10 Worst WWE Booking Decisions Of The 2000s (Year-By-Year)

10. 2000 - Rikishi Does It For The Rock

If 1998 and 1999 were years where WWE could do no wrong creatively, then 2000 was those years times one hundred. While WCW and ECW marched to their dying days, WWE was amassing its greatest roster ever and putting on some of their most inspired programming.

However, even before that year, something clearly was wrong. At Survivor Series ‘99, Steve Austin was hit by a mystery motorist and taken out of action, thus explaining his absence from television so that he could get neck surgery. The subject was left alone for close to a year until September of 2000, when Austin returned, seeking to find out who it was that ran him over. It seems as though WWE had no plan on who the culprit was when they came up with the idea. The most obvious choice would have been Triple H, but instead, their initial culprit was Rikishi.

In 2000, Rikishi was a workhorse midcarder and a very popular babyface, with his alliance with Too Cool being one of the most celebrated acts of the Attitude Era’s latter period. However, with the revelation that he ran over Austin “for The Rock,” fans quickly lost interest. He just didn’t connect as a heel, and his popularity was never the same even after turning face again, thus depriving the company of a great upper-midcarder.

Speaking of poorly thought-out heel turns...