What's the story?
Bruce Prichard has revealed the details about The Undertaker throwing Rikishi off the top of the Hell in a Cell, which marked only the second time such an incident had occurred in the WWE. The story was told during the Kurt Angle episode of "Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard" on the MLW Radio Network.
In case you didn't know...
Back at Armageddon 2000, WWE decided to book a six-man Hell in a Cell match between The Rock, Stone Cold, The Undertaker, Triple H, Rikishi and Kurt Angle. The death-defying bout led to the company being worried that they wouldn't be able to top the heights of the previous HIAC matches, which is understandable when you consider the Mankind spots that shocked the world.
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The heart of the matter
According to Prichard, as a result of the previous stunts, there was a constant thought in the minds of the bookers that somebody would have to take some kind of bump off of the cell. The idea of Rikishi falling into the truck bed full of pine chips came from Michael Hayes and Jim Ross.
There was concern about Rikishi and ‘Taker falling through due, especially due to the Samoan's size. Earlier in the day during rehearsals, Rikishi also had a crash mat present, with the whole angle intended to write him off television as his heel character had begun to get stale.
What's next?
We'll likely be hearing even more fascinating stories from the big, mad world of professional wrestling over the next few weeks and months with Prichard's podcast really starting to pick up some steam. His long history in the business has left him with many stories to tell, and pro wrestling fans are more than happy to spend hours at a time listening to them.
Sportskeeda's take
It's interesting to hear about the thought process behind what was, and still is to this day, one of the most dangerous stunts in WWE's history. It was a phenomenal visual when it took place, however, for some reason, it's never really mentioned when people think about Mankind's antics in the Cell.
Nonetheless, we love hearing snippets from behind the scenes and we thoroughly hope that it continues with Prichard continuing to thrive under this format.
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