"I did it for The Rock." You sure did, Rikishi. What did you do exactly? Oh right, you assaulted Steve Austin with a vehicle at Survivor Series 1999, kept it to yourself for nearly a year and then justified it by saying you did it for your buddy (and distant cousin) The Rock. It was one of the most awkward stories in wrestling history. The Rock didn't appreciate what Rikishi did, though. He was mad at him for doing it even though storyline wise Rock benefited from it. He headlined nearly every PPV that year when Austin was out and became the undisputed top guy in the company. Austin legitimately had neck surgery and was out for a year, but they wanted to do a story out of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5bhLVGn2x0 This angle led to Austin destroying Rikishi once he was healthy and there were several Rock/Rikishi matches that were pretty average too. Even though he basically tried to kill a guy with his car (in the story), Rikishi wasn't charged for anything. It was all settled in the wrestling ring because in WWE's universe real laws don't apply. Rikishi was so bad as a heel that they had to say HHH told him to do it, so Austin was more mad at him instead of the guy that actually did it. There was a Rock vehicular assault incident that could have been mentioned on this list too. Remember when Rock was in an ambulance and Hulk Hogan drove a truck into the side of it? It was done in the build up to their WrestleMania 18 match in 2002. Rock showed up a few weeks later looking like nothing happened. I guess he's a tough guy.
John wrote at WhatCulture from December 2013 to December 2015. It was fun, but it's over for now. Follow him on Twitter @johnreport. You can also send an email to mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any questions or comments as well.
