10 Genius Ways Wrestling Companies Kept You Watching
7. Who Ran Over Steve Austin?
Popularised by the soap opera sensation Dallas in 1998, it is quintessentially 'WWE' that Vince McMahon only borrowed from its "programme niche" by orchestrating a Whodunnit? storyline some two decades later.
It was nonetheless expert episodic TV penned by a company in bravura form - so good that the WWF subverted the bad feeling of of Survivor Series 1999 as an establishing incident. Who ran over Steve Austin? whipped fans into a fervour by fictionalising the baddie, teasing their identity, and promising a reckoning delivered by their returning hero.
It was actually more fun when another hero, Mick Foley, suspended Austin in order to conduct his own investigation. Everybody is a sucker for a mystery even now, and nobody knew better then: under Chris Kreski's seminal storyboarding model, nobody could be certain of the culprit's identity, only that it was sure to deliver a compelling top programme. Austin kicking ass was must-see TV in itself; the mystery component was a masterstroke.
Regrettably, that baddie was Rikishi, at least at first, whose explanation was as thin as his cratered ass was not. He did it for The Rock, who had apparently been held down - only, when Rikishi explained himself, Rock was literally holding the WWF Championship.
A career-damaging twist that led to an uninspired and obvious reveal, the question was more compelling than the answer. But that's the trope.