WWE SmackDown star Solo Sikoa was interviewed on Peter Rosenberg’s “Cheap Heat” podcast this week.
Sikoa was asked if he ever imagined his debut would be in such a big spot with his cousins:
“No, it was out of the blue. It was just one of those things where I got the call and this is what we want to do and this is how we want to bring you in, but I never expected it this way in front of 60,000 people. It was crazy. I’m still mind blown.”
On if his dad (Rikishi) brought him backstage when he was a kid:
“Yeah, man. I was on the road with him more than I was in school. That’s all I can remember as the early days with him being in the business. I was always backstage with him. I met all the guys growing up. I met Taker, Triple H, Rock, Stone Cold, Lesnar, you name it, man. I had a couple of birthdays at Wrestlemania. I think it was like WrestleMania 16 or 17. I was always going to pay-per-views. Like I said, I went to wrestling shows more than I went to school.”
On if he wanted to play football or become a wrestler:
“I was super serious about football because I knew wrestling was always gonna be here. Wrestling is always gonna be there no matter what I or my brothers did because we always had that to fall back on. But I really wanted to pursue football as a plan A because none of my family really made it to football. I wanted to play football in the NFL. Then once that wasn’t working out, man, I was like, well, let me give this wrestling thing a try. Let me give this wrestling thing a shot. Let me step in the family business, and once I did, I just fell in love with it. Like I was already in love with wrestling, but once I really got down to knowing how the business works and how everything is, man, I knew I can be good at this. Like I said, it’s in our blood. I’m not gonna run away from it, and then next thing you know, it took off.”
Solo was asked if he was close to Roman Reigns while growing up:
“Seeing Roman in Cardiff, I haven’t seen him in like 20 years. We really weren’t close, but he was always around at our house playing with my brothers because they were the same age and I was way, way younger than him. He was always around our house, but I think now coming into the business, I’m starting to get close with him. Even though the age gap is there, I’m really starting to get close with him because, I mean, it’s Roman Reigns. He’s been running the game for a while now so I’m starting to form that relationship with him.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit The Ringer Wrestling Show with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
