Jim Cornette recently revealed that WWE Chairman Vince McMahon had plans to fire WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi in the early 2000s, but instead retained him and on top of that signed three of his family members. Nikki Bella Forced To Postpone Wedding
Vince McMahon wanted to fire Rikishi
Rikishi, who also went by the ring name Fatu and The Sultan in WWE, had a great career in the company that spanned for twelve long years and the stint began in 1992. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012 and has made few appearances on WWE television in the last few years.
On the latest Jim Cornette’s Drive Thru show, Cornette opened up on WWE’s decision to fire several stars recently. He detailed how Vince wanted to fire Rikishi (Fatu) but ended up keeping him, while also signing his uncle and pro wrestling legend Afa, as well as his brother Umaga (Jamal), and Roman Reigns’ late brother and Rikishi’s cousin, Rosey:
“I think he’d been The Sultan for a while and then they’d done something else… he’d gone through two or three gimmicks, he’d been there for a few years and Vince one day said, ‘We’ve got to cut Fatu.’ So, they called Fatu to the office – they didn’t do it on the phone back in those days – Vince was going to talk to him personally. Afa comes with Fatu, and so did Rosey and Jamal. All four of them come in, they had the meeting with Vince and I see them leave and went in and talk to Bruce Prichard about something. I said, ‘Did Vince tell Fatu?’ He said, ‘Nope. He not only didn’t fire Fatu, he hired the other three,'” said Jim Cornette.
