Solofa Fatu Junior (born October 11, 1965, San Francisco, California, United States) is an American professional wrestler, best known under the ring names Rikishi and Fatu with the WWE. During his time there, he won the Intercontinental Championship once, the WWE Tag Team Championships once and the World Tag Team Championships twice. He is a member of the Anoa’i family of Samoan wrestlers. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his sons, wrestlers Jey and Jimmy Uso, in 2015.
Beginnings
Rikishi was born in San Francisco to Solofa Fatu Senior and Elevera Anoa’i Fatu and grew up in the Sunnydale Projects in the Visitacion Valley neighbourhood, where his maternal grandparents were preachers. He attended Balboa High School and competed on the wrestling team. In 1982, when he was seventeen years old, Rikishi was wounded in a drive-by shooting that left him with a scar on his abdomen. He claimed in a 2021 interview that he had died for three minutes in the emergency room before being revived. He spent two months in the hospital, after which his mother, fearing for his safety, sent him out of state to live with her brothers Afa and Sika Anoa’i, with whom he trained to become a professional wrestler.
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Rikishi in WWE
Rikishi joined the WWE in 1992 alongside Samu and formed a team known as The Headshrinkers. They feuded with the team known as Natural Disasters after they interfered in the latter’s match against Money Inc for the World Tag Team Championship. They won the tag team championship on an episode of Monday Night RAW which they successfully defended against Yokozuna and Crush at King of the Ring. Their title reign ended at a house show to Shawn Michaels and Diesel on August 28. This happened a day before they were scheduled to defend against Irwin R. Schyster and Bam Bam Bigelow at SummerSlam.
Who is Rikishi’s wife?
Rikishi marred Talisua Fuavai-Fatu and together they have five children. Joshua Samuel, Jonathan Solofa, Jeremiah Peniata, Thavana Monalisa, and Joseph. Joshua Samuel and Jonathan Solofa currently wrestle for WWE as Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso, while Joseph currently wrestles for NXT 2.0 as Solo Sikoa. Rikishi is a member of the Anoa’i family, which has had a presence in professional wrestling since the mid-twentieth century. He is the twin brother of Sam “Tonga Kid” Fatu and the older brother of the late Eddie “Umaga” Fatu.
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