The New Rikishi

I would buy him as the Samoan SWAT Team or as the Headshrinkers gimmicks in a heartbeat those matches were entertaining and memorable to me. With my favorite being against the Steiners at WM IX. And I would buy his brother Tonga Kid but as Rikishi it is a very easy pass.

This is a really good point. I started watching in the '80s, but I'm not clamoring for a Jimmy Jack Funk or Iron Mike Sharpe. Conversely, I can see how X-pac deserves to be made, even though I'd personally prefer the 123 Kid.

I think it's a waste of a spot, as some have said. But then again the fact that we get flashbacks at all are ok with me! In think mid carders like Rikishi open the door to possibly more mid carders. I also think I can use the body for an Abdullah the Butcher custom!

And that right there is why I say no to Rikishi, because once he started going by Rikishi and using the stinkface all he became was a wrestling @$$ joke and not the worker he was prior.

I liken him to Santino now. Santino gets loud pops and is over during his matches and even I tend to enjoy his goofballness, but in no way on Gods green earth would I want to see 15-20 years from now a Legends/FB styled line where he is getting a figure over guys who actually were relevant to this era. (Punk, Orton, Cena, Bryan, etc)

For some reason Vince likes to try and turn proven wrestlers into jokes...
Would I want a Red Rooster or a Terry Taylor? I'd want a Terry Taylor. An NWA/70'd WWF or 80's Polka Dots? Aalthough Dusty is one of the few who overcame I'd still want an NWA/70's WWF Dusty first.

As for the Godfather like many things in the WWE at the time it was just a way of pushing the envelope as far as they could in hopes of getting the teenage-early 20's fans back with sex and bathroom humor. And yes some of it was funny. But there was no reason to have him be a "pimp" like character and call the woman "ho's" as a father of a daughter I just found that degrading to woman and not something I would have wanted her to see. They could have just been valets/cheerleader types who accompanied him to the ring, but they had to take it the extra step and make it like they were his property to trade away. To me that was just disrespectful as was the stinkface and HBK sticking the Canadian flag up his nostrils. None of that has/had a place in the wrestling I enjoy watching.

I don't buy ANY Attitude Era figs, but as they go I would choose Rikishi over almost anyone else during that time frame; definitely over the Outlaws, Val Venis, or any of the big Attitude people. Like the Godfather he was one guy I actually didn't mind watching, mostly because he made it pretty clear that he was having a great time out there. He always had a big smile, always laughing. That said I would still much rather have just about anyone from the 80's or early 90's than Rikishi. I guess I am saving some more money.

Check out KOTR 2000. Best night of his career. He looked like a million bucks.

Maybe I am missing something. I've seen KotR 2000 and nothing impressed me. Verse Benoit it was under 5 minutes where there was nothing impressive except getting up high enough for Benoit to get him over during the suplex.

Verse Val it was another 5-6 minute match that he just walked around had a couple high impact drops took a few bumps with the stairs.

And then verse Angle he took an Olympic slam...tried 2 stinkfaces and lost on a belly to belly off the second ropes (not the top like Ross says)

Other getting high enough up in the air for Benoit to pop his hips to get him over on a single belly to back suplex nothing about those matches were special. And the belly to back was done im his first 5 minutes in the ring. I expect every superstar that gets into the ring to be able to do that. So that wasn't impressive.

I guess that's where we have to disagree then. Because what I saw was an out of shape man working three 5-7 minute matches that weren't anything special/memorable.
And when I say "out of shape" it's not because he's fat, but rather I mean he really looked to be laboring though the matches like Andre at the end of his career.

I'm sorry but as the Rikishi gimmick it is a waste. Rikishi might have been his most famous gimmick, but like I said above it was for the wrong reason. It wasn't because of his ring work it was because of the size of his @$$. That is what they turned him into once he became Rikishi and used the stinkface. He because a joke where every match JR and the King would make some derogatory comment about his @$$ and the stinkface. If it was as a Headshrinker or Samoan SWAT team the figure would have been so much better. But I don't want a figure of a gimmick that's claim to fame is shoving his @$$ into his opponents faces. That to me is a joke. But to each his own and I am glad for those that do want him.

I will say this though. I plan on passing on it because it's the Rikishi gimmick and if he's not a 1 per 2 case figure and T0y W1Z doesn't grab them all off the pegs of my area stores like they do with the other FB's and "popular" items I see big Rikishi warming longer then the Elite Fit Finlay did.