http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2014/08/31/21909881.html
(two posts)
Early days helped build up Rikishi
By CALEB SMITH - SLAM! Wrestling
The name Rikishi conjures up images of hapless wrestlers caught in a precarious position. Just when everything seems to be going wrong when facing Rikishi it can get much worse when he shoves his ample rump into his opponents face. Rikishi hasn't always been shoving his posterior into the snots of foes, in fact Solofa Fatu Jr. started on the undercard as a rookie trying to make a name for himself in the wrestling business.
After being trained for the ring by his uncles, Afa and Sika the Wild Samoans, young Rikishi travelled to his first territory in 1985. "My career started actually in Montreal," said Rikishi. "Number one, I was a young kid at the age of 18 very blessed to break in to Montreal. It was a great opportunity."
The Montreal territory covered large portions of Quebec including places in Ontario such as Ottawa and Sudbury. In fact television coverage for the Montreal territory was so good that it covered most of Eastern Canada and even extended into southern Ontario.
Rikishi entered the promotion under the name Prince Alofa. At that time he was agile in the ring and often used high flying maneuvers throughout his matches. "It was a great opportunity," recalled Rikishi prior to a Crossfire Wrestling show in St. Catharines, Ontario. "At the time it was being run by Dino Bravo,Rick Martel, Eddie Creatchman, and I was there with my cousin Samu. As a young kid I was in there paying my dues in the territory."
When asked about his time in his first wrestling territory Rikishi felt thankful for the experience. "I really, really liked it in Montreal," said Rikishi. "It was a different vibe; I was working almost every night out there. I got to learn from the ground on up from the best of the best in the business."
A unique aspect of the Montreal territory was that the province of Quebec is a predominately French-speaking area and Rikishi was definitely not fluent in French. He smiled at the memory. "They knew some English and at the time I learned to speak a few French words out there," said Rikishi. "They were kind people. I was a babyface out there, a young kid, and adapted very well with the people out there."
The young Rikishi loved learning from other wrestlers while on the road heading to the next town. "I learned a lot from being on the road with guys like Dino Bravo, Rick Martel, the Creatchmans here in Canada," said Rikishi. "Just the way that they teach you about the way of the business, of how the business works. As a young kid we all learn. I find out that I learned a lot from those who paved the way in wrestling. It helped me out with my career."
After his run ended in Montreal Rikishi and his cousin Samu formed a tag team known as the SST or the Samoan Swat Team. The duo had a brief run in Puerto Rico before heading to Texas for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). In Texas, Rikishi, then known as Fatu, and Samu were developing their style, timing and move set for their team. "You were working every day, doing TV, which taught us to be in front of a TV crowd, working the TV type of matches," recalled Rikishi. "We were more busy with Von Erichs, again Texas was a big territory. It was really our first time to be out there and be showcased worldwide."
The WCCW wrestling show was syndicated on ESPN and other outlets around the world. "We were really thankful for the opportunity there," said Rikishi. "Being in different territories was really a way for us to find any type of bookings. As a young kid you were just worried, your main concern was just getting booked. You took any bookings you could. It wasn't about the money, it was about us getting our name out there and paying your dues."
On December 13, 1988, the Samoan Swat Team was pegged to participate in their first pay per view, Super Clash 3 in Chicago, Illinois. The show was promoted by the AWA, and the last of the viable wrestling territories sent their stars to help boost the show. That night the SST defeated Michael Hayes and Steve Cox when Samu pinned Hayes.
While Rikishi recalled the event as another step on the road of his career he did not seemed overwhelmed by it. "With that deal there I was in Texas," said Rikishi. "During that time I got booked through the Von Erichs they were actually kinda working with that company the AWA. Anytime we came on their show it was through Texas out there, that's how that happened out there."
After Texas the Samoan Swat Team travelled to World Championship Wrestling and they came up against some stiff competition. Tag teams such as the Midnight Express, the Road Warriors, the Steiner Brothers, the Skyscrapers, and the Freebirds helped the young duo to elevate their game to a new level.
"It helped me out a lot with my career learning how to work with such different and great tag teams such as the Road Warriors taught us how to turn our game into powerhouses," said Rikishi. "When you're workin against the Steiner Brothers, there's a tag team that likes to work snug, tight. Sometimes shoot in there, but in a happy way. It turned our game to adapt to different styles. When you work with the Freebirds they are the entertainment of entertainment teams. Working with Michael Hayes, Buddy Roberts, and Terry Gordy; we learned so much from working with those guys there to adapt to being an entertainer. With the three different tag teams like that what I can take from that, my advice to teams out there is you learn to adapt to certain tag teams."
The veteran teams of WCW helped to mold the rising SST. Rikishi credits his opponents in those years as the ones who molded his young team. "We took a piece from every tag team and that helped find SST and the Headshrinkers and we utilized that with the training of our uncles Afa and Sika," said Rikishi. "Those were big shoes to fill, you know? With all that you kind of find your way. I was very grateful to learn from such great tag teams. Any time you work with great teams like that and even young teams coming up you are still learning. There are things like moves you see from a young team that you don't from teams that are established such as the Freebirds. There is always the little things that you can take from each tag team to be able to find yourself."
After leaving WCW in 1990, Rikishi travelled to the UWA in Mexico. Here was another chance to learn along the way and to wrestle some of the world's finest grapplers. "Early on in my career I used to go to Mexico," Rikishi reflected. "I was booked out there with the late, mighty Yokozuna, the late Owen Hart, the late Chris Benoit. So we come in to do two week tours at a time. They would bring the Samoans in and our last day they would bring in Chris Benoit and Owen Hart."
(two posts)
Early days helped build up Rikishi
By CALEB SMITH - SLAM! Wrestling
The name Rikishi conjures up images of hapless wrestlers caught in a precarious position. Just when everything seems to be going wrong when facing Rikishi it can get much worse when he shoves his ample rump into his opponents face. Rikishi hasn't always been shoving his posterior into the snots of foes, in fact Solofa Fatu Jr. started on the undercard as a rookie trying to make a name for himself in the wrestling business.
After being trained for the ring by his uncles, Afa and Sika the Wild Samoans, young Rikishi travelled to his first territory in 1985. "My career started actually in Montreal," said Rikishi. "Number one, I was a young kid at the age of 18 very blessed to break in to Montreal. It was a great opportunity."
The Montreal territory covered large portions of Quebec including places in Ontario such as Ottawa and Sudbury. In fact television coverage for the Montreal territory was so good that it covered most of Eastern Canada and even extended into southern Ontario.
Rikishi entered the promotion under the name Prince Alofa. At that time he was agile in the ring and often used high flying maneuvers throughout his matches. "It was a great opportunity," recalled Rikishi prior to a Crossfire Wrestling show in St. Catharines, Ontario. "At the time it was being run by Dino Bravo,Rick Martel, Eddie Creatchman, and I was there with my cousin Samu. As a young kid I was in there paying my dues in the territory."
When asked about his time in his first wrestling territory Rikishi felt thankful for the experience. "I really, really liked it in Montreal," said Rikishi. "It was a different vibe; I was working almost every night out there. I got to learn from the ground on up from the best of the best in the business."
A unique aspect of the Montreal territory was that the province of Quebec is a predominately French-speaking area and Rikishi was definitely not fluent in French. He smiled at the memory. "They knew some English and at the time I learned to speak a few French words out there," said Rikishi. "They were kind people. I was a babyface out there, a young kid, and adapted very well with the people out there."
The young Rikishi loved learning from other wrestlers while on the road heading to the next town. "I learned a lot from being on the road with guys like Dino Bravo, Rick Martel, the Creatchmans here in Canada," said Rikishi. "Just the way that they teach you about the way of the business, of how the business works. As a young kid we all learn. I find out that I learned a lot from those who paved the way in wrestling. It helped me out with my career."
After his run ended in Montreal Rikishi and his cousin Samu formed a tag team known as the SST or the Samoan Swat Team. The duo had a brief run in Puerto Rico before heading to Texas for World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). In Texas, Rikishi, then known as Fatu, and Samu were developing their style, timing and move set for their team. "You were working every day, doing TV, which taught us to be in front of a TV crowd, working the TV type of matches," recalled Rikishi. "We were more busy with Von Erichs, again Texas was a big territory. It was really our first time to be out there and be showcased worldwide."
The WCCW wrestling show was syndicated on ESPN and other outlets around the world. "We were really thankful for the opportunity there," said Rikishi. "Being in different territories was really a way for us to find any type of bookings. As a young kid you were just worried, your main concern was just getting booked. You took any bookings you could. It wasn't about the money, it was about us getting our name out there and paying your dues."
On December 13, 1988, the Samoan Swat Team was pegged to participate in their first pay per view, Super Clash 3 in Chicago, Illinois. The show was promoted by the AWA, and the last of the viable wrestling territories sent their stars to help boost the show. That night the SST defeated Michael Hayes and Steve Cox when Samu pinned Hayes.
While Rikishi recalled the event as another step on the road of his career he did not seemed overwhelmed by it. "With that deal there I was in Texas," said Rikishi. "During that time I got booked through the Von Erichs they were actually kinda working with that company the AWA. Anytime we came on their show it was through Texas out there, that's how that happened out there."
After Texas the Samoan Swat Team travelled to World Championship Wrestling and they came up against some stiff competition. Tag teams such as the Midnight Express, the Road Warriors, the Steiner Brothers, the Skyscrapers, and the Freebirds helped the young duo to elevate their game to a new level.
"It helped me out a lot with my career learning how to work with such different and great tag teams such as the Road Warriors taught us how to turn our game into powerhouses," said Rikishi. "When you're workin against the Steiner Brothers, there's a tag team that likes to work snug, tight. Sometimes shoot in there, but in a happy way. It turned our game to adapt to different styles. When you work with the Freebirds they are the entertainment of entertainment teams. Working with Michael Hayes, Buddy Roberts, and Terry Gordy; we learned so much from working with those guys there to adapt to being an entertainer. With the three different tag teams like that what I can take from that, my advice to teams out there is you learn to adapt to certain tag teams."
The veteran teams of WCW helped to mold the rising SST. Rikishi credits his opponents in those years as the ones who molded his young team. "We took a piece from every tag team and that helped find SST and the Headshrinkers and we utilized that with the training of our uncles Afa and Sika," said Rikishi. "Those were big shoes to fill, you know? With all that you kind of find your way. I was very grateful to learn from such great tag teams. Any time you work with great teams like that and even young teams coming up you are still learning. There are things like moves you see from a young team that you don't from teams that are established such as the Freebirds. There is always the little things that you can take from each tag team to be able to find yourself."
After leaving WCW in 1990, Rikishi travelled to the UWA in Mexico. Here was another chance to learn along the way and to wrestle some of the world's finest grapplers. "Early on in my career I used to go to Mexico," Rikishi reflected. "I was booked out there with the late, mighty Yokozuna, the late Owen Hart, the late Chris Benoit. So we come in to do two week tours at a time. They would bring the Samoans in and our last day they would bring in Chris Benoit and Owen Hart."
Them stink faces
was that rikishi ? 
