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Post by Turnbuckle Zealot(Phil) on Jan 9, 2019 1:28:17 GMT -5
Yesterday I decided to peruse the recently released Royal Rumble collection on WWE Network and stumbled upon the 2004 Royal Rumble. Something I hadn't watched since 2006 through grainy youtube footage. I turned it on because my best friend(& recent wrestling convert) was curious about what the match was like. As my friend and I watched the match, he saw Rikishi for the first time. He was astonished by the sheer size but was curious about his character. It was then I realized that in my whole life I had never bothered to question why a man named RIKISHI, the Japanese name for Sumo Wrestlers, and who were a tradition mawashi without anything underneath, literally did NOTHING else reminiscent of a sumo wrestler and they never presented him as such. He was always just "Rikishi."
Rikishi was a solid superheavyweight wrestler and filled an important role during his time in the WWF/E in terms of being a decent mid-carder/gatekeeper who could serve several purposes for WWE's booking. That being said, there was literally nothing about Solofa Fatu's presentation other than name and attire that had ANYTHING to do with being a sumo wrestler or knowing ANYTHING about the practice.
This got me thinking about if there were any other wrestlers that essentially didn't portray the gimmick they were supposed to have.
I propose the term "Paper Veil Gimmick" to describe this.
The problem is I can't think of anyone off the top of my head that was booked this way in recent memory.
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Post by TheSystem 1.5 on Jan 9, 2019 2:11:12 GMT -5
Chyna wasn’t Asian
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nibs92
Main Eventer
Joined on: May 29, 2008 5:47:21 GMT -5
Posts: 2,357
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Post by nibs92 on Jan 9, 2019 2:54:54 GMT -5
I had no idea that Rikishi was the name for sumo wrestlers. I guess someone in creative thought that at his size, he had a resemblance to a sumo wrestler so named him so.
At the end of the day it’s just a name. I doubt Brutus Beefcake did a two year hairdressing apprenticeship and came down to the ring with garden shears, that has nothing to do with being a barber.
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Post by TKO Propagandist on Jan 9, 2019 4:24:14 GMT -5
Yokozuno
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Post by The Brain on Jan 9, 2019 12:32:04 GMT -5
Or as Fuji called em ''Yokozuma'' |
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Post by Gorilla on Jan 9, 2019 14:15:52 GMT -5
One of the Orient Express was white, the guy with the mask.
Roddy Piper is Canadian.
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Post by The Brain on Jan 9, 2019 14:25:02 GMT -5
One of the Orient Express was white, the guy with the mask. Roddy Piper is Canadian. Kato. In this pic you can clearly see he's not Japanese
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Post by Fighter Hayabusa on Jan 9, 2019 15:35:49 GMT -5
I wanna say the plan was for him to have a sumo gimmick but he joined up with Too Cool shortly after debuting the new gimmick and that was dropped because the dancing fat man gimmick got over immediately.
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Post by Gorilla on Jan 9, 2019 18:57:36 GMT -5
One of the Orient Express was white, the guy with the mask. Roddy Piper is Canadian. Kato. In this pic you can clearly see he's not Japanese
I imagine Kato was an English teacher in Japan, and he eventually married a Japanese woman, learned Japanese and took the name Kato. That's a good back story to explain this haha |
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Deleted
Joined on: Nov 29, 2024 7:34:02 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2019 20:53:14 GMT -5
he did sumo stuff like his character portrayed! |
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Post by Midnight: Dark Knight on Jan 9, 2019 21:22:11 GMT -5
Kato. In this pic you can clearly see he's not Japanese
I imagine Kato was an English teacher in Japan, and he eventually married a Japanese woman, learned Japanese and took the name Kato. That's a good back story to explain this haha Or it was simply paul diamond in a mask teaming with his long time partner pat tanaka, but couldnt be called badd company in the WWF lol. I actually enjoyed this duo of the orient express and know they would have never gotten over as badd company. And damn the chemistry they had with the rockers was like they had battled many times before! |
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Post by LA Times on Jan 9, 2019 21:27:13 GMT -5
I wanna say the plan was for him to have a sumo gimmick but he joined up with Too Cool shortly after debuting the new gimmick and that was dropped because the dancing fat man gimmick got over immediately. And it was the same gimmick as Make a Difference Fatu. The only difference was that he was showing his ass off in a thong. |
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Post by figurecollector on Jan 9, 2019 21:39:35 GMT -5
Similar to Paul Diamond as Kato was Jamie Noble as a part of Jung Dragons in WCW as Jamie-San.
Noble has had other interesting things in his career other than being a flunkie. He was Bryan Danielson's tag partner in ROH and also was World Champion in ROH, if you can believe that winning the title in a 4 way elimination match over C. M. Punk, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels. Talk about an upset winner!
And what about the Repo Man? Anyone ever see him actually repo a car?
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Post by Turnbuckle Zealot(Phil) on Jan 9, 2019 23:18:21 GMT -5
One of the Orient Express was white, the guy with the mask. Roddy Piper is Canadian. Roddy was more of a Scott than Robert the Bruce and saying different is an insult to him. He knew how to play the Bag Pipes, and furthermore, the name came about by accident, which is very different from a creative team fabricating your character. |
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Post by The Brain on Jan 9, 2019 23:42:13 GMT -5
Similar to Paul Diamond as Kato was Jamie Noble as a part of Jung Dragons in WCW as Jamie-San. Noble has had other interesting things in his career other than being a flunkie. He was Bryan Danielson's tag partner in ROH and also was World Champion in ROH, if you can believe that winning the title in a 4 way elimination match over C. M. Punk, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels. Talk about an upset winner! And what about the Repo Man? Anyone ever see him actually repo a car? |
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Post by TKO Propagandist on Jan 10, 2019 4:51:28 GMT -5
he did sumo stuff like his character portrayed! He was Samoan |
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Post by PJ on Jan 10, 2019 9:47:07 GMT -5
You are missing the most important one... Ricky ”The Dragon” Steamboat. He wasn’t a dragon he was a man!  |
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Post by Turnbuckle Zealot(Phil) on Jan 10, 2019 10:10:14 GMT -5
You are missing the most important one... Ricky ”The Dragon” Steamboat. He wasn’t a dragon he was a man! Real Talk, he could have capitalized on that moniker for some more colorful expressions during interviews. This forum is nothing but goofballs, I swear. |
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Post by Deep Figure Value on Jan 10, 2019 10:27:15 GMT -5
I think something in line with the name was originally planned for Rikishi when he was first repackaged. I'd have to double back and watch the brief period of time prior to his alliance with Too Cool, but I recall his demeanor being silent and stoic, which at least lends itself to that direction. I remember Too Cool as a trio being something as a build, where Brian and Scott slowly whittled away at his firm exterior before finally breaking him into the dance routine and such. Even his name followed the sort of evolutionary burn, going from Rikishi Fatu, to Rikishi Phatu, to eventually just Rikishi.
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Post by JokerFC on Jan 10, 2019 20:32:44 GMT -5
Interesting thread....
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I dont know good luck 
