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When fans watched Jey Uso eliminate John Cena to become the 2025 Royal Rumble winner, hardcore WWE fans immediately wondered the exact same thing: what did Rikishi think of the booking?
That's right, after spending, gosh, the last year banging the table for the “Yeet Man” to get his big push, Rikishi got his wish, and on Over the Top, the proud elder statesman of The Bloodline couldn't have been more excited to see his son finally earn his shine after years of hard work in the trenches.
“[Smiles] Can you tell by the look on my face? It has been like that since the weekend of the Royal Rumble, since Jey punched his ticket to headlining WrestleMania, YeetMania. You can tell my voice is just kind of hoarse from yelling, screaming, having a few cocktails,” Rikishi explained via Fightful.
“The family, we’ve been celebrating. It’s been great, man. I want to say thank you all the fans, thank you to all my family, my personal friends, those that got my contact, my number. Nonstop texts, nonstop calling. I ain’t ever had so many people call me. I wasn’t even in the match [laughs]. But just because the relationship, the love and the respect that’s shown, how happy they are for my son Jey, the work has been recognized. So thank y’all. Thank the whole wrestling universe. Thank the world. WrestleMania is gonna lit. It is gonna be YeetMania [laughs]. Yeet.”
While that's all well and good, when did Rikishi know that his son was going over? Well, if you can believe it, the former Headshrinker watched Uso win the match right alongside the rest of the fans at home, enjoying the moment right alongside the rest of the fans.
“Honestly, I had no idea that this boy was gonna be the one to win the Royal Rumble. We’ve talked about it on the past podcasts, about the Yeet Man, about the opportunity, about the third time he came up against Gunther, and so forth when he won the Intercontinental Belt, and he lost the Intercontinental Belt, such a short time,” Rikishi declared. “I mean, all that. Somebody must have heard and said, ‘Hey.’ The one thing that is definitely power is the voice of the wrestling fans. The voice of the wrestling fans, the videos tell no lie, when you see Jey hit that arena, Jey’s got that arena all lit.”
Alright, did Rikishi actually learn about Uso's win while watching the match? Well, when you consider Uso himself didn't learn about the booking decision until that very day, it's maybe not too difficult to believe after all.
Will Rikishi's faith in Uso prove true? Will WWE put the “Yeet Man” over and give him his big WrestleMania moment? Or will he come up short once more? While only time will tell, fans will now have to discuss that question for the next few months while Rikishi smiles along at home.