Rikishi Critiques WWE’s Handling Of Wyatt Sicks Return

On the latest episode of Off The Top, Rikishi talked about the recent return of the Wyatt Sicks faction on WWE SmackDown. You can check out some highlights below:

On the group’s return:  “It was good to see them back a while ago, especially when the brother, who just lost his brother, Bray. So you had the people with you when they saw that. At least, they all kind of called it — it was the brother. Because if it wasn’t the brother, then it wasn’t right to do with that person. But I think the momentum from that kind of lost its track. I don’t know, was it right to bring him back on Bray’s birthday? Was it right to take time off for a bit, especially when you had that big ovation the first time when they initially came through?

“We were all happy. It was like, ‘Damn.’ But we knew, if it ain’t the brother, then it wasn’t going to work. But since it’s the brother, now we’re emotionally attached. Like, ‘Damn, thank you WWE for giving it to his brother,’ right? And so you can imagine the pressure on Bo. You can imagine the pressure. But I’m sure he was happy to be in that position, to be in that opportunity. Because it was personal for him to carry on the legacy of his brother, the legacy of that character, the Bray Wyatt Family.”

On where things went wrong: “For me, I just feel like they kind of dropped the ball with that. A lot of their promos — those are probably the best promos we’ve ever seen, those segments that they do. It just brought you that much closer to Bray, as if Bray was still there. And I just feel like they could have protected the crew a lot better, and just been more protective of where they’re going to put them that doesn’t hurt them. I mean they came out, okay. They did their thing, people were happy to see them, and that was it. So, where do we go from there now? They were happy to see them, but it wasn’t that strong imput as if when a guy is gone and then makes that comeback. It wasn’t that ‘holy s**t’ type of applause.”

On doing more: “So they could have just been a lot more — I don’t know, I probably would have just cut into a segment or something. Boom, the lights go on. Here comes like — maybe show Bray Wyatt’s promo or something. And then boom, here comes the show. I think the production should have built up a lot better. The lights go off on the screen, on the screen there’s Bray Wyatt. The lighters go off in the whole arena. From one exit, you see the big man, from the other exit, you see whoever.

“I think the production, to give the fans that production probably got more over than what happened that day. Because now we’re waiting. Those guys could have just ran or whatever. But just to give me that -— that’s like The Undertaker. Whenever we hear ‘Dong,’ do we give a s**t about the match? Hell no. We just want to watch Taker with the fires, who he’s going to come out with. Roll his eyes back, get out there and put his hands up. The fire comes up, the lights come up, everybody’s happy, they’re gone. So that right there would have been the smart [decision] — that’s just my opinion. Not saying those guys behind the scenes this and that. It just should have been at that level, because we’re talking about Wyatt, we’re talking about the legend, Bray Wyatt.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Off The Top with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.