Could Rikishi Have Ever Been A Main Eventer?

[romanstylesiii]

(as the Rikishi character).

In all his shoots, he always seems bitter about not getting a proper push as a face. He even said it was stupid for him to win the IC title, as he thought it lowered his worth.

But in reality, how far can a character who dances with his ass out REALLY go? His heel main event push bombed as bad as any main event push as ever could bomb

[Pgarodactyl]

I think the biggest detriment to Rikishi as a viable main event star was the other main event faces at the time. He was there at the time when Austin, Rock, Undertaker, and Foley were around.

[TWERKIN' MAGGLE]

One month reign maybe.

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

He could maybe have transitioned away from the ass thing, and doing so would have been pretty vital to him getting a sustained main event push. The heel turn may have been intended to do that, get the fans to stop expecting the dances and Stinkfaces, but, well.

Funny that he thinks that the IC title lowered his worth, given that he won it during a period where IC champions tended to still be on their way up. Sure, there were flame-outs like Billy Gunn, but this was coming off reigns from people like Angle, Jericho, and Benoit.

[Mochi Lone Wolf]

Not with his gimmick, no.


It was an opening match/mid-card one to get the audience going.

[Caglar13]

At some point he could've worked as a quick champ for a month or so like Big Show had during his 1st title run. Don't think it would've hurt much as over as the product was at the time but after that I don't see him staying in the upper card.

[Kevin Hamilton]

For a month long program maybe. Long term? Nope.

[jason1980s]

He's lucky WWF kept bringing him back after so many gimmicks not connecting with fans. The original Headshrinkers were pretty cool but not necessarily main event tag team. They benefited from very few teams at the time. The New Headshrinkers were awful, Fatu Make a Difference was awful and Sultan was never over and that had just as much or more to do with him than WWF creative. I do think Rikishi the character had potential to be main event, maybe not close to "the guy" but definitely on the scene with Austin, Rock, Big Show or Foley.
The heel turn absolutely killed him though. For me, it was like watching a great movie where the ending turns out to be a dream. It's like you've spent all this time watching this guy, the character was pretty great for the time and in just a few seconds it turned to crap. I always thought Billy Gunn was the driver. But given how he bombed a year earlier I guess WWF figured Rikishi would work.

[Dub H]

Main Eventer?Yes

One of the top guys?I doubt,he probably would be in the lower end.

[A Platypus Rave]

he could easily have been an upper midcard part time main event dude even with his dancing face stuff.

Full time... constant title contender? no.

[MiLo Duck]

Not even a little. Look, I adore the big guy, but he was pretty trash on the mic. He would get lost in what he was saying and beside some miraculous insertion of manager to be his mouth piece it'd be rough.

[BatPunk]

He could have been a nice transitional champ at the highest point of his fame.

It actually would have been funny to see Rikishi playing heel champ with Too Cool as his heel Hype Men.

I would have paid to see that.

[Welfare Willis]

Jul 24, 2020 0:22:24 GMT -5 MiLo Duck said:

Not even a little. Look, I adore the big guy, but he was pretty trash on the mic. He would get lost in what he was saying and beside some miraculous insertion of manager to be his mouth piece it'd be rough.

If you smell what the Kish is cooking.

[MiLo Duck]

Jul 24, 2020 1:44:13 GMT -5 Welfare Willis said:

Jul 24, 2020 0:22:24 GMT -5 MiLo Duck said:

Not even a little. Look, I adore the big guy, but he was pretty trash on the mic. He would get lost in what he was saying and beside some miraculous insertion of manager to be his mouth piece it'd be rough.

If you smell what the Kish is cooking.

Literally the promo in my head while I was typing that! lol

[Mozenrath]

I think he could, but they really misread where to go with the character after a point. I don't think it helped that Rikisihi sometimes comes across as a guy with a bit of an attitude sometimes.

[Deleted]

Early 2 Cool Rikishi just slappin' fools. Eazily!

[Deleted]

[Deleted]

They should've at least changed his look up when he turned heel. Nobody was taking him seriously when he was still out there wrestling in a thong. He should've worn something similar to what Umaga wore.

[4real]

I just don't see Rikishi being a main event face ahead of Austin, Rock, Taker, Kane, Jericho etc. WWE just had too much talent.

Even in 2000 he looked out of place in the main event and I remember people I spoke to back then thinking that 6 man HIAC would have been better with Kane, Jericho or Benoit in it.

He suffered the same problem Tatanka’s heel run did in that he didn’t change up his look at all. Nobody took him seriously. Getting battered by Austin at No Mercy and losing to Rock at Survivor Series didn’t help either. And HHH becoming the top heel. And the music.

Again no one took Rikishi seriously as a main eventer or a threat.

['Foretold' Joker]

Jul 24, 2020 5:22:08 GMT -5 4real said:

And the music.

Outrageous, Bad Man is a great track!