Rikishi was thrilled to see Jey Uso win the 2025 Royal Rumble match.
Following his son’s victory by tossing John Cena over the top rope, Rikishi discussed the situation on his Off The Top podcast. The WWE Hall of Famer said that the family had been celebrating non-stop since Saturday, and he said that WrestleMania 41 would be YeetMania.
“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,” Rikishi said. You can tell my voice is just kind of hoarse from telling, screaming, having a few cocktails. 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. Yeet,” Rikishi said.
Rikishi Didn’t Know Jey Uso Was Winning The Royal Rumble
As previously noted by Jey Uso, Rikishi confirmed that he had no idea that his son was winning the Royal Rumble. Rikishi confirmed that he didn’t know in advance, and he went on to emphasize that Jey had put in the work, so he was thankful his son’s sacrifices had been recognized.
“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. 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. It doesn’t matter if it’s Hong Kong, Japan, Chicago, New York City, it does not matter. It is YeetMania. So the Yeet Man’s on fire. The Yeet Man has put in work. For us as a family that has seen personally the struggle, the hard work that the kid has went through, thank you to WWE, thank you to the WWE Universe for believing in this kid.
He Compared The Win To Yokozuna’s Royal Rumble Win
Rikishi continued as he compared Jey Uso’s win to other achievements from the Fatu family, including his own tag team title win against The Quebecers and Yokozuna’s Royal Rumble victory in 1993.
“My kids, they are not the type of kids that’s gonna quit. I always tell them, know your worth, believe in your worth, your time will come. Just keep working hard, keep working hard. Now, hey, Jey, you the man. You the man. You made us all proud. All the family members, I’m sure the fans as well. I got goosebumps talking about this, and this happened a few days ago. I got goosebumps.”
“I’ve never, for anything huge celebration, the last time I felt like this is when we won the tag team straps for the first time, me and Samu against The Quebecers, and when I’ve seen Yokozuna win the Royal Rumble, back in the day. Years later, man, we’re talking 2025, we got a Fatu up there that’s gonna headline WrestleMania. So all I can say, without no alcohol in me, God did. God did,” Rikishi said. (H/T to Fightful for the transcription)
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