On the most recent edition of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed never really being into Rikishi being as the person who ran over Steve Austin. Here is what he had to say:
"For some reason, I was never really turned on by this angle. I think it has to do with how it was originally started with Steve getting run over – it reeked of the Jerry Lawler/Eddie Gilbert rundown at Memphis TV. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it seems somewhat too similar for me. And I wasn’t sure that Rikishi being the great babyface that he was – we’re gonna lose his dancing, we’re gonna lose him putting smiles on faces as Vince would say – I thought that was a stretch. So, I was never that high on the angle itself for a variety of reasons, but the presentation was basically Steve going wild and going crazy and I’m not big on matches that have no ending – all of a sudden they’re over and there’s no conclusion to any large degree. It was one of the few times that I can tell you that all of the great things Steve did and would continue to do, it just didn’t connect with me. It has nothing to do with effort or workrate or any of that stuff. It’s just the fact that I thought it may have been miscast to some degree, and I never really bought in to any large degree."
Thanks to 411Mania for transcription.
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