10 Wrestling Moments That Should Have Been Huge (But Weren't)
7. Phat Chance
With the specificity of Ralph Wiggum's heart breaking, the decline of WWE from its commercial and creative peak can be traced to the exact second Mick Foley fingered Rikishi Phatu as Stone Cold Steve Austin's Survivor Series 1999 hit-and-run assailant.
The former Headshrinker was in many ways a microcosmic symbol of the company's rampant success in 2000. The heaviest he'd ever been despite being more than capable in the ring, Rikishi gained popularity as enormous as his own exposed a*se. As if to illustrate the point further, he'd literally just concluded teaming with WWE Champion The Rock when he was forced into admitting his crime.
The eventual matches with Austin were turgid. Not super keen to support Phatu's main event ascent, 'The Rattlesnake' venomously swallowed him up, with the company forced to fall back on Triple H as the mastermind all along. He himself had been on the verge of babyface superstardom before the panicked swerve turn reverted virtually everybody to type without a single success story from the wretched angle.