10 Wrestlers With The Worst Motivations

5. Attempted Murder For The Rock

In the history of strange wrestling motivations, this one may well be the holy grail. At the 1999 Survivor Series, Stone Cold Steve Austin was run over. Shocking, absolutely, but the then-WWF embarked on a 12-month‘ whodunnit?’, a long and winding road that would eventually unearth the culprit and spark off a hot feud for Austin when he eventually returned from much-needed time off.

That all sounds fine and dandy, but the positives screech to a halt with the reveal. Mick Foley finally managed to tell the world that Rikishi was the man responsible for the hit and run at the end of the millennium. Yes, Rikishi, fun-loving Rikishi, the veteran who had spent a decade or so milling around before stumbling on a gimmick that worked, a fact even more remarkable considering he was the only successful dancing fat guy in history.

Turning Rikishi heel was somewhat inevitable, but doing so in this fashion? To make matters worse, Rikishi admitted that he did it and that he did so for The Rock, and his family heritage. He delivered a half-decent promo for the reveal, listing off Pacific island superstars that the company had held down. The problem was that getting from there to attempted murder was a bit of a stretch.

Rikishi floundered as a top guy, but the bigger crime came when WWE didn’t do anything with the Rikishi/Haku tag team. Unconscionable.