10 Most Unlikely Main Event Acts In WWE History
6. Rikishi
Once one of WWE’s most popular babyfaces, Rikishi fell victim to an incredibly misguided heel turn in 2000. Nobody bought the company’s jovial dancing fat guy someone capable of attempting to murder Steve Austin in cold blood, and when he was revealed as the man who ran Stone Cold over, Rikishi’s career plummeted.
He went from Too Cool’s dance partner to a ruthless heel overnight, and his popularity evaporated. Rikishi was immediately thrust into the main event scene, wrestling Austin at No Mercy 2000 and involving himself in WWF Champion The Rock’s business, before WWE panicked and revealed Triple H as the mastermind behind the Austin incident.
Rikishi fought five other men for the WWF Championship in a Hell In A Cell match at Armageddon 2000, but was Chokeslammed from the top of the cage and onto a flatbed truck. He later won the right to enter the 2001 Royal Rumble at #30, but his main event heel run had already imploded by then.
Rikishi turned face again at the end of the year, but his botched push completely killed his career, and he was never over again.