TSC Evaluation #64: Rikishi

mrken12 · Nov 15, 2017

In the last evaluation, Eddie Gilbert got a score of 7.36.

TSC Evaluation #63: Eddie Gilbert

If people have any requests for future wrestlers you want to see evaluated, let me know. I'll have one wrestler evaluated for each week every Wednesday. The leaderboard is updated every 5 threads so it's never too late to vote for previous threads.

For #65 it will be Ted DiBiase.

Pending requests: Jake The Snake Roberts, The Godfather, Stan Hansen, Christian Cage, Scott Hall, Alex Wright, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko, Dusty Rhodes, Chris Candido, Dolph Ziggler, Brutus Beefcake, Alundra Blayze

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Major Accomplishments

Portland Wrestling
Portland Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (1x)

Power Pro Wrestling (Memphis)
PPW Heavyweight Championship (1x)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Comeback of the Year (2000)
PWI ranked him 27 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2000
PWI ranked him 347 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003

Revolución Lucha Libre
Campeonato Internacional Absoluto (1x)

Universal Wrestling Association
UWA World Trios Championship (1x) – with Kokina Maximus and The Samoan Savage

World Class Wrestling Association
WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship (1x) – with Samu
WCWA World Tag Team Championship (3x) – with Samu

World Wrestling Council
WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship (1x) – with Samu

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment/WWE
WWF Intercontinental Championship (1x)
WWF/E World Tag Team Championship (2x) – with Samu (1) and Rico (1)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1x) – with Scotty 2 Hotty
WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2015)

Slammy Award (1x)
Best Etiquette (1994) – with Samu

With a scale of 1-10 how would you rate Rikishi in these categories:

-Mic work/promos

-Personality/gimmicks

-Ring work (along with some of your favorite matches/feuds)

-Overall rating (which doesn't have to be an average of the above scores)

Ed MOTHERFUCKING G · Nov 15, 2017

Eddie Gilbert > goldberg, barry windham, roddy piper

ok.

Ed MOTHERFUCKING G · Nov 15, 2017

Mic work/promos: D+ , he has some bad promos. One of the woat promos ever too....mic work was not the best of him

-Personality/gimmicks: A-, always got over as a headshrinker, as too cool, even the sultan was over to some level. Rikishi was very talented.

-Ring work (along with some of your favorite matches/feuds): B+, he was one of the most mobile big men ever. Vader and bam bam get credit for this, but rikishi was just as mobile. He was outstanding for getting over with the crowd by his ring work and crowd spots. Best feuds; headshrinkers vs steiner bros, his work vs a young cena was dope...and really he served as great fodder without him losing credibility in the 00s to hhh, rock, angle, austin, etc.

Overall - 7

mrken12 · Nov 15, 2017

-Mic work/promos: 4
His brief main event run exposed how average he was on the mic.

This promo actually was decent probably because it came from the heart. The subsequent promos however were poor.

-Personality/gimmicks: 6

He did OK with his early gimmicks but his breakthrough role was Rikishi. However his role was a fat Samoan wearing a thong rubbing his ass in people's faces. :scust:

As

as that gimmick was it made him one of the top midcard faces of the Attitude Era and was the sole reason why Too Cool became such a beloved group. Before Rikishi joined the group, Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor were goofy nobodies and they would have stayed that way. In fact Rikishi's success is the reason why that bum Scotty 2 Hotty was even considered for the NXT trainer position because on his own Scotty was destined to be a Sunday Night Heat jobber with no redeemable qualities.

My big problem was Rikishi's gimmick during his main event heel push. Usually heels are supposed to remove any "cool" or likable qualities about your character so that you can increase your chances of getting genuine heat. However, Rikishi still was wearing a thong and didn't make any major changes to his look.

As much as I hate on the Rikishi gimmick, it's noteworthy that he got the Stinkface over. :skip:

Who would have thought that a fat guy rubbing his ass in someone's face would get big pops? Back when I was a kid I enjoyed Too Cool like everyone else but looking back Rikishi did a lot of :dame:

things.

One of the most absurd moments was making out with Stephanie McMahon while in drag. I also disliked the Rikishi gimmick because it turned out to be the precursor for the Kiss My Ass Club. :scusthov:

-Ring work (along with some of your favorite matches/feuds): 6
Matches/Feuds: vs The Rock, vs Stone Cold

A mobile super heavyweight wrestler who could sell pretty well. He had a great moveset with his Rikishi Driver and a nice Savate kick. However, when he had the chance to compete with main event talent most of his matches were just average. People compare his style to his brother Umaga but I liked Umaga a little bit more as a worker.

-Overall rating (which doesn't have to be an average of the above scores): 6

One of the top Attitude Era faces who had a memorable gimmick and longevity with the WWE. I don't think he was the right fit for the main event and I feel they could have used someone better for the "who ran over Stone Cold" storyline. But overall he had a solid career and brought us some entertainment.

Kunty McPhuck · Nov 15, 2017

Ed MOTHERfukkING G said:
Eddie Gilbert > goldberg, barry windham, roddy piper

ok.

He only got 11 votes and 1 of those was a troll one to counteract @Art Barr giving 10

Playaz Eyez · Nov 15, 2017

6. His peak was pretty short but was hugely popular during a top era in wrestling. Overcame a bunch of hokey dead-end gimmicks (Make A Difference Fatu :hhh:

The Sultan :martin:

) to become extremely over as Rikishi. Had it not been for his gradual ascent, Too Cool may not have also become as popular as they did. I think his best feud was obviously versus Val Venis. His dive off the cage was nice, and props to Val for taking it, cause there's no way to really safely take a cage splash from a 300+ pound man :mjlol:

They completely kills his steam turning him heel and having him be the guy that ran over Austin. One of the worst reveals in wrestling history, and Rikishi never recovered. He went back face awhile after teaming with Haku (that team probably should have been much more than fodder for Taker and Kane), but it just wasn't the same. Calling Rikishi and Scotty 2 Hotty 'Too Cool' just wasn't it. He had about half the amount of reaction from fans as he did in his run from late 99 to mid 2000. They should have never turned Rikishi, as he could have been a popular midcarder for years to come, but instead botched the rest of his career with that heel turn. He was over as shyt, had a cool moveset for his size, nice themes (still love his Bad Man heel theme), and could get his point across (even though pretty hokey). I feel about Rikishi kind of how I felt about Godfather, but just more favorable to Godfather. He could bump him up to an 8 for the Usos though, but a 6 is perfectly fine. Rikishi was more over during that 1 and a half here period of some guys right now.

mrken12 · Nov 15, 2017

I almost forgot about his great heel theme. :ehh:

Cartier Murphy · Nov 15, 2017

He was a lot like some of his other Attitude era alumni, he’d been floating around for years but it wasn’t till that era that he was able to put it all together. Before that his gimmicks were either un memorable or bad.
He deserves a lot of credit for getting Too Cool over, he was the backbone of that group. If it wasn’t for him they’d have still been Sunday Night Heat status like someone mentioned. Instead they turned into a very over act in one of the biggest booms the industry ever had.
What hurts his legacy is what should’ve ironically elevated him, in him being the guy who ran over Steve Austin. It was applaudable that they tried to elevate a new talent to the main event, but it was too left field and like @mrken12 said he still kept his signature look, which made it hard to take him seriously against your Rocks or Undertakers. His career was basically done after that despite hanging around a few years more.

I don’t remember any of his promos outside of The I did it for the Rock one, which I remember more for Rock mocking it:

His best match is probably the cage match with Val Venis. He had a cool move set but his matches overall weren’t memorable.

All in all he’s a 6. Solely off the fact he’s in one of my most watched/favorite matches ever, the Armageddon Hell in a Cell match, I almost bumped up the rating. If he had more matches I’d like to revisit I’d go higher.

In lieu for a bigger write up I’m gonna post a few gifs:

Waterproof · Nov 15, 2017

Headshrinker Fatu>>>>>>>>>>Rikishi

mrken12 · Nov 17, 2017

Rikishi vs The Rock, Survivor Series 2000

Rikishi vs Val Venis for the Intercontinental Title, Steel Cage Match, Fully Loaded 2000

TSC Evaluation #64: Rikishi

Overall Rating

1 (Awful)

2

3

4

5 (Average)

6

7

8

9

10 (Legendary)

More options

mrken12

Veteran

Ed MOTHERFUCKING G

Hail.

Ed MOTHERFUCKING G

Hail.

mrken12

Veteran

Kunty McPhuck

Scust Szn has Returned

Playaz Eyez

Veteran

mrken12

Veteran

Cartier Murphy

Apathy’s a Tragedy & Boredom is a Crime

Waterproof

Warrior Lifestyle

mrken12

Veteran