There's a case to be made that the wheels started to fall off the career of Rikishi once it was revealed that Triple H was the mastermind behind running over Steve Austin with a car at the 1999 Survivor Series - a stunt used to write Austin off television whilst he recovered from a serious neck injury - and not him. Coming across as little more than a bit-part player in the story, it had been promising that WWE chose to attempt to build a new star by having Rikishi involved, but the angle would do little other than harm his tenure in the long run. Once one of the more hot names on the roster, the former member of Too Cool was pretty lukewarm by the time he disappeared from the company in 2004. The promotion had instructed Rikishi to lose weight, but in interviews since, it's clear that the man who had been with WWE since 1992 felt he should have been given more time. Instead, WWE management elected to release him, although it seems the big man has since made peace with Vince McMahon, and is clearly proud to see his sons, The Usos, doing so well in the big time.
