'Solofa Fatu, Jr.' (born
October 11,
1966), is a Samoan-
American professional wrestler. He is known under the ring names as 'Rikishi', or 'Kishi'. He also competed recently as 'SUMO RIKISHI' for
All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Fatu is a member of the extensive
Samoan
Anoa'i wrestling family, and the nephew of the
Wild Samoans,
Afa and
Sika, who trained him in the
1980s. He is the brother of
Eddie Fatu, known as Umaga, and is the younger brother of
The Tonga Kid, who was part of
The Islanders, a tag team with
Haku in the WWF. Fatu teamed with his cousin
Samu, the son of Afa, as '
The Samoan Swat Team'. The Swat Team wrestled mainly in
the south, winning titles in the
Dallas-based World Class Wrestling Association. The team later worked for the World Wrestling Federation as 'the Headshrinkers' before Solofa Fatu, Jr. embarked on a singles career.
Career
The Samoan Swat Team
Solofa Fatu, Jr. first got the fans attention in
1985 as he worked for
Gino Brito and
Dino Bravo’s “International Wrestling" territory based in
Montreal. While in Montreal, Fatu worked as 'Prince Alofa', a high flying
babyface often working as a team with the territory’s top faces. While working in Montreal Samu hung out with his cousin
Samula Anoa'i who was working in the area as the
heel "The Great Samu". When the Montreal territory closed up, the two cousins signed with the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico and became 'The Samoan Swat Team': Samu & Fatu. The team adopted the “Samoan savage"
gimmick that had made their fathers so well known and feared throughout the wrestling world, working barefeet and never speaking English on camera. The team became the first ever
WWC Caribbean Tag Team Champions on
November 7,
1987 when they beat
Invader I and Invader III
[1]. The duo held the titles for just over a month before dropping them to
Mark Youngblood and
Chris Youngblood before leaving the promotion.
Samu and Fatu next appeared in Texas, working for
Fritz Von Erich’s
World Class Championship Wrestling promotion. The storyline was that
Buddy Roberts brought the team in to fight his fights against the
Von Erich family and former
Fabulous Freebirds partner
Michael Hayes. The SST was given a big push right away; presented as an unstoppable force, the team was even allowed to beat hometown heroes
Kerry and
Kevin Von Erich for the
WCCW Tag-Team Titles on
August 12,
1988 . The Samoans remained undefeated in WCCW until they came up against Roberts’ former partner Michael Hayes and Hayes new partner, “Do It To It" Steve Cox on
September 12 . The duo was not without the gold for long as they recaptured the titles only 4 days later.
. Hayes and Cox would beat the Samoan Swat Team for the titles once again on
October 15[2] , but this time they only held the gold for two days before they lost it back to the SST. On
September 12, 1988 The Samoan Swat Team become double champions as they beat
"Hollywood" John Tatum and Jimmy Jack Funk for the
WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship . The Samoan Swat Team made their
pay-per-view debut at
AWA Superclash III, the first (and only) PPV that the
American Wrestling Association ever presented. The Samoans successfully defended their WCCW Tag-Team titles against Michael Hayes and Steve Cox.
[3] In the beginning of
1989 the Samoans left WCCW, forcing both tag-team titles to be vacated due to the sudden departure
.
The Samoan Swat Team signed with
Jim Crockett Promotions and was brought in as manager
Paul E. Dangerously’s replacements for the
"Original" Midnight Express who had left the promotion. The Samoans also took over the "Original" Midnight Express’ feud with
the Midnight Express, winning at on
April 2, 1989.
[4]. The Samoans teamed with former rival Michael Hayes,
Terry Gordy, and
Jimmy Garvin at the
1989 Great American Bash, losing a
WarGames match to the
Road Warriors, the Midnight Express, and
Steve Williams[5]. In the fall of 1989 Paul E. Dangerously was phased out and the Samoans were given a new manager: "The Big Kahuna"
Oliver Humperdink. Their ranks were also bolstered by the addition of
The Samoan Savage, who is Fatu’s brother. The Samoans started to lose more and more matches as 1989 drew to a close, but their fortunes appeared to be changing due to the injury to
Sid Vicious. Because Vicious was injured, the
Skyscrapers had to pull out of the "Iron Team Tournament" at
Starrcade 1989 and the Samoan Swat Team were chosen to be their replacements.
[6] Fatu and the Samoan Savage participated while no explanation was given as to why the more experienced Samu was not chosen. For the remainder of the Samoan Swat Team’s time in WCW, Fatu and the Samoan Savage competed under the name while Samu made a few singles appearances.
After leaving WCW in the summer of 1990, the Samoan Swat Team worked for a number of independent promotions in the US, Europe, and Japan, often teaming up with family member
Rodney Anoa'i who competed as "Kokina Maximus"
[7]. The family worked for the
Universal Wrestling Association in 1991 with Fatu, Kokina, and The Samoan Savage winning the UWA Trios Tag-Team titles
and holding it for just under 2 months
[8]. They also made a headline appearance on the UWA’s 16th anniversary show losing to
Dos Caras,
El Canek, and
Mil Máscaras[9].
The Headshrinkers
In
1992 Samu and Fatu signed up with the
World Wrestling Federation, managed by Samu’s father Afa
[10]. The team changed their name to 'the Headshrinkers' but their gimmick of Samoan wildmen remained the same. Rodney Anoa'i also signed with the WWF but he was repackaged as "Yokozuna" and the family ties between him and the Samoans was not mentioned on air. The team first made their presence known when they helped
Money Inc. beat
the Natural Disasters to win the
WWF World Tag Team titles. [11]. Early in their run with the WWF, the Headshrinkers feuded with the Natural Disasters and the recently formed
High Energy [12]
Between 1992 and the early parts of
1994, the Headshrinkers maintained a position in the middle of the tag-team division. They occasionally challenged for the titles and made sporadic PPV appearances feuding with teams like
The Smokin' Gunns[13] and
Men on a Mission [14]. The Headshrinkers assisted their relative Yokozuna in a
casket match against
The Undertaker at the
1994 Royal Rumble [15]. In April of 1994, the Headshrinkers turned face and challenged then tag-team champions
The Quebecers; with the addition of manager
Lou Albano the team won the gold on
April 26,
1994[16]. At
King of the Ring 1994 on
June 19, the Headshrinkers successfully defended their tag team titles against Yokozuna and
Crush [17]. Their run with the titles came to a surprising end on an untelevised card on
August 28 where they lost the titles to
Shawn Michaels and
Diesel [18]. The title change happened just one day before they were scheduled to defend against
Irwin R. Schyster and
Bam Bam Bigelow [19]. Soon after the title change, Samu left the WWF to recover from injuries and was replaced by
Sionne, who formed the "New Headshrinkers" with Fatu.
The New Headshrinkers
The
Kayfabe reasons given to Samu’s departure was that he was not coping well with manager Lou Albano’s attempts to civilize the Headshrinkers, especially wearing boots. For the first time ever one half of the Samoan Swat Team/Headshrinkers was not a member of the Anoa'i family nor a Samoan, as Sionne was from the island of
Tonga. The New Headshrinkers made only one PPV appearance as a team which was at the
1994 Survivor Series where they were quickly eliminated
[20]. They were also both participants in the
1995 Royal Rumble. The only other notable appearance of the New Headshrinkers was as part of the tournament to crown new WWF tag team champions in late
1994, early
1995. The New Headshrinkers lost to Bam Bam Bigelow and
Tatanka in the Semi-Finals
[21]. By July, the New Headshrinkers ended as Sionne signed with WCW. By the time Sionne left the WWF, the team was used to put over new teams such as
Jacob & Eli Blu [22]
Starting out Single
After spending a long time as one half of a tag team, Fatu became a singles wrestler in
1994. The World Wrestling Federation repackaged Fatu, dropping the “savage" gimmick and revealing that Fatu can speak English and that he was actually raised in the US
[23]. Fatu became a “man of the streets" talking about growing up in the hood, being shot during a real-life drive-by. He was going to be a positive influence on the kids under the catch phrase “Make a difference". During this time he was referred to as “Make a Difference" Fatu or at times Phatu. After a short while, two men started to show up whenever Fatu was in the ring. Samu along with his brother
Lloyd Anoa'i, called "The Samoan Gangster Party" was watching him
. Samu had also dropped the savage gimmick with Samu and Lloyd looking like gang members. The two men did not wrestle for the WWF but watched Fatu from afar as the former Headshrinker tried to turn himself into a positive rolemodel for kids on the street. The
angle never went anywhere as the Samoan Gangster party never got in the ring or confronted Fatu before he was repackaged and the whole angle was dropped
.
The World Wrestling Federation decided to give Fatu a total change, as he became a stereotypical “Middle Eastern" known as 'The Sultan' complete with a face mask to hide who was playing the gimmick
. Fatu worked as the Sultan for about a year getting a shot at
Rocky Maivia’s Intercontinental Title at
WrestleMania 13 but failed to win the gold
[24]. The Sultan gimmick was dropped before
1997 was over
.
Rikishi
Fatu left the spotlight when the Sultan gimmick was canned, working on the independent circuit. He reappeared in late
1999 as 'Rikishi' (literally, "strong man") 'Phatu', which was eventually shortened to just 'Rikishi'. He had gained a great deal of weight, bleached his hair blonde, and exchanged his long trousers for a revealing
thong. The Rikishi character had a brief
feud with
Viscera before aligning with
Too Cool, which consisted of
Grandmaster Sexay and
Scotty Too Hotty. It was at this point that Rikishi's popularity began to soar as their post-match dance routine became popular with fans.
During the ''
2000 Royal Rumble'', Rikishi eliminated seven opponents in the Royal Rumble match; he was eliminated by six wrestlers working together
[25]. Rikishi, Too Cool and
Chyna began feuding with
The Radicalz, with Chyna eventually siding with
Eddie Guerrero. At
WrestleMania 2000, Rikishi and
Kane defeated
"The Road Dogg" Jesse James and
X-Pac. After the match,
Pete Rose (following a distraction by
The San Diego Chicken)
ran into the ring to attack Kane, but was
chokeslammed by Kane and given a
Stinkface by Rikishi
[26].
In
May 2000, Rikishi and Too Cool feuded with
Edge,
Christian, and
Kurt Angle (Team ECK), culminating in a victory at
Judgment Day [27]. After winning the
Intercontinental Championship on the
June 22,
2000 episode of
SmackDown! from
Chris Benoit[28], Rikishi would go on to qualify for the 2000
King of the Ring tournament. On
June 25,
2000 he defeated Benoit and
Val Venis in the quarter- and semi-finals respectively, but both his opponents hit him with a steel chair after losing, weakening his shoulder and helping Kurt Angle defeat him in the Finals
[29].
Stemming from Venis' attack at King of the Ring, Rikishi faced Val Venis on
July 6, and lost his title after
Tazz hit him with a television camera
. Rikishi faced Val Venis in a
Steel Cage rematch at
Fully Loaded. In the course of the match, Rikishi ascended the cage and, in a move reminiscent of his uncle
Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, leapt from the top, splashing Venis. Rikishi was defeated by Venis shortly after when Tazz once again hit him with a boom box
[30].
For the next few months Rikishi would attempt to regain the Intercontinental Championship. At
Unforgiven, he was defeated by champion
Eddie Guerrero. Rikishi was disqualified when, frustrated by her repeated interference, he
superkicked Chyna
[31]. This foreshadowed the revival of a darker side of his character.
On
October 9,
2000, Commissioner
Mick Foley used a slip of the tongue from Scotty Too Hotty to implicate Rikishi as the person who had run over
Stone Cold Steve Austin at
Survivor Series, as Scotty stated that he had been hanging out that night with Grand Master Sexay and Rikishi. However, Foley stated later that night in the ring that Rikishi at that point had not debuted yet. In actuality, this is not true, as Rikishi had debuted on the Saturday night before the '99 Survivor Series on
WWF Jakked. Rikishi admitted injuring Austin, claiming that he had done so in order to allow his cousin
The Rock to achieve stardom, insisting that
Buddy Rogers,
Bruno Sammartino,
Bob Backlund,
Hulk Hogan, and Austin - "The Great White Hope" - had always been
pushed over Samoan performers such as High Chief Peter Maivia and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, who he believed had been held back.
Austin immediately set out to obtain revenge, facing Rikishi in a
No Holds Barred Match at
No Mercy [32]. The match went to a no contest when Austin dragged Rikishi to the parking lot and attempted to run him over, but a police car drove in front of Austin's car, saving Rikishi. Though Austin was arrested, he had badly injured Rikishi, inflicting numerous cuts and bruises to his face. Later that night, Rikishi attempted to help The Rock retain the
WWF Championship in a match against Kurt Angle, but "accidentally" kicked and crushed The Rock, allowing Angle to
Olympic Slam both men and win the title
[33].
After a number of instances where Austin was attacked backstage by an unseen assailant, it became clear that Rikishi had an accomplice. During a handicap match pitting Rikishi and Kurt Angle against Austin,
Triple H came to the ring, seemingly to aid Austin, but
swerved the audience by attacking Austin with a
sledgehammer. This led to Triple H revealing that he had masterminded the assault, relegating Rikishi to his hired muscle. Rikishi would never reclaim the popularity he enjoyed throughout his initial run as Rikishi.
Rikishi would go on to lose to The Rock at
Survivor Series[34]. He then participated in the six-man
Hell in a Cell match at
Armageddon 2000 for the WWF Championship, in which he was chokeslammed from the top of the cell by the Undertaker
[35]. He won a match entitling him to enter the
2001 Royal Rumble at number 30, but he didn't last long before being eliminated by The Rock in the Royal Rumble
[36].
After the return of
Haku at the
Royal Rumble , Rikishi and Haku formed a tag team, and feuded with Kane and The Undertaker. The team split when Rikishi was sidelined with an eardrum injury, and Haku was later released. Rikishi returned from injury on
May 7,
2001 and was urged by Foley to become a
good guy again. He wrestled for several weeks before suffering a shoulder injury which caused him to miss much of 2001.
Rikishi returned on
December 6,
2001, delivering a Stinkface to
Vince McMahon. The reason for this being was that the week before The Rock and Trish Stratus were in a match against Kurt Angle and Vince McMahon. The stipulation was that if The Rock lost, he would have to kiss McMahon's ass and if The Rock won, Vince would have to kiss his ass. The Rock would decide McMahon would have to kiss someone elses ass; he would first introduce Jim Ross, then Trish Stratus, but finally he would call out Rikishi and shove McMahon's face into Rikishi's ass.
Upon the , Rikishi was drafted to SmackDown!. At
Judgment Day 2002, he faced
Billy and
Chuck in a "secret partner" match. His partner turned out to be
Rico, Billy and Chuck's stylist. Despite Rico's best efforts to unfairly help Billy and Chuck, Rikishi and he won the match and became the
Tag Team Champions[37].
Rikishi was not featured much in late 2002 and early-
2003. He feuded with
John Cena,
Bill DeMott, and the
Full Blooded Italians on Smackdown. The return of
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper led Rikishi to challenge him as Piper had hit Rikishi's uncle Jimmy Snuka with a
coconut years ago on
Piper's Pit. At
Backlash 2003, Piper's protege
Sean O'Haire defeated Rikishi after Piper got hit with a coconut by Rikishi giving O'Haire time to hit the Widowmaker on Rikishi
[38].
Rikishi eventually formed a tag team with Scotty 2 Hotty, and the duo defeated the
Basham Brothers for the
WWE Tag Team Championship on
February 5,
2004[39], holding them for two and a half months before losing them to
Charlie Haas and Rico
.
Life Beyond WWE
Rikishi was released by WWE on
July 16,
2004, following repeated requests from WWE to lose weight. He continues to wrestle on the
independent circuit. In October
2005, Fatu shortened his ring name to 'Kishi' after being notified by WWE legal representatives that WWE owned a trademark on the name "Rikishi". Fatu, as Kishi, would go on to operate
Nu-Wrestling Evolution, a professional wrestling promotion based in
Italy [40].
On
February 17, 2007, Fatu competed as 'SUMO RIKISHI' in a tag team contest at an
All Japan Pro Wrestling event, as he was brought in by
Keiji Mutoh to feud with
Akebono [41]. He also recently signed with
Jakks Pacific to have a WWE Classic Superstar line featuring Rikishi.
On
August 12, 2007, Fatu competed in an 8-man tag, as 'Rikishi', at
AAA's TripleMania event.
On
August 23, 2007, Fatu competed in a Triple Threat match against
Samoa Joe and
Sterling James Keenan at
Ballpark Brawl VIII in
Buffalo, New York.
Personal life
Fatu is married and has 5 children, 1 girl and 4 boys, with wife Talisua.
Fatu is a member of the famous
Anoa'i wrestling family, he is the brother of
Eddie Fatu (Umaga/Jamal) and
Sam Fatu (The Tonga Kid), cousin to
Dwayne Johnson (The Rock),
Rodney Anoa'i (Yokozuna),
Samula Anoa'i (Headshrinker Samu),
Matt Anoa'i (Rosey),
Jimmy Snuka, Jr. (Deuce), the nephew of "Soulman"
Rocky Johnson, the
Wild Samoans (Sika & Afa), and "Superfly"
Jimmy Snuka.
Fatu was arrested without resistance by
U.S. Marshals on
September 25,
2006 in Escambia County, Florida while enroute to his home in Pensacola, Florida, for failing to appear at a court hearing in America during a time when he was touring with NWE in Italy. Fatu was remanded to Escambia County Jail until his hearing in federal court
[42].
In wrestling
★ 'Finishing and signature moves'
:
★ '''Banzai Drop''' / ''Rump Shaker'' (
Second rope seated senton or
butt drop)
:
★ '''Rikishi Driver''' (
Over the shoulder reverse piledriver)
:
★
Stink Face, usually preceded by a
Thump to an opponent in the corner
:
★ ''Headshrinker Splash'' (
Diving splash)
:
★
Samoan drop
:
★
Savate kick
:
★
Side belly to belly suplex
:
★
Headbutt
★ 'Managers'
:
★
Paul E. Dangerously
:
★
Oliver Humperdink
:
★
Afa
:
★
Captain Lou Albano
:
★
The Iron Sheik
:
★
Bob Backlund
:
★
Buddy Roberts
Championships and accomplishments
★ 'Power Pro Wrestling (Memphis)'
:
★ PPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
★ '
Universal Wrestling Association'
:
★ UWA Trios Tag-Team Championship (1 time) - with
Kokina Maximus and
The Samoan Savage
★ 'World Class Wrestling Association'
:
★
WCWA Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Samu
:
★
WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Samu
★ '
World Wrestling Council'
:
★
WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Samu
★ '
World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment'
:
★
WWF Intercontinental Championship (
1 time)
:
★
WWE Tag Team Championship (
1 time) – with
Scotty 2 Hotty
:
★
World Tag Team Championship (
2 times) – with
Samu (1) and
Rico (1)
★ '
Pro Wrestling Illustrated'
:
★ PWI ranked him # '347' of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
:
★
PWI Comeback of the Year Award (2000)
References
1. Wrestling Title Histories, Royal Duncan & Gary Will, , , Archeus Communications, 4th Edition 2006, ISBN 0-9698161-5-4
2. WCCW Show results – Cotton Bowl Extravaganza prowrestlinghistory.com
3. AWA Show results – SuperClash results prowrestlinghistory.com
4. NWA Clash of the Champions Results (VI) prowrestlinghistory.com
5. NWA Great American Bash Results (1989) prowrestlinghistory.com
6. NWA Starrcade Results (1989) prowrestlinghistory.com
7. StrongStyle Spirit: NJPW Results from 1991 puroresufan.com
8. U.W.A. World Trios title wrestling-titles.com
9. UWA show results – Anniversary shows prowrestlinghistory.com
10. Main event – WWE in the raging 80s, Brian Shields, , , Pocket Books, 4th Edition 2006, ISBN 978-1-4165-3257-6
11. WWF Show Results 1992 Graham Cawthon
12. WWF Survivor Series Results (1992) prowrestlinghistory.com
13. WWF SummerSlam Results (1993) prowrestlinghistory.com
14. WWF Survivor Series Results (1993) prowrestlinghistory.com
15. WWF Royal Rumble Results (1994) prowrestlinghistory.com
16. Title History > World Tag Team > The Headshrinkers wwe.com
17. WWF King of the Ring Results (1994) prowrestlinghistory.com
18. Title History > World Tag Team > Shawn Michaels & Diesel wwe.com
19. WWF SummerSlam Results (1994) prowrestlinghistory.com
20. WWF Survivor Series Results (1994) prowrestlinghistory.com
21. WWF Tag-Team Title Tournament 1995 prowrestlinghistory.com
22. WWF Show Results 1995 Graham Cawthon
23. Wrestlecrap – the very worst of pro wrestling, RD Reynolds and Randy Baer, , , ECW Press, 2003, ISBN 1-55022-584-7
24. WWF WrestleMania Results (13) prowrestlinghistory.com
25. WWF Royal Rumble Elimination details (2000) prowrestlinghistory.com
26. WWF WrestleMania Results (2000) prowrestlinghistory.com
27. WWF Judgement Day Results (2000) prowrestlinghistory.com
28. WWF/WWE Intercontinental heavyweight title history Solie’s Vintage Wrestling
29. WWF King of the Ring Results (2000) prowrestlinghistory.com
30. WWF Fully Loaded Results (2000) prowrestlinghistory.com
31. WWF Unforgiven Results (2000) prowrestlinghistory.com
32. WWF No Mercy Results (2000) prowrestlinghistory.com
33. WWF/WWE World Heavyweight Title History Solie’s Vintage Wrestling
34. WWF Survivor Series Results (2000) prowrestlinghistory.com
35. WWF Armageddon Results (2000) prowrestlinghistory.com
36. WWF Royal Rumble Elimination Details (2001) prowrestlinghistory.com
37. WWF Judgement Day Results (2002) prowrestlinghistory.com
38. WWF Backlash Results (2003) prowrestlinghistory.com
39. WWE Tag-Team Title History (Smackdown) Solie’s Vintage Wrestling
40. Official NWE Wrestling Website NWE Wrestling
41. AJPW “EXCITE SERIES 2007" Results purolove.com
42. U.S. Marshals Task Force Arrests Professional Wrestler for Civil Contempt USMarshals.gov
External links
★
Nu-Wrestling Evolution
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