Royal Rumble 2012: How Rikishi Paved the Way for Brodus Clay to Dominate

Brodus Clay is already one of the most over superstars in today's WWE and will dominate this year's Royal Rumble. After the match, he can thank former WWE Superstar Rikishi for it all. 

Many forget that throughout 2000, the 400-pound, thong-wearing, stink-facing and dancing machine known as Rikishi was one of the most beloved performers in the entire company.

When Clay made his return as the dancing Funkasaurus, many, including myself, laughed him off as nothing more than a joke. Yet he's been getting awesome responses from crowds because he, like Rikishi did, is selling the gimmick so well.

Still, despite squashing everybody in his path, many questioned whether or not he would be able to last as a monster. With the Rumble coming up, people were scratching their heads as to whether or not he could make an impact. 

Worry no more, because WWE has a simple formula to make sure this monster continues trending upwards towards the sky instead of looking like a complete joke. During the Royal Rumble 2000 match, Rikishi eliminated a whopping seven men. It then took six superstars to finally "toss" him over the top rope.

For the first half of that Rumble match, it was all Rikishi and the crowd ate it up. When Grand Master Sexy and Scotty Too Hotty were the only other men in the ring with him, they turned off all of the lights and proceeded to perform their dance routine. Rikishi then blindsided them and eliminated his partners.

No, it wasn't a heel turn as Too Cool forgave The 'Kish. It was all about winning the Rumble and everybody understood.

The Rock may have won the Rumble, but it was Rikishi's performance that everybody was talking about. The crowd even responded to Viscera when he came out because they were intrigued to see how Rikishi could eliminate him, or if Big Vis was going to eliminate the early-match favorite.

Seriously, if you can get Viscera over, you know you're doing something right.

That's all WWE has to do this year with Clay to make sure he stays over as a monster. He needs to clear the ring—no less than five eliminations. He then needs to be thrown over by every superstar remaining in the ring. 

As long as Clay is yelling at his opponents while he eliminates them and dances to entertain the crowd while he awaits his next victim, he will remain a crowd favorite and even better, look like the complete monster WWE wants him to be.

Clay doesn't need to win the Rumble to ensure he's a force of destruction. Instead, he just needs about 15 minutes of airtime during the match for WWE to get their point across. 

The only thing WWE has to do to not screw up Brodus Clay at the Rumble is go to the film room. It's all right there in the 2000 Royal Rumble and would be an awesome tribute to Rikishi, the man who paved the way for Clay to dominate in the WWE. 

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