Rikishi Talks 'Stone Cold' Angle, The Usos, & More
Show: Unplugged
Hosts: JJ (@SNS_JJSexay1) and Crelly (H2HCrelly)
Rikishi was a guest on this week's "Unplugged" show. The interview in full can be heard atwww.archive.org/download/UnpluggedWithJjexay_7-22-11/UnpluggedWithJjexay7-22-11.mp3. Below are some of the highlights:
Rikishi's on his son's within the WWE and their tribe entrance:
First of all, I am very proud and happy of my sons and I am happy with the opportunity that has been given to them. Their new entrance is the Haka and its a tribal dance when they are going out to war and it is something they use to do back in the day so I'm very happy that they can put that into their entrance today and bring a bit of their custom into their deal there.
I'm glad things worked out (in the WWE) because I was thinking about bring them into the Territory League. Any day the boys arnt happy with the company there, they always have a place to come into the Territory League.
What is the Territory League?
The thing with this company, Territory League, I've been in wrestling (a long time) and I've seen it all within the last 25 years in this business. I have never ever seen a company or concept that has been done in professional wrestling within the last 60 years of my family being in this business and its very exciting to me and just from the feedback from the fans, it's something new to be a part of during the end of my career.
Rikishi on the lack of tag teams within wrestling:
That is something I am very proud of in the Territory League as we highlight everybody in the Territory League as it is city vs city, the best 5 out of every city and this guys are able to come in and mix it up. We have the heavyweight division, the cruiserweight, the Lucha Libre and being part of the Territory League is a great idea.
Rikishi on if we has spoken to WWE about a return to the company:
No, I haven't talked to WWE in a while, I still talk to certain friends of mine but on a business level, I have not talked to them. I have been so busy with my company, Knox entrainment, the tour with Hulkamania ,our school in Los Angeles and the Territory League, my hands are full right now? you never say never in this business.
Rikishi's thoughts on Samoa Joe:
This guy here can mix it up with the best out there given the opportunity. In this business, there is a lot of politics that you go through and sometimes a way out, the company will throw that "weight issue" on you and it is what it is.
Rikishi on Too Cool and post match dancing:
I was so happy to do something different at the end of our gig being as everybody has their own little deal and I wanted to get away from the old 1-2-3, raise your hands, get on the turnbuckle and we felt like, What if we did something whether we win or lose, we give the fans a treat and something the remember every time we come out and that's when we came together with the whole dance step at the end (of the matches).
Rikishi on "Running down" Stone Cold Steve Austin:
At the time, they were bringing in different creative writers every two months and storylines would be going on and they would get cut. I felt like it was too earlier for me to turn heel but then again, I sat there and thought about it and at the time, if I didn't turn heel, my goal was one day to be in the main event spot and work with guys like Steve, Undertaker,The Rock and so on. At that time, our roster was so topped up with babyfaces so business wise, it was good for Rikish to turn heel yet bad for the fans as they were very upset as they wanted to love us and never wanted to hate me or Too Cool.
Rikishi on never being a Main Eventer:
This is the wrestling business; you're in the entertainment business and this is the part of the business that a lot of people don't understand. When things like this happen, I wasn't too happy about it, it is what it is. There were a lot of stars in the angle so I was very happy to be apart of this deal but I would have liked to have seen myself get a shoot at the WWE Title to end up my career in a way that every wrestler dreams.