Bruce Prichard Recalls the Creation of Rikishi’s Gimmick

– Bruce Prichard discussed the origin of Rikishi’s gimmick on the latest episode of his Something to Wrestle With podcast. Highlights from the discussion are below, via Wrestling Inc:

On how the Rikishi character came about: “I knew in the back of my mind I knew that Vince loved the Yokozuna gimmick and was looking to recreate the Yoko gimmick. But I know that one of the regrets that Vince had with Yoko was that Yoko wore the long tights and covered up his a**. Vince wanted the a** hanging out and wanted him in the regular sumo garb and wanted his a* hanging out. He wanted him to be a real sumo. Vince says one day, ‘You know, I am looking at [Fatu’s then-gimmick] The Sultan, that a** is getting bigger every day, now he can be a great sumo. He can be better than Yoko because he is not as big as Yoko and my God it would be great, but he has to have those a** cheeks out.'”

On coming up with the look: “During this time I am going down to Memphis [WWE’s developmental promotion] and asking Fatu, what if he had his bare a** exposed? He responded by telling me that he thought that Yokozuna should have always done it that way and everything, he said I would do that. I thought, would you now? I went and told Vince McMahon that he was game to do this sumo deal and wouldn’t hesitate to expose his a**. Vince says that he should have bleached-blonde hair and starts describing what he should look like with bleach-blonde hair and his a** hanging out and doing this a** bump in the corner. Rikishi was born out of that. The next trip down I pitched the idea and told him that he had to bleach his hair blonde, he didn’t flinch and was looking at it as this is the road to victory. This is going to be the one because the other gimmicks, for whatever reasons didn’t work, and I think Rikishi, considering it was a while since Yokozuna was around, it is new, and it is different enough.”

On the Stink Face: “Vince McMahon always had that in his mind because of that a** hanging out. He saw that a** bump in the corner and Rikishi coming in and actually doing the big a** bump and shoving his a** in their face. The Stink Face was something that evolved from that. Vince’s whole description of what he should look like and do, a version of the Stink Face was always involved.”