Rikishi firmly believes WWE should have turned 8-time champion heel on RAW
Rikishi recently opened up about why a major star turning heel on WWE RAW's Netflix debut would have made perfect sense. The wrestling veteran feels The Rock should have turned heel while presenting the Ula Fala to Roman Reigns.
The eight-time WWE Champion turned babyface on RAW's first episode on Netflix. It was a move that nobody saw coming as it was expected he would either confront Cody Rhodes or interfere during the Tribal Combat. However, The Rock instead embraced The American Nightmare in the crowd and went on to present the Ula Fala to Roman Reigns after his resounding victory over Solo Sikoa.
This also drastically lowered the chances of the Hollywood megastar having a marquee match against Reigns or Cody at WrestleMania 41. On a recent episode of his Off the Top podcast, Rikishi spoke about the turn of events on RAW.
The WWE legend stated that while he liked the symbolic passing of the torch moment between the two cousins, The Rock attacking Roman Reigns and turning heel could have been an intriguing twist put forward by Triple H and his creative team.
"It was a good way of The Rock validating, somewhat like passing the torch over to [Roman] because they kept mentioning The Rock's name on TV, his Matai name, okay, his Matai Name is Seiuli. So, for Seiuli, The Rock, to be able to actually -- we've seen that before. When the Ula Fala was first introduced into the world of professional wrestling, or we've seen Roman's father, Uncle Sika give Roman the blessings of the Ula Fala. So when I seen that happen on Monday Night Raw, it was like a beautiful thing, man, but it also like, boy, if I wanted to turn heel, if Rock wanted to turn heel, what a perfect time to do it." (H/T - Fightful Wrestling)
Rikishi on Roman Reigns defeating Solo Sikoa on WWE RAW
Elsewhere in the podcast, Rikishi stated now that the former Universal Champion had defeated Solo Sikoa, it was time to acknowledge him as the real Tribal Chief of WWE. He also emphasized just how successful The Bloodline saga has been and credited it for the company's financial success over the last few years.
"I think we all need to acknowledge Roman Reigns, The Tribal Chief. We all need to acknowledge The Tribal Chief, man. What type of character is this guy here. Look at the doors, the opportunities that he's opened, not only for the family, but for the business. Man, we're tied in with Netflix, come on. I guarantee you if the numbers wasn't right for well over four-plus years, this company has been on his back. In comes The Bloodline running these storylines left and right to keep this thing going. Hey, at the end of the day, you can hate us or love us, but the numbers don't lie, baby," he said.
Roman Reigns has been confirmed for the 2025 Men's Royal Rumble match and it remains to be seen if manages to win it to set up a grand rematch against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania.
