Post by wendytorrancev1 on Dec 2, 2021 20:59:35 GMT -5
Hello all!!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thursday!
I had a question about Rikishi's heel turn. Is it just me or did he desperately need a change in attire when he went heel? Like homeboy needed a whole makeover.
Nevermind that the whole "heel" Rikishi thing never rang true to me (another reason I didn't like the whole "Who Ran Over Austin" angle), but how in the high holy hell was I supposed to take this guy seriously who still wore what was essentially a thong to the ring to fight in and still had the same "nice Rikishi" move set?
I mean....it was seemed almost like a last minute thought. Besides the fact that Rikishi received a brand new theme song ("I'm a bad man.....I'm a bad man (bad man) givin' bad men bad thoughts/a prince amongst thieves and crooks/ want bad women/bad cars/bad dudes/makin' my own rules"), and was sporting a weirder hairstyle where he cut his hair a bit so the ponytail wasn't as long and shaved the back of his head a bit, nothing really changed in his heel turn. His mannerisms and moveset somewhat stayed the same, and his ring attire predominately stayed the same.
It also makes me a bit angry that the "powers that be" in the WWF never thought to make Rikishi seem threatening in the least bit during what was arguably the biggest storyline of his career. I mean, Rikishi is a big dude.
Now, with Austin at No Mercy, I wouldn't have allowed him to go over, however, I would have made damn sure that at Survivor Series 2000, he would have went over on The Rock and interfered in Austin and Triple H's match to build up some heat. Hell, I wouldn't even allowed him to face The Rock at Survivor Series 2000, and made it more ambiguous on where The Rock's true loyalties lay at that point. Instead, the writers showed their cards way too early with that.
I would have had the audience in suspense and had The Rock instead face off against Angle and The Undertaker in a WWF Championship match with Rikishi at this point interfering to save his cousin again, which would have backfired. The very next night on RAW, I would have had The Rock in a rematch against Angle, in which Rikishi would have just interfered not on The Rock's behalf, but on Angle's behalf. On Smackdown, Rikishi would say "I did it for myself!" and then talk a bunch of trash about The Rock to build some heat. At that point, the two would have began their feud leading into Armageddon 2000.
With that aside, I think Rikishi should have had a complete makeover as a heel. I don't think his moveset should have changed much, but I would have given him a bit of a raise to wash that cheap bleach out of his hair. That would have severed all that "Too Cool" era Rikishi. I would have also had Rikishi sport an attire not too dissimilar than that of Umaga, except not barefoot. I would have had him wear some glossy, sleek boots with shin guards.
Now, I did like how they transformed Rikishi from a fun loving, loveable guy to a heel in theory, but in execution, it was a damn nightmare and didn't ring true. It seemed as though he was punching bag and they failed to make him feel threatening, or sinister, or even capitalize on his size and strength. It's almost criminal what they did with his heel turn. He seemed far more threatening when he was teamed up with Haku and I think he was a bit more neutral then.
Either way, the writers at the time dropped the ball completely with this particular use case. It really infuriates me that the potential was there to create a great heel run for a somewhat underutilized talent.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thursday!
I had a question about Rikishi's heel turn. Is it just me or did he desperately need a change in attire when he went heel? Like homeboy needed a whole makeover.
Nevermind that the whole "heel" Rikishi thing never rang true to me (another reason I didn't like the whole "Who Ran Over Austin" angle), but how in the high holy hell was I supposed to take this guy seriously who still wore what was essentially a thong to the ring to fight in and still had the same "nice Rikishi" move set?
I mean....it was seemed almost like a last minute thought. Besides the fact that Rikishi received a brand new theme song ("I'm a bad man.....I'm a bad man (bad man) givin' bad men bad thoughts/a prince amongst thieves and crooks/ want bad women/bad cars/bad dudes/makin' my own rules"), and was sporting a weirder hairstyle where he cut his hair a bit so the ponytail wasn't as long and shaved the back of his head a bit, nothing really changed in his heel turn. His mannerisms and moveset somewhat stayed the same, and his ring attire predominately stayed the same.
It also makes me a bit angry that the "powers that be" in the WWF never thought to make Rikishi seem threatening in the least bit during what was arguably the biggest storyline of his career. I mean, Rikishi is a big dude.
Now, with Austin at No Mercy, I wouldn't have allowed him to go over, however, I would have made damn sure that at Survivor Series 2000, he would have went over on The Rock and interfered in Austin and Triple H's match to build up some heat. Hell, I wouldn't even allowed him to face The Rock at Survivor Series 2000, and made it more ambiguous on where The Rock's true loyalties lay at that point. Instead, the writers showed their cards way too early with that.
I would have had the audience in suspense and had The Rock instead face off against Angle and The Undertaker in a WWF Championship match with Rikishi at this point interfering to save his cousin again, which would have backfired. The very next night on RAW, I would have had The Rock in a rematch against Angle, in which Rikishi would have just interfered not on The Rock's behalf, but on Angle's behalf. On Smackdown, Rikishi would say "I did it for myself!" and then talk a bunch of trash about The Rock to build some heat. At that point, the two would have began their feud leading into Armageddon 2000.
With that aside, I think Rikishi should have had a complete makeover as a heel. I don't think his moveset should have changed much, but I would have given him a bit of a raise to wash that cheap bleach out of his hair. That would have severed all that "Too Cool" era Rikishi. I would have also had Rikishi sport an attire not too dissimilar than that of Umaga, except not barefoot. I would have had him wear some glossy, sleek boots with shin guards.
Now, I did like how they transformed Rikishi from a fun loving, loveable guy to a heel in theory, but in execution, it was a damn nightmare and didn't ring true. It seemed as though he was punching bag and they failed to make him feel threatening, or sinister, or even capitalize on his size and strength. It's almost criminal what they did with his heel turn. He seemed far more threatening when he was teamed up with Haku and I think he was a bit more neutral then.
Either way, the writers at the time dropped the ball completely with this particular use case. It really infuriates me that the potential was there to create a great heel run for a somewhat underutilized talent.
