Glaciacott
Smash Lord
Two reasons why this isn't plausible at all:What if (assuming Ridley is a stage hazard)...
Sakurai is revealing this early so he can stop getting requests for him?
1) Don't think he'd go "HEY, what if instead of requests, I just slap fans in the face really early on so they stop caring?" It's not his style. If he made a comment it was because he knows people are fans of Ridley.
I think his mistake might be thinking people would be satisfied just to have him in the game in some form, instead of just wanting him playable. And now instead of hype and excitement, he has sheer anxiety and fear and anger, and really all five steps of coping with death.
2) People on the most visible Smash community, Miiverse (let's face it, the Smash team sees this community at least once a day, not just Sakurai), don't really request Ridley as much as, say, stuff like Rosalina, Minecraft Steve, and the entire roster of Mario and Sonic at the Olympics.