Last night at SummerSlam, Roman Reigns finally captured the WWE Universal Championship.
Reigns got his fourth crack at attempting to dethrone Brock Lesnar from World Champion status. Braun Strowman came to the ring before the match started, and declared he’d cash-in his Money In The Bank (MITB) briefcase on the winner.
After Lesnar attacked Strowman at ringside, Reigns hit “The Beast” with a Spear for the three count. Reigns is once again on top of the WWE mountain, and is happy to have the title back on RAW full-time.
Shortly after the PPV, Reigns’ uncle and WWE Hall Of Famer, Rikishi, congratulated his nephew. Rikishi took to Twitter and offered a congratulatory message to “The Big Dog”:
– Cheryl Roberts, the ex-wife of Jake “The Snake” Roberts, is dealing with some health issues. The WWE Hall of Famer sent out a tweet on Thursday asking for prayers.
I am so bleSSED. Want to ask for prayers for ex wife Cheryl who is dealing with health issues.
Back in 1988, “Ravishing” Rick Rude would often select a female fan from the audience for a post-match kiss. On the April 23, 1988, episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Rude chose Cheryl, who refused to participate. After Cheryl revealed Jake “The Snake” Roberts as her husband, Rude began insulting her. Cheryl then slapped Rude, angering him before Roberts arrived to defend his wife. Roberts and Rude engaged in a personal feud that lasted several months and was exacerbated each time Rude began wore tights emblazoned with Cheryl’s likeness. This would sometimes result in Roberts ripping Rude’s tights off.
During the feud, Cheryl would often accompany Roberts to ringside for his matches against Rude. Once the feud ended, Cheryl disappeared from WWF television. According to WWE’s 2005 DVD on Roberts, after his 1997 firing from the company, Cheryl filed for divorce.
– Former WWE Superstar Rikishi was backstage visiting friends and family at Tuesday’s SmackDown LIVE at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California.
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– Former WWE Superstar Darren Young announced on Twitter that he is accepting bookings for wrestling appearances, autograph signings, wrestling clinics and speaking engagements.
The World According To Wrestling podcast is back with a new episode this week and explores the national identity and stereotypes in wrestling with guests WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi, Neville, Chavo Guerrero Jr., former WWE writer Court Bauer and Dave Meltzer.
Here are some highlights:
Chavo Guerrero Jr. on playing the Kerwin White character: “Everything you see in wrestling, it’s not really coming from the wrestlers. It’s coming from the writers. So the story with the Kerwin White character is me coming off a plane from Japan and Vince McMahon coming up to me and saying “Hello Kerwin” and I said “Oh what does that mean?”
“Well today you’re going to denounce your Mexican heritage and you’re going to become a white guy.” So you’ve got two things: you can either say “No” and get fired, or you can say “Good, let’s embrace this character and let’s really do it”. If it was up to anyone of us, we’d all be John Cena or Batista and destroying everybody and being the champ. But it’s not. It’s up to Vince McMahon and there can only be one champ. With everyone else you have to make lemonade out of lemons. And TV is the same thing you have Alison [Brie], Marc [Maron] and stars of GLOW. Everyone wants to be the star and not the co-star but there’s only room for a couple of stars. And every federation you go to is the same thing. You just do what you got to do with your character.”
WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi on how The Stinkface was invented: “I was wrestling Ray Traylor, The Big Bossman, at a house show in Oakland, Alabama that night and I gave him a clothesline in the corner and I wasn’t actually looking at him. I can hear an old lady shout “Rikishi! Turn around and stick your butt in his face!”
I’m in the middle of the ring and I see Bossman in the corner. And he said “Come on boy, stick your ass in my face” and I said “Really? Well here it comes.” I took my first step and the crowd roared. I took my second step the crowd got louder. The closer I got to him it was probably the loudest pop I have ever heard and when I turned around and his face was just the same level as my butt and I just paused there for a second. I wanted to hear and see how long I could make the fans sing and they sang and they sang and they sang and then all of a sudden “Bam!” I sat on him and the place just blew up. This was on a Sunday and the next night The Stinkface was introduced on Monday Night Raw.”
Former WWE writer Court Bauer on characters he thought crossed the line: “I was there for the Mexicools and that was a racist joke made someone and all of sudden , within 12 hours, you have three guys that were earmarked to be part of reviving the cruiserweight division now part of a trio act with lawnmowers that to this day still offends people. I have friends in Mexico who still talk about how offensive that was and ask me if I had anything to do with it. I did not. I was hoping we would have a revived cruiserweight division. I’m sure there have been other examples in the last few years but that one really stuck out to me”
Journalist Dave Meltzer on whether stereotyping goes too far in wrestling: “All the time. I mean it’s hard to pinpoint but sometimes you’ll watch and you’ll feel it and you’ll know it and it’s just like they’re pushing too hard or it’s a tasteless direction or things like that. They’re always trying to push boundaries and stuff. It’s softened of late but there’s still things. Now it’s too far in the silly direction sometimes more than anything else, as compared to the racial direction but before they did that all the time.”
On avoiding the British stereotypes often seen in WWE, Neville said: “I’ve always tried my best to be a hybrid performer. I’m a fan of all those things, I grew up watching Lucha Libre, Japanese Style, American style and when I was training and working in the dojo in Japan I made a point of trying to learn to my best ability, learn every single style I could. So whilst I am British, whilst I am proud of my identity. I’m not going to parade around as a stereotype. I feel like I’ve made an effort to be almost all?encompassing, you know multi stylistic wrestling. I made a conscious effort not to be a stereotype.”
Episode 5 of The World According to Wrestling is out now. The second season is available now on iTunes and all other podcasting platforms.
Posted October 16th, 2017 in WWE, News. Tagged: Rikishi.
At a couple different points tonight, the official WWE Games Twitter account tweeted these animated GIFs to hype Tuesday’s release of the Hall of Fame downloadable content pack for WWE 2K16, which is out this Tuesday:
It was already known that 1991 versions of Ric Flair and Tatsumi Fujinami plus a relevant match replay mode were in the Hall of Fame pack, but they had two matches that year. It seemed like it made more sense for 2K to base it off their match from Superbrawl in St. Petersburg, Florida, but from the above footage, it looks like they didn’t. Instead, 2K picked the OTHER Flair-Fujinami match, from the NJPW Tokyo Dome show that year, which is known as both WCW Japan Supershow and NJPW Starrcade ’91 In The Tokyo Dome. So that means that the arena that comes in the pack is an ersatz Tokyo Dome, faithfully recreated by 2K Sports. They can’t call it that (and I don’t believe WWE games ever name real venues), but 2K does a great job with the presentation of the arenas and this should be no exception.
Here’s the full lineup for the DLC pack, which, if this is any indication, should also include at least two more WCW arenas and some early ’90s WWF arenas along with period appropriate versions of the wrestlers:
“Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Rikishi vs. The Rock
Alundra Blayze vs. Paige
Larry Zbyszko and Arn Anderson vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and Dustin Rhodes
Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Ric Flair
The Bushwhackers (Butch Miller and Luke Williams) vs. The Natural Disasters (Typhoon and Earthquake)
The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) vs. Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray)
The WWE 2K Developmental Team are back once again with yet another extended gameplay video for WWE 2K16 this time featuring Rikishi and Vader in singles competition.
October 27th is the date to remember if you want to get your hands on WWE 2K16 if you’re in North America and October 30th for international gamers.
Former WWE Superstar Scotty 2 Hotty was not the only person who was upset about Rikishi’s WWE Hall of Fame induction.
There was also some drama over the fact that Rikishi’s cousin and former Head Shrinkers tag team partner Samu was also not invited to the show. Samu’s father Afa and Roman Reigns’ father Sika were said to be unhappy about the Samu’s omission.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that WWE did eventually invite Samu to ease the tensions amongst the Anoia family, but the damage was already done – and this was before they got even more upset about Reigns not winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 31.
The latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter has provided additional details regarding Alundra Blaze and Rikishi’s WWE Hall of Fame inductions. At the end of Blaze’s critically acclaimed speech, she pulled the old WWE Women’s Championship belt out of the trash can – the same belt she trashed in the infamous Monday Nitro segment. WWE officials were adamant that she pull the belt out of the trash and this is said to be one of the main factors that led to her being inducted this year.
Rikishi got a lot of heat from fans for not mentioning his former Too Cool partners, Grand Master Sexay (Brian Christopher) and Scotty 2 Hotty. Scotty 2 Hotty was not pleased with the snub, re-tweeting several messages about their exclusion. To update this situation, it was Rikishi who made it clear that he didn’t want Too Cool in attendance for the induction.
Several members of the legendary Anoa’i family were very angry at the finish of this past Sunday’s WrestleMania 31 main event after seeing that plans had changed and Roman Reigns was not going to end up winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Reigns’ father, Sika, was so upset that he was apparently “looking to start a war.” One WWE source commented to Dave Meltzer and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter:
“Sika forgot this business is not real life, and was legit pissed at the finish and looking to start a war. A lot of the younger (family members) were rallying around Sika, but the other 45 or 50 of them talked some reason.”
A different source who was around the Anoa’i family during WrestleMania said they were furious and disappointed, but not “out of control.”
While the family came out of respect to watch Rikishi get inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame, they were primarily there to see Reigns have his big “WrestleMania moment” and win the title.
Former WWE Superstar Scott Garland, who worked under the name “Scotty Too Hotty” during the Attitude Era, expressed disappointment over failing to be mentioned during Rikishi’s WWE Hall Of Fame speech on Saturday night.
Garland, who along with Brian “Grandmaster Sexay” Lawler, worked alongside Rikishi as an act called “Too Cool,” yet Rikishi failed to mention Garland or Lawler when delivering his acceptance speech at the induction ceremony.
“I guess we were just props,” wrote Garland on social media. “It’s not at all bitter, it’s hurt,” he added. “It’s not at all about us being in the HOF.”
Garland concluded, “He absolutely deserved it, just as we deserved a mention.”
For a detailed recap of the 2015 WWE Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, click here.
WWE Diva and Total Divas star Natalya is scheduled to induct former WWE Women’s Champion Alundra Blayze (Madusa) into the WWE Hall Of Fame on Saturday night.
With that now known, below is the complete list of inductees and inductors for tonight’s 2015 WWE Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, which airs live on the WWE Network at 7pm EST.
– Warrior Award: Connor Michalek, inducted by Daniel Bryan and Dana Warrior
WWE is promoting another WWE Hall Of Fame announcement to take place on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW, which takes place from New Jersey.
The official WWE website has an article up today hinting that the next Hall Of Fame announcement will be for a WWE Diva.
“Who will be joining “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rikishi and The Bushwhackers in the Hall’s Class of 2015 the night before WrestleMania 31?,” stated the WWE website.
The article continues, “Could it be a pioneering woman grappler who competed alongside the likes of Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah? Could it be one of the Japanese women who brought their hard-hitting style to America in the early 1990s? Is it one of the sultry Divas from the infamous Attitude Era? Is it even a competitor, or could it be a woman who often accompanied legendary Superstars into battle?”
The belief is that the Diva that WWE is alluding to will be Madusa (aka Alundra Blayze).
It is expected that WWE will announce Madusa as one of this year’s WWE Hall Of Fame inductees. Madusa worked in WWE as Alundra Blaze and during the Monday Night Wars, infamously threw the WWE Women’s Championship in the trash can on a live edition of WCW Monday Nitro.
With Madusa, Kevin Nash, Tatsumi Fujinami and Ray Stevens expected to be the final four inductees, below is a potential look at the final list of inductees for this year’s class.
– Randy Savage
– Rikishi
– Arnold Schwarzenegger
– The Bushwhackers
– Ray Stevens
– Kevin Nash
– Madusa
– Tatsumi Fujinami
WWE.com has a new article up titled, “WWE Hall Of Fame Class of 2015 inductees to be announced Monday.”
As the headline of the article states, a new inductee will be announced on RAW, however this time it will be a tag-team that gets their moment in the spotlight.
The article continues with the following teaser as to who the tag-team is:
“The mystery pair of legends will join “Macho Man” Randy Savage, celebrity inductee Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rikishi in the elite class. Who will enter the WWE Hall of Fame the night before WrestleMania 31? Could it be a team famous for their camouflage gear? Could it be an ultra-popular pair of brothers or family members? How many tag team championships have they held? Is it possible that we will see a current Hall of Famer earn a second nod and join Ric Flair as a two-time inductee?”
Jim Ross shared his thoughts on several segments and matches from Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in the latest blog posted on his official website.
Below are highlights:
On Roman Reigns’ promos: “Thought Roman Reigns mic work showed improvement. He seems to be the kind of talent who works much better with a bullet point format than adding the additional challenge of ‘remembering his lines’ to the always challenging promo facet of one’s game in the biz. Mic work doesn’t happen over night and too many fans show no patience while these skills are being developed. Reigns is far from the only talent on RAW that needs to work on that phase of their game. It’s an on going process that doesn’t come naturally for every talent. Reigns has great presence and knows that he has to become more proficient with his verbal game and I’m confident that will occur in time.”
On Goldust & Stardust breaking up: “The apparent soon to break up, or not, Goldust and Stardust duo have more interest in their team than any team on the roster or so it seems to me. Seems as if this pair has been on again and off again for weeks but I’m interested in them.”
On the Sting segment on RAW: “Didn’t have any issues with the Sting-HHH presentation but in hindsight I did not need to see the image of Sting entering the ring. Thought the graphics and overall video production was excellent. Looking forward to this confrontation.”
On Rikishi’s WWE Hall Of Fame induction: “It seems that no matter who is announced to be inducted into the WWE HOF some fans simply cannot be satisfied or happy and instead make the announcement about someone that they feel has been passed over or is more deserving. Has anyone been really passed over as anyone not inducted still has a viable chance in being honored in the future. I’m happy for Rikishi and his family.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com.You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
– The Usos are expected to induct their father Rikishi into the WWE Hall of Fame this year.
– There was no dark main event after last night’s RAW. There was a brief comedy segment with Daniel Bryan and Jamie Noble.
– As seen on last night’s RAW, The Miz bragged that he invented the Figure Four leglock. Ric Flair’s daughter, NXT Women’s Champion Charlotte, called him out on Twitter:
– In the Fallout video from last night’s RAW, Goldust addresses the issues with his brother Stardust. Goldust says he doesn’t want to see Cody fall into the same trap that he once did.
– WWE confirmed Rikishi as the next official inductee into the 2015 class of the WWE Hall Of Fame. Rikishi’s video package played after The Usos’ match on Monday’s RAW. Once the video was done airing, The Usos, who were still in the ring, applauded their father along with the fans in Columbus.
– It was also confirmed on Monday’s RAW that the match between John Cena and Rusev at the upcoming WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view will in fact be for Rusev’s WWE United States Championship.
Former WWE Superstar Rikishi is the latest member of the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015. The news was first tweeted by Rikishi’s sons, The Usos. WWE later sent out a breaking news alert confirming it.
Rikishi joins “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Class of 2015.
WWE had teased earlier in the day that tonight’s inductee would be from one of wrestling’s famous families, either a Hart or an Anoa’i.
“WWE.com has learned that tonight’s inductee is expected to be a member of one of sports-entertainment’s great family dynasties. The specific family has not yet been revealed, but the newest member to the Class of 2015 could be a Hart or an Anoa’i.”
The following are highlights of a new Wrestling 101 interview with the former three-man tag-team, “Too Cool,” which consisted of Rikishi, Brian “Grandmaster Sexay” Christopher and Scotty 2 Hotty:
Brian Christopher on The Rock: “He would pick my brain because he was getting a lot more TV time than I was, so he would ask me how I thought his interview went and I would tell him he need to work on this or you need to pause a little bit longer before you say this…we then worked on his moves together and came up with things like ‘The Peoples Elbow.'”
Brian Christopher on defeating the Legion of Doom: “I’ll never forget that because the Road Warriors at the time couldn’t believe that they were about to lay down to a couple of 215lbs guys because their egos were as big as you could get and their muscles were as big as the steroids would get them.”
Scotty 2 Hotty on wrestling whilst still in school: “That was awesome, I was still in high school at the time which is just crazy for me to think about now. I was with the WWF when I was in high school, I was in a locker room at a WWF event with Hulk Hogan, Sid Vicious, The Undertaker, and Bret Hart then two days later I’m sitting back in class. I was getting to wrestle some of the biggest names in the world, it was an amazing experience.”
Rikishi on the Rusev/Rock segment: “Oh my god, we were all happy, anytime you work with The Rock that’s a treat because Rusev’s not the champ. It was a good deal, Rock knew Rusev came from our school and he didn’t have to do that but he did, family looking out for family. That segment with The Rock just took Rusev to another level, and I was very excited.”
Rikishi on Vince McMahon: “He is the type of person that likes it when you go over and talk to him and ask him questions they may have about their character. Nine times out of ten when they’ve finished talking to him he hasn’t really answered their question but at the same time they’re not.”
Check out the complete interview at Wrestling101.com.
– In this video, Rikishi challenges Kim Kardashian to a “Booty Contest.”
The former WWE Superstar was at the Miracle on 1st Street Christmas Toy Giveaway in Los Angeles, California, when he brought up his sizable posterior and challenged Kardashian to come down to his wrestling school and take part in the contest.
– As seen last night at WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs … and Stairs, Dean Ambrose lost to Bray Wyatt in a Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match. In a trivia note, this loss extended Ambrose’s winless drought on pay-per-view since The Shield disbanded in June. In addition to WWE TLC, “The Lunatic Fringe” has lost matches at Money in the Bank (to Seth Rollins in a Money in the Bank Ladder Match), WWE Battleground (to Seth Rollins in a singles match via forfeit), SummerSlam (to Seth Rollins in a Lumberjack Match), Hell in a Cell (to Seth Rollins in a Hell in a Cell Match) and Survivor Series (to Bray Wyatt via disqualification).
– Sunday at WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs … and Stairs, WWE.com reported that AJ Lee was tended to by physicians after a scary incident in which Divas Champion Nikki Bella blinded her with hairspray. The report has since been slightly changed, as it is now noted that she was blinded with “unidentified spray.”
The physicians’ quick treatment of Lee helped prevent any long-term damage to her vision.
Former WWE Superstar Brian “Grandmaster Sexay” Christopher, who is the son of Jerry “The King” Lawler, has released a new rap album via iTunes, which features cameos from a few wrestling personalities.
A press release for the CD reads as follows:
“This CD consists of several hilarious song parodies plus some great original music. Included on his CD are the songs ‘Going Down’ which Brian uses as he makes his grand entrance into the ring. ‘Puppies’ featuring Hall of Famer, Jerry (The King) Lawler. ‘Memphis Thang’ a tribute song written by Brian about classic Memphis wrestling. Plus, Brian’s good friend Rikishi makes several cameo appearances on the CD. Brian Christopher not only performs all the songs on this CD but also co-wrote most of them. This CD is a ‘must have’ for any wrestling fan. You can download yours today or purchase one through CD Baby or at any wrestling event where Brian is appearing.”
It’s being said that the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage is closer to going into the WWE Hall Of Fame right now than ever before. The company is working on a new DVD/Blu-ray project for the deceased WWE legend, complete with a full documentary that is expected to have participation from Savage’s brother, former WWE Superstar “The Genius” (aka “Leapin'” Lanny Poffo).
As things stand right now, the guys rumored to be part of next year’s WWE Hall Of Fame class the most are Savage, The Rock, Kevin Nash, Rikishi and either Victoria or Mickie James in what has become an annual-Diva addition.
– It was announced on Monday’s post-Extreme Rules edition of WWE RAW that on WWE Main Event this week, John Cena will be on hand live to respond to Bray Wyatt’s promo from RAW. WWE Main Event airs live on the WWE Network at 8pm EST tomorrow night.
– WWE added the following “WWE Mashup” to their official YouTube channel, which features Rikishi vs. The Real Americans.
When the Shield debuted over a year ago, Roman Reigns was like the shadowy muscle of the group. He was the least featured member of the trio. He was given few lines during their promos. Yet he was always there to deliver a devastating spear or triple powerbomb when needed.
With the rich indy wrestling history of both Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, it is no surprise that they were expected to carry most of the load during the early days of the stable. After all, Roman Reigns was a former football player and started wrestling in 2010, whereas both Ambrose and Rollins had been wrestling since the early 2000’s.
Reigns does have a rich family history though, as he is a member of the famous Anoa’i family that includes past superstars such as Yokozuna, Rikishi, and The Rock, so it is not like he was a complete stranger to the world of wrestling.
After his dominating performance at last year’s Survivor Series, it seemed obvious that there were big plans for Roman Reigns.
A little over a year ago, it appeared that Dean Ambrose was the member being groomed for a breakout solo career. He was considered the de facto of the group and is the only member of the group to win a solo title while Rollins and Reigns shared the Tag Team Championships.
Something changed last fall, however, and it appeared that Reigns was the one gaining momentum in the Shield after Ambrose seemed enter a lull. Coincidentally enough, it was as soon as Rollins and Reigns lost their championships that his push began. The first hint that he was going to be a breakout star was at last year’s Survivor Series, where he was the sole survivor and dominated the competition, eliminating four opponents during the contest.
Reigns later eliminated the most competitors in Royal Rumble history during the 2014 contest and he has not looked back since. With the Shield now entering into a program with the newly reformed Evolution, there are reports that the ultimate goal of the feud is to set up a matchup between Triple H and Roman Reigns at this year’s SummerSlam. The reports make one wonder: is Roman Reigns ready for a massive solo push?
– Zeb Colter called out Paul Heyman in a new tweet posted on his official Twitter account on Sunday. Colter tweeted the following regarding tonight’s edition of WWE RAW.
– As seen on last night’s edition of WWE Total Divas, Rikishi failed to show up at his sons wedding, as Jimmy Uso and Naomi got married without the former WWE Superstar attending. Rikishi took to Twitter to address the issue.