WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi did not hold back his comments on Nia Jax’s recent chair shot spot at Survivor Series. During the most recent episode of his “Off The Top Rope” podcast, the Samoan wrestling great voiced disappointment with Jax’s apparent weak swings, which have also sparked criticism from fans online.
“As a wrestler, I’ll tell you what. As a Samoan, you gotta swing that damn thing,” Rikishi stated. He questioned if Jax received appropriate training on proper chair shot technique while in WWE’s developing system.
“It almost looked like a love tap,” Rikishi added, “I don’t feel like she wanted to swing the chair, but she didn’t want to hurt somebody.” He agreed that slow-motion replays could exaggerate the problem, but he still believed Jax’s technique was incorrect.
Rikishi gave some advice to the WWE star: “Nia, if you’re listening, next time you grab that chair, It’s okay. Swing that damn thing like Babe Ruth. I want you to knock it out of the park, and if anybody comes to you complaining about it, about the chair shot, well, hey, this is the game that we’re in. This is what it is. If you can’t take a chair shot, well, you are in the wrong business.”
While criticizing the chair shots, Rikishi also empathized with Jax, noting the emotional aspects at play. “I didn’t know if it was from slow motion from editing, but when I kept looking at it, just the way she was swinging it, like, Nia, if you’re listening, next time you grab that chair, It’s okay,” he said, before adding, “who knows the emotion? Is this a friend? What I’m saying is, you gotta put that out from your head when you’re performing.”
He highlighted the need of safeguarding fellow wrestlers while also offering effective offense. “If I hit you with a chair, like, I’m gonna hit you with it, but it doesn’t mean that I’m gonna hit you hard, like I’m mad at you. It’s never that. We gotta protect what we got.”
Rikishi ended with a humorous invitation, “You come to KnokX Pro. Let me show you how to swing that chair the right way. Keep practicing.”
