Rikishi reveals how close he came to becoming WWE Champion during the Attitude Era
WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi recently discussed his run in the promotion during an interview. Rikishi's sons, Jey and Jimmy Uso, are currently continuing his legacy.
During an appearance on the WrestleSlam podcast, Rikishi was asked whether there were ever plans for him to win the WWE Championship. Rikishi revealed that he came close to winning the world title during the Attitude Era, during his push as a heel. While it did not end up panning out, Rikishi said that he was still very satisfied with everything he achieved during his illustrious career:
"You know what, that’s one thing that was always on my bucket list, if you’re in this industry and you don’t have your eyes set on the big prize, then I don’t know why you’re in it. It might take you one year, ten, fifteen years. But, that for me was one of my biggest things, to have an opportunity to be WWE Champion and I won’t go into details but it could have happened during that time in the Attitude Era with the ya know, I did it for The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin blah, blah, blah, but business-wise, things didn’t pan out for me and that’s how that kinda came about, and at the end of the day I’ve gotta do what’s best for my family and wrestling will always be here and it was just bad timing during all that time, but I’m okay. I’m a WWE Hall of Famer, and that’s as big as that." H/T: eWrestlingNews
A quick look at Rikishi's WWE career
Rikishi made his WWE debut as Fatu in the early '90s as a part of the Headshrinkers tag-team along with Samu. The duo won the World Tag-Team Championships on one occasion.
After a couple of unsuccessful repackagings, he returned to WWE as Rikishi in 1999. He had a very successful run, including being a fan favorite as a part of Too Cool. He won two more tag titles as well as the Intercontinental Championship but never won a world title. Rikishi entered the WWE Hall of Fame as part of the WWE class of 2015.
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