Profiles_Rikishi

Rikishi Phatu comes from a long line of wrestling stars of Samoan descent. He is the brother
of the Tonga Kid, the nephew of the legendary Afa the Wild Samoan, and the cousin of the
likes of Samu, Yokozuna and The Rock. He gained his first wrestling notoriety at an early age
when he began wrestling for the Montreal-based International Wrestling under the name of
Alofa The Polynesian Prince in 1986. Alofa wrestled in various parts of Canada at this time,
and held the International Wrestling Television Title for a time.

It was in tag team competition that Phatu enjoyed the most success. He teamed with his
brother the Tonga Kid on the indy cicuit (known as the islanders) and entered WCW as Fatu
along with the Tonga Kid and Samu to form the Samoan Swat Team (SST). Samu and Fatu
in particular formed a phenomenal team, and captured the Texas-based World Class tag team
titles a record four times.

In 1992 Fatu and Samu made their way to the WWF under the name of the Headshrinkers,
along with Captain Lou Albano and Fatu's uncle (and Samu's father) Afa. The two were
extremely successful winning the WWF tag team titles on more than one occasion. Samu
left the WWF and was replaced in the Headshrinkers briefly by Seone, better known as the
Barbarian.

In late 1996, after a few years break, Fatu returned to the WWF in singles action. This time
he donned a mask, had bob Backlund and the Iron Sheik as his handlers, and portrayed the
Iranian character, the Sultan. The Sultan's biggest achievement was earning a shot at the
Intercontinental title at Wrestlemania 13 against his cousin, The Rock. The Sultan was
unsuccessful in his attempt and left the WWF again before the end of 1997. For the next
two years, Fatu primarily worked the independent circuit and trained in preparation for a
WWF return. And return he did in late 1999 as Rikishi Phatu. Almost immediately he
showed a striking resemblance to his cousin Yokozuna. He also quickly formed a partnership
with Too Cool (Scott Taylor and Brian Christopher). The three became a popular WWF
attraction, especially with their post-match ritual of dancing in the ring. Rikishi also became
known for his wrestling, including an awesome standing piledriver, the stink face and
reminiscent of Yokozuna, the butt drop.