Rikishi “Did It for The Rock” and Gets Zero Reaction – WWE RAW 10/9/00 Review

RAW is at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim on October 9th, 2000, the same building that hosted WrestleMania 2000. Mick Foley has promised he will name the person who ran over Steve Austin. He comes out to a mixed reaction, booed and cheered, which Tommy Blacha says has nothing to do with Austin. That is the audience booing the writing. Foley brings in Shawn Michaels, who points the finger at The Rock and leaves. William Regal on commentary agrees. Tommy was in attendance at this show and remembers the crowd already feeling the weight of a year of stalling.

The reveal comes after the main event. Foley exonerates The Rock and then points to Rikishi. The crowd gives him nothing. Rikishi repeats himself. He explains he ran over Steve Austin for The Rock because WWF was always about the great white hope and his people were always held back. Rob and Tommy dismantle this immediately. The Rock had already been world champion. He was once the corporate pick over Steve Austin. Yokozuna was a world champion. The logic is broken on every level. Rikishi later said he was unhappy with the angle, hated memorizing a long scripted promo he did not believe in, and felt the company killed the hottest character he had ever had.

Tommy explains what was happening backstage: too many writers, new people cycling in every few weeks, no script supervisor, and a bottleneck at Vince producing whatever survived to the last minute. Rob notes Foley reportedly turned down being the driver because his Christmas book for children was coming out. Tommy says they should have had Rikishi say he did it, attack someone, and powder. Save the explanation for later. Instead they got the Scooby-Doo ending and burned Rikishi’s momentum at the same time.

Other major discussion points include:

– Lita wins a hardcore women’s title match against Jackie with a cookie sheet; Jackie awkwardly repositions herself on a ladder mid-spot; Lita is genuinely over with this crowd

– Chyna and Deborah have a backstage chat where Deborah jokes that Eddie Guerrero talks funny; Rob and Tommy find it too stupid to even be offensive

– Raven challenges Steve Blackman to a non-hardcore match to get heel heat for denying the crowd weapons; Lillian Garcia announces it as a hardcore title match anyway; Ross corrects her live on air; the crowd is dead until Blackman pulls out nunchucks after the bell

– X-Pac and Benoit versus Triple H and Jericho is the best match of the night; four elite workers pull off a convoluted reluctant-partners story cleanly; Benoit pins Triple H; Tommy notes it goes nowhere

– The Conquistadors debut by attacking the Hardys during a Low Down match; a GTV clip interrupts the Eddie and Chyna match to reveal Eddie in the shower with two valets; Chyna’s performance in the breakup scene is the best acting she has done on this run

– Michael Clark Duncan is in the crowd; Tommy shares a story about Vince McMahon arguing with Shane over whether Michael Clark Duncan qualifies as huge

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0:00 Cold Open

0:28 Welcome / RAW 10/9/00

1:49 Austin Hit-and-Run Origins / Everyone Pitched to Be the Driver

7:13 Sunday Night Heat Promotion / Marketing Missed Opportunity

8:42 Ratings / Anaheim / WrestleMania 2000 Arena

14:08 Risk-Averse Booking / The Machine Growing

18:10 Foley Opens to Mixed Reaction

19:13 Main Event Booked / Jericho & Triple H vs X-Pac & Benoit

21:08 Shawn Michaels Brought In / Points to The Rock

25:00 Lita vs Jackie (Hardcore Title)

27:17 Chyna & Deborah Backstage

29:50 Deborah Interrogated by Foley

32:17 Triple H / Stephanie Backstage

35:43 Linda McMahon Limo Arrives

36:35 Raven vs Blackman / Lillian Garcia Botch

41:40 Linda McMahon Interrogated

46:18 X-Pac & Benoit vs Triple H & Jericho

49:15 Triple H Demands Benoit at No Mercy / Edge & Christian

50:01 Hardys vs Low Down / Conquistadors Debut

51:13 Al Snow (Greece/Grease) / Regal on Commentary

55:33 Eddie & Chyna / GTV Shower Reveal

1:01:42 Michael Clark Duncan / Vince’s Definition of Huge

1:03:20 Crash Holly / Scotty Too Hotty Interrogations

1:04:51 Chyna Breaks Off Engagement / Billy Gunn

1:07:48 Main Event: Rock & Rikishi vs Angle & Kane

1:08:45 Rikishi Reveal / “I Did It for The Rock”

1:17:22 Listener Mail / Rikishi Quote / Meltzer

1:24:50 Patreon / Sign-Off