profile

Solofa Fatu, Jr.


Statistics
Ring name(s)	Fatu The Sultan Phatu Alofa the Polynesian Prince Rikishi Rikishi Phatu Kishi
Billed height	6 ft 0 in (180 cm)
Billed weight	400 lb (182 kg)
Born	October 11, 1965 San Francisco, California
Trained by	Afa Anoa'i Sika Anoa'i
Debut	1985

Solofa Fatu, Jr. (born October 11, 1965), is an American professional wrestler who worked for World Wrestling Entertainment between 1992 and 2004. He is best known under the name Rikishi, although recent legal proceedings have forced him to shorten his ring name to Kishi.

Career

Fatu is a member of the extensive Samoan Anoa'i wrestling family, and the nephew of The Wild Samoans, Afa and Sika, who trained him in the 1980s. He is the younger brother of The Tonga Kid, who was part of The Islanders, a tag team with Haku in the WWF. Fatu teamed with his cousin Samu, the son of Afa, as The Samoan Swat Team. The Swat Team wrestled mainly in the south, winning titles in the Dallas-based World Class Wrestling Association. Also, he appeared in the movie/documentary "101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler".

In 1989 the Swat Team was hired by the National Wrestling Alliance. The Tonga Kid, now wrestling as Tama, was added to the Swat Team later that year. After a year with the NWA, the Swat Team left the promotion in 1990.

The duo was hired by the World Wrestling Federation in 1992, where they were known as The Headshrinkers winning the WWF World Tag Team Championship once. At the 1994 Royal Rumble, Fatu was one of the heels who helped his cousin Yokozuna defeat The Undertaker in a Casket Match. In 1994, Samu left the WWF and was replaced by Sione "The Barbarian" Vailahi.

After spending over a decade as one half of a tag team, Fatu became a singles wrestler in 1995. He wrestled under several unmemorable gimmicks, including Phatu, The Sultan and Alofa the Polynesian Prince before reappearing in late 1999 as Rikishi (literally, "strong man") Phatu, which was eventually shortened to just Rikishi. He had gained a great deal of weight, bleached his hair blonde and exchanged his long trousers for a revealing thong. The Rikishi character had a brief feud with Viscera before aligning with Too Cool, which consited of Grandmaster Sexay and Scotty Too Hotty. It was at this point that Rikishi's popularity began to soar.

Scotty Too Hotty, Rikishi and Grandmaster Sexay

During the 2000 Royal Rumble, Rikishi eliminated six opponents in the Royal Rumble match. Then he got eliminated by several wrestlers working together. Rikishi, Too Cool and Chyna began feuding with The Radicalz, with Chyna eventually siding with Eddie Guerrero. At WrestleMania 2000, Rikishi and Kane defeated "The Road Dogg" Jesse James and X-Pac. After the match, Pete Rose (following a distraction by The San Diego Chicken) ran into the ring to attack Kane, but was chokeslammed by Kane and given a Stinkface by Rikishi.

In May 2000, Rikishi and Too Cool feuded with Edge, Christian and Kurt Angle (Team ECK), culminating in a victory at Judgment Day. After winning the Intercontinental Championship on the June 20 episode of SmackDown! from Chris Benoit, Rikishi would go on to qualify for the 2000 King of the Ring tournament. On June 25 he defeated Benoit and Val Venis in the quarter- and semi-finals respectively, but both his opponents hit him with a steel chair after losing, weakening his shoulder and helping Kurt Angle defeat him in the Finals.

Stemming from Venis' attack at King of the Ring, Rikishi faced Val Venis on July 6, and lost his title after Tazz hit him with a television camera. Rikishi faced Val Venis in a Steel Cage rematch at Fully Loaded. In the course of the match, Rikishi ascended the cage and, in a move reminiscent of his uncle Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, leapt from the top, splashing Venis. Rikishi was defeated by Venis shortly after when Tazz once again hit him with a boom box.

For the next few months Rikishi would attempt to regain the Intercontinental Championship. At Unforgiven, he was defeated by champion Eddie Guerrero. Rikishi was disqualified when, frustrated by her repeated interference, he superkicked Chyna. This foreshadowed the revival of a darker side of his character.

On October 9, 2000, Commissioner Mick Foley used a slip of the tongue from Scotty Too Hotty to implicate Rikishi as the person who had run over Stone Cold Steve Austin at Survivor Series. Rikishi admitted injuring Austin, claiming that he had done so in order to allow his cousin The Rock to achieve stardom, insisting that Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Hulk Hogan and Austin - "The Great White Hope" - had always pushed over Samoan performers such as High Chief Peter Maivia and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, who he believed had been held back.

Austin immediately set out to obtain revenge, facing Rikishi in a No Holds Barred Match at No Mercy. The match went to a no contest when Austin dragged Rikishi to the parking lot and attempted to run him over, but a police car drove in front of Austin's car, saving Rikishi. Though Austin was arrested, he had badly injured Rikishi, inflicting numerous cuts and bruises to his face. Later that night, Rikishi attempted to help The Rock retain the WWF Championship in a match against Kurt Angle, but "accidentally" kicked and crushed The Rock, allowing Angle to Olympic Slam both men and win the title.

After a number of instances where Austin was attacked backstage by an unseen assailant, it became clear that Rikishi had an accomplice. During a handicap match pitting Rikishi and Kurt Angle against Austin, Triple H came to the ring, seemingly to aid Austin, but swerved the audience by attacking Austin with a sledgehammer. This led to Triple H revealing that he had masterminded the assault, relegating Rikishi to his hired muscle. Rikishi would never reclaim the popularity he enjoyed throughout his initial run as Rikishi.

Rikishi would go on to lose to The Rock at Survivor Series. Then he participated in the six-man Hell in a Cell match at Armageddon 2000 for the WWF Championship, in which he was chokeslammed from the top of the cell by the Undertaker. Later on, he won a match entitling him to enter the 2001 Royal Rumble at number 30. He was eliminated by The Rock in the Royal Rumble.

After the return of Haku at the 2001 Royal Rumble, Rikishi and Haku formed a tag team, and feuded with Kane and The Undertaker. The team split when Rikishi was sidelined with an eardrum injury, and Haku was later released. Rikishi returned from injury on May 7, 2001 and was urged by Foley to become a good guy again. He wrestled for several weeks before suffering a shoulder injury which caused him to miss much of 2001.

Rikishi returned on December 6, delivering a Stinkface to Vince McMahon. The reason for this being was that the week before The Rock and Trish Stratus were in a match against Kurt Angle and Vince McMahon. The stipulation was that if The Rock lost, he would have to kiss McMahon's ass and if The Rock won, Vince would have to kiss his ass. The Rock would decide McMahon would have to kiss someone elses ass, he would first introduce Jim Ross, then Trish Stratus but finally he would call out Rikishi and shove McMahon's face into Rikishi's ass.

Upon the WWE Brand Extension, Rikishi was drafted to SmackDown!. At Judgment Day 2002, he faced Billy and Chuck in a "secret partner" match. His partner turned out to be Rico, Billy and Chuck's stylist. Despite Rico's best efforts to unfairly help Billy and Chuck, Rikishi and he won the match and became the Tag Team Champions.

Rikishi was not featured much in late 2002 and early-2003. He feuded with John Cena, Bill DeMott and the Full Blooded Italians on Smackdown. The return of "Rowdy" Roddy Piper led Rikishi to challenge him as Piper had hit Rikishi's uncle Jimmy Snuka with a coconut years ago on Piper's Pit. At Backlash 2003, Piper's protege Sean O'Haire defeated Rikishi after Piper got hit with a coconut by Rikishi giving O'Haire time to hit the Widowmaker on Rikishi.

Rikishi eventually formed a tag team with Scotty 2 Hotty, and the duo defeated the Basham Brothers for the WWE Tag Team Championship on February 5, 2004, holding them for two and a half months before losing them to Charlie Haas and Rico.

Rikishi was released by the WWE on July 16, 2004, following repeated requests from the WWE that he lose weight. He continues to wrestle on the independent circuit. In the course of his twelve year career with the WWF/WWE, he competed in ten Royal Rumbles, eliminating a total of twelve other wrestlers.

In October 2005, Fatu shortened his ring name to Kishi after being notified by WWE legal representatives that WWE owned a trademark on the name "Rikishi". Fatu as Kishi would go on to operate Nu-Wrestling Evolution, a professional wrestling promotion based in Italy. Fatu would be involved in an angle with Scott Steiner and Vampiro that would see Kishi suffer a (kayfabe) concussion that would keep Kishi out of in-ring competition forever. After this, Kishi's character would be used as an on-screen commissioner only.

Personal life

Before becoming a wrestler Fatu was involved in a near fatal drive-by shooting and ended up being shot in the stomach twice while in his car, resulting in his heart stopping for 3 minutes at the hospital before doctors got it going again. The shooting has left him with a large scar going up his mid-section.

Fatu is married and has 5 children, 1 girl and 4 boys, with wife Talisua. He is the brother of Eddie Fatu (Umaga/Jamal) and Sam Fatu (Tonga Kid) and is also the real life cousin of The Rock and Yokozuna.

Fatu was arrested by U.S. Marshals on September 25, 2006 in Escambia County, Florida while enroute to his home in Pensacola, Florida, for failing to appear at a court hearing in America during a time when he was touring with NWE in Italy. Fatu was remanded to Escambia County Jail until his hearing in federal court. [1]