WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi couldn’t hold back his emotions when he watched Jey Uso capture the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

Uso won the gold two weeks ago, ending the 51-day reign of Bron Breakker that had begun at SummerSlam 2024 with a win over Sami Zayn.

On a recent edition of his “Off The Top” podcast, Rikishi reflected on his son winning his first singles championship in WWE. He said,

“I’m proud to be his pops. I’m proud that the fans are proud. I don’t know who was more excited, [if] I was or the fans because when I [saw] the reaction of the fans and the reaction of my boy, you think about it. That was a long road. What is it, 15 years or 14 years? You dominate the tag team division, and then you finally break off into singles competition, not knowing which way is it gonna go.

“But you see it, the fan-favorite, you see the entrance, you see the everything, everything about the character of Jey. For me, Jey is not a character. That is really that kid. That kid is just a lovable kid like that. He’s not a liability, he’s not a troublemaker. He’s a company man. He’s a good role model. So he’s one of those kids that, as far as for corporate, as far as for being that community person, to be able to be a role model to kids or even parents in the community, he’s that kid. He’s been through some stuff.

“Being a son of wrestler and being on the road, you see a lot of stuff. You can either go left or go right. So all his career, at the end of the day, the choices that they make are their choices, and he’s made the right choices all the way through, and look it, your new Intercontinental Champion.”

Jey and Rikishi are the second father/son duo to have held the Intercontinental Title with the first being Mr. Perfect and Curtis Axel.

On tonight’s edition of RAW, Jey will defend his title against Xavier Woods, who has yet to win a singles championship since coming to WWE.