In February, rapper Bow Wow said he wanted to join WWE after he dropped his last album.
While many may have laughed off Bow Wow's wrestling aspirations, he's said that he wants to train with Rikishi to show that he is serious about his journey into wrestling.
Speaking to Chris Van Vliet, Rikishi revealed that Bow Wow has yet to start his training, but the two are in talks.
"Not yet," Rikishi said when asked if Bow Wow had begun training. "We have been talking and I'm very happy, let me tell you the story about how I met this kid. So back in the day, I was actually coming onto a flight in Atlanta and as I was making my way to my seat in first class, there Bow Wow was. I think he was about 9 or 10 years old at the time, but he was already making hit records, and we just kind of kicked off. Me, I was on my way to work and I knew who he was. My father figure kind of kicked in saying I'm very proud of you and continue the hard work, make sure you do good in school and that kind of stuff. Twenty-something years later, I see this tweet come up and I just put a message out to him. I just felt like I knew this kid for a long time and again my passion for the business and for those coming in, I just felt obligated to teach him the right way."
When asked if Bow Wow would be treated like the other students, Rikishi replied, "He's actually based out there in Atlanta but he will be coming down here (to Southern California) sometime this month to get it going. But I'm going to train him like I train all my students. We know his celebrity status, but in order for him to really understand the industry correctly, we got to put that all aside. He's got to understand what it is when he gets in the ring how to protect himself, how to be a storyteller and all that theatrical movement. Not really getting in there and punching each other in the face and so forth. I like to say when students come in, I like to find the students and the students have to find me, meaning I want to see what kind of athletic ability he has. Is he easy to train? Does he listen well? Those types of things. Does he have an attitude? Is he coachable? Stuff like that."
Though some may see Bow Wow saying he's going to be a wrestler a publicity stunt, plenty of celebrities have successfully crossed over into the world of wrestling. For example, Bad Bunny is the reigning 24/7 Champion and a regular on WWE Raw.
Rikishi believes Bow Wow can help the business, saying, "I'm very excited to be able to be the guy to be able to give him this knowledge and help train him. For me, it's good for business. If Bow Wow can come into our industry and put asses in seats at WrestleMania, then why not? And everybody should motivate him or help him because him coming in, or anybody coming in from hip hop or the movie industry into our industry, obviously they're green and they need to be smartened up. So there is no time for jealousy or those who just hate on the poor guy who is just trying to come in to live his dream."
T-BAR may disagree on how much Bow Wow can actually help.
It remains to be seen if Bow Wow begins training and eventually steps into the ring for a professional wrestling match.