AEW star Matt Hardy spoke about receiving a Stinkface from Rikishi and said that in his case, the experience was "delightful."
Rikishi was one of the more interesting characters to come out of WWE during the Attitude Era. While he did have earlier stints as Fatu and The Sultan, the Rikishi character solidified his WWE legacy. Moreover, his maneuver, the Stinkface, became iconic in its own right.
On his podcast The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy, he described the experience of being on the receiving end of the maneuver, which he said was up to Rikishi:
“I'll be honest. The very first time I took a stinkface, I was like, 'Oh My God, what's this going to be like?' It smelled like baby powder. Rikishi, if you were a guy he liked, he'd make sure to be super clean for you. It was like baby powder. It was actually very easy and not rough at all; it was delightful even.”
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Matt Hardy implied that the experience changed depending on whether Rikishi liked you or not. It boggles the mind to think what would have happened if he didn't like you. That individual might have gotten more than they bargained for.
How many championships did Rikishi win?
As noted earlier, Rikishi was at the height of his popularity during the Attitude Era. Rikishi became a three-time WWE World Tag Team Champion and one-time WWE Intercontinental Champion. But titles don't do justice to the run he enjoyed.
He was primarily associated with Too Cool, swooning audiences with ridiculous post-match dancing, which made him more popular. As his popularity grew, Rikishi was pushed to the main event scene. He was revealed as the man who ran down Stone Cold Steve Austin, resulting in a memorable feud between the two stars. While Rikishi never came close to a world title run, his popularity was immense.
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