: As The Sultan.
18	* CoolShades: As Rikishi Phatu.
19	* CoolTeacher: He and [[Wrestling/DavidHeath Gangrel]] trained Wrestling/AlexanderRusev
20	* CutShort: In WWC, he(Fatu) and Samu Wrestled Invader #1 and Bronco #1 to an indecisive finish four times in August of 1991. This series never did have a truly decisive winner, as though Invader and Bronco won, it was only after Samu had to be replaced with Wild Samoan Savage the following month.
21	* DanceBattler: As Rikishi, who is a cross between a sumo wrestler and a hip-hop dancer.
22	* {{Determinator}}: He got ''shot'' and was ''clinically dead'' for three minutes. What more do you need?
23	* DidntSeeThatComing: Rikishi had become so used to opponents fearing [[AssKicksYou the offense of his tremendous backside]] that when Wrestling/RicoConstantino would actually ''[[TooKinkyToTorture spank]]'' [[TooKinkyToTorture him or]] ''[[TooKinkyToTorture beg]]'' [[TooKinkyToTorture for the Stinkface]], it ''completely'' threw Rikishi off his game, forcing him to tag Scotty in and eventually lose their tag titles to Rico and Charlie Haas.
24	* DisguisedInDrag: Dressed up as a woman to fool Wrestling/EricBischoff, who was looking for a lesbian to hire for his own twisted purposes.
25	* TheDreaded: Rikishi's [[AssKicksYou "Stink Face"]] move makes him a [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] and [[PlayedForLaughs lighthearted]] example of this. A face full of Rikishi's rear end was (obviously) [[AnythingButThat a source of intense fear]] for his opponents and they would [[OhCrap understandably panic]] when they saw it approaching them.
26	* FatBastard: As a heel.
27	* FatBestFriend: To Scotty 2 Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay, who he would dance with after Too Cool won a match.
28	* FanDisservice: Anytime we get a closeup of his 425-pound Samoan ass, especially during the 2000 [[Wrestling/RoyalRumble Royal Rumble]].
29	* FinishingMove: Samoan Splash; (as the Sultan): Camel Clutch; (as Rikishi), [=Rumpshaker=] (Yokozuna's Banzai Drop), Rikishi Driver
30	* ForeignWrestlingHeel: Attempted by Wrestling/{{Konnan}} in Wrestling/{{AAA}} by making him part of La Legion Extranjera, but it didn't really work out.
31	* FunPersonified: As a face, he would dance after matches with Too Cool.
32	* IHaveManyNames: Fatu, The Sultan, Rikishi (Phatu), Alofa the Polynesian Prince, Junior Fatu, JR Smooth, [[Wrestling/FightingOperaHUSTLE HUSTLE]] Rikishi...
33	* IKnowKarate: In kayfabe.
34	* LaughablyEvil: [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools And not in a good way either.]] Turns out trying to make the guy most known for wearing a thong and sitting on people into a {{heel}} without radically altering his persona was not going to get him over.
35	* TheMentor: Has become this to the non-TV members of the Wrestling/SamoanDynasty in his later years.
36	* NoSell: During his feud with John Cena, Cena punched him right on the ass. Rikishi no-sold it. Cena sold his hand.
37	* OnlyOneName: Originally when aligning himself with Too Cool, he was Rikishi Phatu. It was later shorten to just Rikishi.
38	* PowerStable
39	** The International Squad of Terror, in the late 1990s version of Wrestling/{{N\|ationalWrestlingAlliance}}WA Mid-Atlantic.
40	* PowerTrio
41	** Too Cool, with Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty
42	** The Samoan Swat team was one for a stretch with Tama and Samu
43	* PrefersGoingBarefoot: As a Headshrinker. This became a plot point in his "Makin' a difference" Fatu gimmick, where he had difficulty climbing the ropes because he wasn't used to wearing boots.
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45	* PunnyName: When working with Too Cool and spelling his last name Phatu - 'phat' being a slang term roughly equivalent to 'cool.'
46	* RingOldies: Still toured around the world at 49.
47	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: When he started teaming with Too Cool his last name would either be "'''F'''atu" or "'''Ph'''atu".
48	* StoutStrength: Hit a Samoan Drop on '''THE BIG SHOW''' on the January 17, 2002 ''[=SmackDown!=]''.
49	* StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks: For the ''WWE Originals'' album from 2004, he recorded a song called "Put a Little Ass On It."
50	* TagTeam
51	** The Samoan Swat Team[=/=]The Headshrinkers
52	** (in the UWA in Mexico): The Hawaiian Beasts, with Kokina (Yokozuna) and [[Wrestling/TheTongaKid The Samoan Savage (The Tonga Kid/Islander Tama)]]
53	** The New Samoans with Wild Samoan Savage, alternatively called "The Great Samoans"
54	** Briefly, with [[Wrestling/{{Meng}} Haku]] during his 2000-01 heel run.
55	* TakeThat: Not to anyone specific, but, on the September 5, 2002 ''[=SmackDown!=]'', he explained to Wrestling/{{Edge\|Wrestler}} that he had experienced "the ass of life," and that the Stinkface was his way of throwing everything bad he had experienced in his life back at people.
56	* TheUnfought: The Headshrinkers defended the WWF tag team title belts against the Heavenly Bodies in several dark matches but never faced them on television.
57	* TheVoiceless: As the Sultan, makes sense [[{{Kayfabe}} because he had no tongue]].
58	* TheWorfEffect:
59	** The Sultan repeatedly lost to put over Wrestling/MarkHenry, not that Henry's resulting pushes ever went anywhere but to in turn serve as the "Worf" for someone else. Yeah, Sultan wasn't too high on the WWF pecking order.
60	** Rikishi also worfed for none other than Wrestling/JohnCena during Cena's first push, partly because Cena was strong enough to get him up for the F-U.
61	* TotallyRadical: As "Make a Difference" Fatu.
62	* UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject
63	** "Kishi" and his cousin Black Pearl repeatedly against The UK Pitbulls "The Bulk" and Big Dave in the Italian New Wrestling Entertainment.
64	** "The Battle Of The Big Men" bout during the World Wrestling League's 2013 Dream Matches Tour in the Dominican Republic pitting "Rikichi" against “El Leon” Apolo.
65	* WildSamoan: As a member of the Headshrinkers, complete with tribal spears, unkempt hair and an inability to speak english. Averted by Rikishi, who was a bizarre cross between a hip-hop dancer and sumo wrestler that could speak some surprisingly good english.
66	* WrestlingFamily: Part of the [[Wrestling/SamoanDynasty Anoa'i family]] led by [[Wrestling/TheWildSamoans Afa and Sika]] through his mother's side. Nearly every Anoa'i and their father (quite literally) has been part of WWE at some point in the last 20 years. More directly, though, his twin sons wrestle for WWE as the Usos, his another son Sefa Fatu known as Solo Sikoa and his daughter-in-law Naomi, formerly of the Funkadactyls.

Context Wrestling / Rikishi