10 Lamest Swerves In WWE History
5. Rikishi Did It For The Rock
As far as this one goes, WWE don’t have an injury, failed drug test, or other unforeseen circumstances to blame. The revelation that Rikishi ran Stone Cold Steve Austin over in 1999 was their idea from the start, and sucked the life out of one of the Attitude Era’s biggest storylines.
Austin needed neck surgery, but he’d been putting it off for years. The storyline was WWE’s way of writing him off television so that he could fix his long-standing vertebrae problems, while also giving him a ready-made feud to slot into on his comeback. Commissioner Mick Foley led the investigation in the run-up to Austin’s eventual return, pointing the finger at each of WWE’s major players, before pulling a swerve that nobody saw coming.
The Rikishi reveal went down like a lead balloon. Rikishi was legitimately one of the company’s most popular wrestlers at the time, but nobody believed his sudden change from fun-loving babyface to ruthless heel. Furthermore, his explanation that he “did it for The Rock” was laughable, and nobody was buying what he was selling.
WWE attempted to run Rikishi against The Rock and Austin as a top-level heel, but the angle flopped so badly that the company were forced to change plans halfway. Triple H was revealed as the mastermind behind the scheme, but the damage was already done. Rikishi’s main event career failed to take-off, and his crowd support never recovered.