10 Wrestlers Who Became Successful After Getting Repackaged

9. Rikishi

A member of the prolific Anoa€™I wrestling family, Solofa Fatu worked under three different gimmicks in WWF before settling with something that worked. His first was as one half of the Headshrinkers, where he enjoyed some success, including a tag title reign alongside Samu. After he left, Fatu was joined by Sione (who was once The Barbarian) as the New Headshrinkers, but that didn€™t last too long either. From there, Fatu went through two singles gimmicks that really didn€™t work. His first was as €˜Make A Difference€™ Fatu, which revealed that he grew up in America and experienced a rough childhood, including his getting shot in a drive-by shooting. The angle was shortly dropped, and Fatu was given what was ostensibly one of the last gimmicks of the €˜cartoon era€™: The Sultan, a masked wrestler who never spoke, due to him allegedly having his tongue cut out, and was managed by Bob Backlund and The Iron Sheik. His only prominent match was a loss to The Rock at WrestleMania 13. It is his next and final gimmick that people remember Fatu for: Rikishi. Putting on a lot of weight, bleaching his hair blonde, and wearing a thong loincloth, Rikishi became famous for his involvement with Too Cool, eventually becoming a regular in their post-match dance routine. Somehow, the sight of a fat man in a thong dancing surprisingly well was very popular with the fans, making Rikishi one of the fans€™ favorite wrestlers of the late 1990s and early 200s. Ironically, this might have been the logic behind the creation of Tons of Funk, which was popular with very few fans. Rikishi also became popular for his €˜Stinkface€™ signature move, which, while not an effective wrestling move, is still embarrassing and hilarious at the same time. This was used to great effect, as fans loved to watch the villains of WWF, especially Vince McMahon, get humiliated by Rikishi. It is for these reasons that he is remembered more for being Rikishi than for his other gimmicks.