When Rikishi returned in late 2001 following shoulder surgery, he looked great. Carrying about thirty less pounds than he had earlier in the year, he moved around with greater ease and generally looked healthier and more like an athlete. The WWF was cracking down hard on wrestlers gaining weight at the time, going as far as to send the incredibly expensive Big Show to OVW in a bid to shed the blubber. Rikishi continued looking relatively svelte during 2002 but, by 2003, he has noticeably began to pile on the pounds again. WWE wasn't happy about this and repeatedly asked him to try and lose weight. Then-Vice President of Talent Relations Jim Ross even blogged about it for his 'Ross Report' on WWE.com. He never managed to lose the weight, however, and got bigger and bigger as 2004 rolled by. During his last run as Tag Team Champions with Scott Too Hotty, he was positively enormous. WWE had had enough and decided to cut their losses and release Rikishi. They asked him to lose weight and he didn't so he was gone. Today, considering WWE's Be A Star campaign and so forth, it's hard to imagine WWE releasing somebody because they couldn't lose weight. It would be viewed as insensitive by a lot of people and perhaps get the company bad publicity (although they are well within their rights to do it). We don't WWE will mention that they sacked the 'Kish because he put on weight during the end of his run there.
