10 Stupidest Reasons Wrestlers Turned Heel

3. Rikishi - Did It For The Rock

rikishi mick foley
WWE.com

Promoters should keep racism away from wrestling.

It doesn't matter if such discrimination is obvious (Muhammad Hassan) or only implied - these stories only succeed in making people feel awkward, and they never really lead to any vital commentaries on the evils of bigotry anyway. They're just sorta' there, and shoehorned in for the sake of it.

In 2000, Rikishi worked wrestling's latest attempt to sell unfair bigotry. He revealed he did run over Steve Austin at Survivor Series 1999 the previous year. Then, big 'Kish dropped his voice and said, "I did it for The Rock" before claiming "the great white hope" had always been pushed ahead of his Samoan countrymen.

This heartfelt admission spoiled a popular babyface run for no reason too, because it was soon announced that Triple H was the one who masterminded Austin's downfall, not Rikishi. That made him a bit part in the story, and further p*ssed all over the need to shove race into things.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.