Rikishi reveals why he turned heel in 2000

WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi was recently a guest on the WrestleSlam podcast. While discussing his run with WWE, the Hall of Famer opened up about his heel turn in 2000.

Rikishi revealed that, at the time, he viewed the heel turn as an opportunity to work with some of the biggest babyfaces in WWE. As a bad guy, he could work with the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. WWE was light on heels at the time, so Rikishi the chance to become the company's main villain.

"I wasn't ready to be revealed as the person who was behind that, behind the wheel there because at the time I was doing Rikishi, Rikishi explained. "After so many characters, you finally find one that sticks and I was a babyface, really just starting to catch fire. During that time there, we were very slim pickings on a lot of heels so when the opportunity came up as far as switching over as the bad man, I kind of thought that was my time to be able to work with guys like Stone Cold, The Rock and a lot of the other babyfaces because you had so many of us."

"I didn't even think that they thought the Rikishi character was going to come up to that level," Rikishi continued. "It was just something that happened overnight, that fans loved it and they stuck with me and supported me and before you know it, I was at the top at the main event with everybody else. So that is why it was the right time for the character Rikishi to turn Rikishi the bad man."

Rikishi explained that, as a babyface, he wasn't sure whether the company viewed him as a main-event star. But as a heel, he was pushed as a top star in WWE, at least for a brief period of time.

A quick look at Rikishi's heel turn in 2000

Rikishi and Undertaker in WWE

The storyline that led to Rikishi's heel turn in 2000 started at Survivor Series 1999. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was dealing with injury issues, so he was written out of WWE programming after an unknown driver hit him with a car.

Speculation ran wild, as everyone from The Rock to Steve Blackman wassuspected at different points. Eleven months later, Rikishi was revealed as the person behind the wheel. He then faced Austin at No Mercy 2000, but Triple H was eventually revealed as the man behind Rikishi's actions.

What did you think about Rikishi's heel run? Sound off in the comments below.

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