Rikishi‘s Stinkface is one of the most fan-favorite signature moves in all of professional wrestling, and it turns out that he had some help in creating it from another WWE legend.
WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi recently appeared on the Domenick Nati Show and talked about how he performed the infamous “Stinkface” on his opponents. Rikishi credited fellow Hall of Famer, The Big Boss Man, who suggested the Stinkface whilst the two were competing at a house show in Mobile, Alabama.
“I think some of the guys felt kind of weird having a man’s ass in their face live on national TV but hey, the beef wasn’t with me, the beef was with Vince McMahon. He’s the one who calls the shots for it and I wasn’t complaining because I was getting paid to stick my ass in people’s faces. I’m 60-years old [now] and that’s one thing in wrestling, you gotta find a move that sticks for you and that isn’t gonna hurt you,” he explained, “so I came up with the Stinkface, ya know, my man Big Bossman, back in the 80s, he was the one who actually helped me kind of form the Stinkface.
“We had a show in Mobile, Alabama and he’s like, how many times are we gonna see someone clothesline somebody and take a bump? But he took a bump and fell down and all of a sudden, I didn’t see him fall down and this was a live event, so no cameras and in Mobile, Alabama, it’s all country folks out there and kept yelling ‘hey, turn around and stick your butt in his face!’ I’m looking around at 15,000 people, and I’m trying to find out where this old lady’s voice is coming from and as I turn around, I see Big Boss Man, bless his heart and he’s sitting there in the Stinkface position and in this position, we work for this thing called a pop and to hear the crowd erupt. So, I turn around and he gets in position, I take the first step, as I took the first step, you can hear the crowd and their voice starts to get louder,” he noted, “I took the second step, it was getting louder and with the third step…by the time I got to him, it was probably the loudest pop I’ve ever heard in my career and I’ve been in it for 20-something years.
“When I turned around — and keep in mind that Rikishi wears a thong — when I turned around, mind you we’ve never tried this before, I didn’t know what I was gonna do,” Rikishi explained, “and as soon as I turned around, I shit you not, it was like the eruption of a volcano and all I can hear is Big Bossman ‘we got ‘em now, baby! We got ‘em now! Go stick that butt in my face!’ I’m just sweaty and we’ve been wrestling for 15-minutes and I don’t know how I smell back there and I go to sit in him and it was the loudest pop, it was time for us to go home. I owe a lot of money to Ray Traylor [Big Boss Man] for that.”
During the interview, Rikishi also mentioned a certain Viper when asked about who’d like to face if he were still an active in-ring competitor.
“I think Rikishi would be able to have a good match with Randy Orton, The Viper. I think that would sell tickets, WrestleMania’s going to be in Los Angeles, next year, I believe that will probably be something where the Samoan dynasty will hit, maybe even Dwayne Johnson will hit there,” he pointed out. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they hollered for all of us to hit the ring in Los Angeles.”
Related: Matt Hardy Recalls Taking A Stinkface From Rikishi, Says Was Very Easy And Smelled Like Baby Powder
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