Overview
Solofa Fatu Jr. (born October 11, 1965) is an American professional wrestler, best known under the ring names Rikishi and Fatu with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he is a one-time Intercontinental Champion, two-time World Tag Team Champion, and one-time WWE Tag Team Champion. He is a member of the Anoa'i family of Samoan wrestlers. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his sons, wrestlers Jey and Jimmy Uso, in 2015.
Early life
Solofa Fatu was born on October 11, 1965, in San Francisco to Solofa Fatu Sr. and Elevera Anoa'i Fatu, and grew up in the Sunnydale Projects in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood, where his maternal grandparents were preachers. He attended Balboa High School, and competed on the wrestling team.
In 1982, when he was seventeen years old, Fatu was wounded in a drive-by shooting that left him with a scar on his abdomen; he claimed in a 2021 interview that he had died for three minutes in the emergency room before being revived. He spent two months in the hospital, after which his mother, fearing for his safety, sent him out of state to live with her brothers Afa and Sika Anoa'i, with whom he trained to become a professional wrestler.
Professional wrestling career
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).