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Post by Decky on Apr 28, 2020 5:21:09 GMT -5
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Post by The-Rock on May 13, 2020 23:27:05 GMT -5
Man what a dud that heel Rikishi run was. A guy with his a$$ hanging out was difficult to take seriously. That plus his goofy ring gear just didn't scream heel at all. WWE was really in a bind to come up with a creative answer to who ran over Austin given who was available to them at the time. A debuting WCW wrestler like DDP, or Scott Steiner, or some one like that would have been great. I think benoit is the only guy who would have fit the match because they needed a 3rd heel. However Kane would have been fine too. As a kid anytime there was a fatal 4 way match or larger (6-pack challenge) it was always pretty exciting because you felt like someone new was definitely going to get the belt and there was always the chance that the guy you least expected would win. However as I grew older I started to realize the guy who the deck was stacked against (typically HHH) would always win. |
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TheXtremisT
Main Eventer
10 Year Member
This is the way
Joined on: May 3, 2008 8:03:15 GMT -5
Posts: 3,953
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Post by TheXtremisT on May 17, 2020 6:20:33 GMT -5
Rikishi as the driver was clearly a result of WWE having created one of the biggest opportunities to create a mega heel at the time and having no idea of who it should be. If you go back and watch Raws and Smackdowns in succession you can even start to see where they saw Rikishi as a failure and had to add Triple H to the story. One Raw they just randomly started having Rikishi change his story, I believe it was after No Mercy. I remember it was supposed to be Gunn but he got hurt, and would have probably ended up being the second time they tried to strap a rocket to him and failed after not turning him into anything after KOTR. I always though Austins hit and run driver should have either been Angle (the timing was perfect Angle debuted that same night and had become a mega star since) and then have Triple H as the accomplice or just have Triple H as the guy who ran over Austin. As far as who could have replaced Rikishi in HIAC, I would say Kane would have been better. Guy was in the title picture for a few months before until his feud with Jericho and would have fit in well. Jericho and Benoit could have fought for the IC title a month early and Rikishi could have gone on to dance with Too Cool some more. I always thought they could have written Test into the storyline instead of Rikishi, but the problem is that his star dimmed by the end of 1999 and he turned heel in early 2000. Triple H stole Stephanie from Test. There was no resolution for it, Test basically got cuckholded and dropped. It became about Trips vs Vince for taking his daughter and turning her on her father. People grew tired of him and they threw him into the T&A tag-team to just do "something" for him. If they had kept him strong and sympathetic, my storyline as follows would have worked: Test should have got his revenge on Triple H in some form or fashion, whether in a month-long feud, or trying to eliminate DX to get through them to Triple H. So fast forward to September 2000, Austin comes back and demands to know who ran him over. Road Dogg/X-Pac/Billy Gunn as a favour to Triple H, supply him with CCTV footage of the incident. The very grainy footage shows a tall man with long, fair hair and a goatee in the driver's seat. They insinuate it was Test, when in actual fact it was Triple H (because in pixellated video they look similar), just to get the heat off Trips. Austin then tries to whoop Test's ass, but Test remains strong. Until he has an alibi in Stephanie and then it is revealed it was Triple H all along. |
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TheXtremisT
Main Eventer
10 Year Member
This is the way
Joined on: May 3, 2008 8:03:15 GMT -5
Posts: 3,953
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Post by TheXtremisT on May 17, 2020 6:21:22 GMT -5
As a person of unusual size, I'm telling you now. If an obese individual trips and falls to the dang floor it can do serious damage. For someone Rikishi's size to fall even 10 feet onto a protective surface? It's gonna muk him up. I wouldn't swap him. The only other person in that ring who might be willing to take a bump like that was Angle (remember his moonsault off the cage?) and as he was slated to win, they couldn't have him be the one. That said, Rikishi being in the HOF seems a bit odd of a choice. I'd honestly say it's more of a dynastic thing than really him deserving it himself. Oh, and yeah. That heel run was garbage. He was funny with Too Cool. As a heel? He was laughable. Not to mention the Superfly Splash off the top of the cage and the huge belly-to-belly off the top rope he took at KOTR 2000. |
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