Rikishi Interview
Posted by David Damage on Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Under: Interviews
Rikishi was a guest on this week’s “Unplugged” show located at. The interview in full can be heard at www.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.
In : Interviews