Rikishi Recalls WWE Hall Of Famer Taking The First Stinkface

In a new interview with The Domenick Nati Show, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi looked back at his career and discussed his infamous 'Stinkface' maneuver. For those who may be unfamiliar, Rikishi would take advantage of an opponent being incapacitated in the corner of the ring, hike up his trunks, and rub his backside all over their face.

But there was actually another WWE Superstar that helped Rikishi come up with the idea on the fly.

"Big Boss Man. For those who don't remember, he's back in the 80s. Big Boss Man was actually the one that kinda, you know, helped me form that move, the Stinkface. Yeah, well, we had a show in Mobile, Alabama. How many times, do we all see somebody clothesline somebody? The person takes a bump, and then, you know, that was it. Well, he took the bump and when he took the bump, he took a bump in the corner and fell down. And then all of a sudden, I didn't see him fall down.

"This was a house show, meaning no cameras," Rikishi continued. "And then Mobile, Alabama, you know, it's country folks out there. And all I can hear I think, 'Rikishi, turn around and stick your butt in his face.' And I was looking down because 15,000 people, I'm looking around like this, trying to find out who the hell is that old lady's voice from? Where is she? And as I turned around, I see Big Boss Man, bless his heart. Ray Traylor, he's sitting there in the Stinkface position and in this business, Dom, we work off what is called a pop. A pop, meaning you hear the crowd erupt, and so, I turned and I looked at him and he's sitting in position.

"I took the first step, as I took the first step, you can hear the crowd. The voices start to get higher," he recalled. "I took the second step, it was getting louder. The third step. By the time I got to him, it was probably the loudest pop I've ever heard in my career and I've been in it for well over 20 something years. And when I turned around, keep in mind I've got a thong, everybody knows Rikishi wears a thong, and when I turned around — and we've never tried this move before, I didn't know what I was going to do. As soon as I turned around, I sh-t you not, Dom, it was like an eruption of a volcano [from the fans]."

Though he was his opponent at the time and would suffer the original, improvised stinkface, Big Boss Man encouraged Rikishi to lay the move in. The crowd reacted in such a positive manner that it was immediately decided they put the Stinkface on television.

"We've got them now, baby. We've got them now. Go ahead and stick that butt in my face.,' Rikishi recalled the Big Boss Man saying. "I'm just sweaty and we've been wrestling for like 15 minutes. I don't know how I smell back there, you know? I go to sit on him, man and I'm telling you, it was the loudest. It was time for us to go home. I owe a lot of money to Ray Traylor for taking the first Stinkface. That was on Sunday, so the agents called up Vince McMahon and gave him a heads up. 'Hey, you know, 'Kishi just did this move here, it was the loudest boom and people enjoyed it. They went crazy.' The next thing you know, it was introduced on Monday Night RAW, live TV, and the rest was history."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit The Domenick Nati Show with an h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.