Why Rikishi?

This is true. Austin said that they were going to build towards Austin vs show for Mania 2000. Show would turn face for awhile in 1999, then turn back heel in time for Mania. I don't know about a Title reign, but I've heard forever that it was in his contract for the Mania main event slot, hence why they created the Fatal 4-Way match when everyone wanted Rock vs Trips in a one on one. Not to mention, Austin went out, and Show didn't get over as a face, at all. so the whole angle died.

As far as Rikishi, I swear I read that Vince wanted HOGAN to be the driver! That his contract was up, or coming up around that time, and he made a huge effort to sign Hogan, but in the end he resigned with WCW. But if he had been able to, the driver would've eventually been revealed to be Hogan.

I still ask myself "Why Rikishi?" every day. It's up there with the Starrcade 97's main event. Two baffling moments I'll never be able to wrap my head around.

Honestly I hated the Rikishi gimmick. All it was is a fat guy in a thong that liked to dance. That's ALL he was. Turning him heel was one of the worst booking decisions ever made. Had they changed his look and especially his gear, maybe it could of worked. But leaving him the same just made him look like a fool.

What I didn't like either was that he still did the Stink face. Seriously that move was only over when he did it to a heel but it's something he really should've dropped.

Face/Heel it made no difference to me I hated the Rikishi gimmick. And it still baffles my mind that he is in the HOF because of that gimmick. Which was nothing more than a weekly @ss joke.

I've been watching episodes of Raw and Smackdown from late 2000/2001 and it was a weekly thing to show Rikishi's a** while he was doing squats. I'm not sure why they felt that was a good shot to make him look "intimidating."

He should have started wearing pants similar to Haku when he returned around the RR that year. Atleast his butt wouldn't be a constant joke if he did.

I get why they went with a major swerve like that with the ultra popular Rikishi, but it was a lack of foresight after that which killed it. They just banked on the amount of popularity he had would translate into an equal amount of hate for him.

I recently came up with a slightly less impactful scenario, involving Test being framed for it by Triple H. So going back to the Stephanie/Test storyline in 1999 - it was INSTANTLY dropped when Triple H drugged her and married her and then she sided with him. Test had absolutely no resolution to it and never even reacted to it on screen. Lame story telling.

So I wondered if they had booked Test better following it, and got under Triple H's skin, and then HHH wanted to get back at Test by framing him. Whether it be doctored footage or some evidence where the driver looked like Triple H or Test, but was so grainy they couldn't work it out. So Trips made sure it seemed like it was Test and then Austin went after him at No Mercy even when Test denied denied denied. Austin wasn't having none of it.

Then it was revealed Triple H was the mastermind behind the whole thing and framed Test since Survivor Series 1999 to take him out of the picture. But he didn't know the whole "Who ran over Austin" would be resolved the following year, instead wanting it to be instant. Because if WWF creative had better foresight, they could have built up Test strong throughout the year, and capitalise on his popularity because he was over big when feuding with Shane over Stephanie.

I dunno, just my idea.

Funny because the above talk about Big Show being in the main event of WM 2000 (which was in his contract when he signed in early 1999) - look at how he was booked throughout 1999. Heel-face-heel-face. Always a weak face or someone's henchman. He should have been booked as a monster heel like Braun Strowman has been. Then he would have been a big enough opponent for Austin or whoever at WM.