Usually, the victims of Rikishi’s Stinkface were horrified by the experience, but a former WWE star had the exact opposite reaction.
During a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Rico explained why he happily volunteered for the hilarious moment during a 2004 episode of WWE SmackDown.
The moment happened on the April 22, 2004 episode of SmackDown. Rikishi teamed with Scotty 2 Hotty against Charlie Haas and Rico. Near the end of the match, Rikishi was about to hit the Stinkface on Haas in the corner when Rico suddenly pulled Haas away and jumped into the spot himself, asking for the move on him. He even got some Chapstick from Miss Jackie and got ready for the Stinkface.
Rico says he wanted the Rikishi Stinkface to help get his WWE character over
During the podcast interview, Rico admitted the segment was designed to help get his flamboyant character over with the fans. He had recently introduced the gimmick on SmackDown and wanted to fully lean into the comedy side of it. The week before, Rico had already shocked fans by kissing Charlie Haas on live TV. This caused Haas to get distracted and lose by count-out. WWE wanted to keep building the character, and Rico knew he needed another memorable moment to keep fans talking.
“I’ve talked to Rikishi since then. He says, ‘That’s gone viral.’ What happened is, the week before I made my debut on SmackDown, and I kissed Charlie Haas right in the mouth, I’m talking a pucker, and he couldn’t get back in the ring, so he was counted out. Well, the next week, he was in line for the Tag Team Championship, and it was Rikishi and Scotty. Now I’m a face, those two are faces, and he’s a heel. So I relied a lot on Rikishi to figure this out, and we wanted to get the flamboyant over. So, one part before the stink face, Rikishi got tired of me fooling around, and he shot me off for a clothesline. I did a sunset flip on him. You know when he smacks his butt to sit on you. He smacked his butt. I reached up and I smacked his butt. He went, ‘Oh!’ He sold it like a million bucks, and went and tagged in Scotty. So now they’ve had enough,” Rico said.
That eventually led to the Stinkface moment.
Rico said the crowd first booed when he stopped Charlie Haas from taking the move. But once fans realized Rico actually wanted the Stinkface himself, the reaction completely changed.
“They don’t want me in the ring, and they’re beating up on Charlie Haas and Rikishi is going through his finish, and he puts Charlie in the corner, gives him the squash. Charlie starts to do this, and everybody knows. Rikishi walks to the center. Charlie falls. And I’m like, ‘Oh no, I can’t have him take a stink face. Oh!’ I jump down, and he gives us the turn, and I get Charlie by the leg, and I drag him out of the ring, and all of a sudden, a loud boo. I went, ‘Wait a minute’ to Jackie, and I jump in the ring, and I get into position, and then everybody went from boo to falling out of their seat. So then I stick my hand out to Jackie. She pulls some Chapstick out of her bra. I put it on, throw it up, and I go, ‘Come on!’ He goes, ‘Okay.’ And he gives me the stink face. I’m like, ‘Woo! Give me a cigarette or something,” Rico added.
Fans went from booing to laughing hysterically once they understood what was happening. Rico said he enjoyed the segment and still sees it as one of the best examples of his character work in WWE.
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