10 WWE Superstars you never knew once played very different characters

#5 Fatu, Rikishi, and The Sultan

Rikishi, and Rikishi as you may not know him...

The man most people know as Rikishi will likely only really remember him as the fun-loving, dancing member of Too Cool who jived his way into the hearts and minds of many fans in the early 2000s.

What many people may not know is that the man had already established quite the body of work for himself during a lengthy WWE career, having debuted in 1992 as one half of the tag team The Headshrinkers. Former Tag Team Champions, Fatu and Samu gnawed their way through all of the competition as one of the top teams in the division, particularly throughout 1993 and 1995. After a brief, unsuccessful singles run, he was repackaged quite dramatically, returning to WWE screens as The Sultan in late 1996; a masked wrestler who spoke only through his devastating in-ring abilities owing to the fact that his character's tongue had been cut out. This run was also brief, but did include a memorable outing at WrestleMania 13 in 1997, where he came up short in his quest to win the Intercontinental Championship from the man who was soon to become The Rock.

By 1999 he was back again, reestablishing himself as Rikishi Phatu. He was carrying considerably more weight, had bleached hair, shades and a set of dance moves to steal the show. He aligned himself with the Too Cool tag team of Scotty Too Hotty and Grandmaster Sexay, dropped the "Phatu", and he became hugely popular in WWE before turning heel at the turn of the millennium when it was revealed he had run over Stone Cold Steve Austin at the 1999 Survivor Series, ending a lengthy Whodunit. That didn't go too well for him, and he didn't last much longer in WWE. His sons are doing pretty well, though.