When Steve Austin was left laying courtesy of some extremely suspect driving at the 1999 edition of Survivor Series, the world was left wondering who had taken out the Rattlesnake in the WWFs very own Who Shot JR? moment. Not that JR, the other famous JR...never mind. In reality, the stunt was merely a clever way of writing Austin out of the storylines while he underwent neck surgery; however, the anonymous hit and run assailant provided a great opportunity for Austin to hit the ground running upon his return, as the Bionic Redneck would inevitably look to exact revenge on his mysterious attacker. So who was the man behind the wheel that night? Was it a main event conspirator whod advanced up the card in his absence? Some headline hero from Austins past with a score to settle perhaps? Both good guesses, but neither comes close. It was in fact Rikishi. Yeah... http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2dxhxt_rikishi-i-did-it-for-the-rock-promo-wwf-raw-10-09-2000_sport Needless to say, the big reveal had about as much impact as a Ric Flair chair shot and, despite the questionable culprit, the returning Rattlesnake more than obliged his Too Cool target with a serious receipt at No Mercy; laying a textbook Stone Cold beatdown on the former Sultan. With a reasoning that was as dodgy as the Phatmans ring gear, Rikishis explanation that he did it all for his cousin, The Rock, so The Brahma Bull could ascend up the ladder was poor writing by the WWF creative team; especially considering The Rock was already a three-time champ by that point anyway. To make matters worse, Big Kish had only re-debuted in the Fed as Rikishi the night before the incident took place, making the whole timeline suspect at best. Surely even the former Headshrinker must have known that mowing down the companys top draw would be strongly frowned upon on your second day in? It was later revealed as an afterthought that in had, in fact, been Triple H behind the whole thing all along...which was in no way to be construed as the WWF covering their tracks after realising the Rikishi unveiling had been less than astounding.
Occasional wrestler, full-time gym rat and lifelong lover of the grapple game. Would probably buy you a shot of Jack at the bar in exchange for witty banter...and preferably more Jack.
@MartynGrant88 for more wrestling-related musings and weight room wisecracks!
