The High Five: 5 Greatest WWE Mid-Carders – Pt. 1: Attitude Era

4. Rikishi

The very first pay-per-view I ever went to was Fully Loaded (2000) in Dallas, TX. During that event, Rikishi took on the reigning champ Val Venis inside of a steel cage for the Intercontinental Championship. While Val walked away that day the victor, I saw something that will forever be etched into my mind. Rikishi climbed to the top of the steel cage and, after a moment of consideration for the devastation he was about to cause, performed a diving splash onto a prone Val Venis.

All 400+ lbs. of Samoan fury crashed down on the ‘Big Valboski’, flattening the WWE‘s resident ladies man. Little 15 year old me leaped from my seat and marked-out like a teenage girl watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

Go back even further and Rikishi was at the very first pay-per-view I ever saw on television, the dreaded WrestleMania IX. When Rikishi first appeared in the WWF it was as the Headshrinker Fatu. The Headshrinkers were frightening to me as a child. Think two Umaga’s with less verbal skills and skulls harder than AP Physics.

Later, Rikishi would be repacked with his trademark sumo wrestler gear in 1999. The big man was devastating on his own and could always be counted on as a credible threat to any opponent. Eventually, he paired with Too Cool and the softer side of the big man came out.

However, getting Rikishi to bust a move did nothing to lessen his status as a badass. He was able to work that side into his character without becoming a joke. Rikishi had serious in-ring talent, was willing to take risks, and could work like a man half his size. Plus the big guy gave us the Usos and Stink Faces. What’s not to love?

• fully loaded
• High 5
• kaientai
• Attitude Era
• intercontinental championship
• kama
• Cruiserweight
• mid-card
• WCW
• Goldust
• papa shango
• right to censor
• Rikishi
• ryan shamrock
• Trending
• tajiri
• Triple H
• radicalz
• terri runnels
• the godfather
• william regal
• val venis
• wrestlemania 9
• charles wright
• dean malenko
• bret hart
• Goldberg
• shawn michaels
• Ric Flair
• ken shamrock
• nxt
• wwe

Share this article with friends