In pro wrestling, there has always been a thin line between realism and the kayfabe. But we sometimes see the creative pan out of the storylines with a slight touch of the actual events or sometimes fans become so invested in the storylines that they start to blur the line, invading the drawing room affairs of the wrestlers. Netizens have viewed the Rikishi-Usos relationship dynamic in a negative light because of some visible disparities over the years.

The Usos carry Rikishi’s legacy in their blood. But do they carry their father’s unwavering support? One fan dissected the evidence available in plain sight to sense the disturbing father-son relationship behind the surface. Thanks to the utterly scripted ‘Total Divas’ show that sneaks into the wrestlers’ family life for fun.

In 2014, on one episode of the show, Jimmy Uso and his fiance then, Naomi visited Rikishi to invite him to their wedding. In that segment, when Naomi was expressing how much it would mean for Jimmy to have his father at the wedding, Rikishi was spotted getting emotional and wiping tears of joy and said, “Get me a contact, I’ve got to go get me a white color suite…” At the end of the video, Naomi revealed that she was relieved that his father accepted their marriage.

Witnessing Rikishi’s excitement, many expected him to be at their wedding in Hawaii, but he did not attend it. After some time, another episode of the show featured Jimmy Uso and his wife Naomi groaning over Rikishi, not attending their wedding ceremony. However, it was reported by Rikishi that the episode on the show was purely scripted. Rikishi cleared the confusion right away via a tweet, the veteran wrote, ”Sometimes the storylines of reality TV mirror those of Wrestling. Remember, there is very little Real in reality TV.”

But his absence from his son’s special day led to a perception that Rikishi was being a bad dad.

Fans raise fingers at Rikishi’s off-screen equation with the twins

Recalling Rikishi’s absence from Jimmy Uso and Naomi’s wedding, one user by the name clelia took to X and wrote, “the usos and solo sikoa won’t say it but EYE will. rikishi was a horrible father to those boys and you can tell how much it impacts them on a daily basis 😭 you can clearly see how much love and appreciation they have for samoan mike and umaga.” In another post, the user added, “I’ll never forget rikishi prioritizing money over his firstborn wedding and making naomi feel unwelcomed and worried because she’s black. shout out jey man.”

Fans flocked in with their thoughts in the comments section and launched an attack on the WWE legend. Some took the information to their hearts and resonated deeply with the situation. A mixture of annoyance and sorrow was evident in their tweets. One user wrote, “This broke me, never related so much 😭,” and another commented, “This still annoys me. Like what the hell?”

One fan cited an example to suggest that most of the wrestlers from the past didn’t uphold their parental responsibilities and wrote, “A lot of the old school wrestlers were shitty parents.”

Despite not wanting to see his offspring into the wrestling business initially, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi has been sufficiently vocal about his sons’ WWE trajectories, especially since their brother vs brother WrestleMania bout a month back. However, some fans still strongly believe that there have been some grave issues getting the best of a natural parent-child relationship. This fan attacked Rikishi for not attending one of the most important days of his son’s life and also pointed out another instance that foreshadowed the WWE legend’s absent-mindedness towards his responsibilities and wrote, “i knew it when he couldn’t even tell jey and jimmy apart. like wow.”

Jey Uso came out victorious in the brother vs brother feud in WrestleMania, but things could have been a bit different if Rikishi had interfered. The twins’ dad even dubbed himself as a missing puzzle who could spice up the matter if he had a chance. This attitude also didn’t sit well with fans. One user commented, “i was thinking about this, even when he said he was the missing piece to his kids dream mania match? they deserved better.”