Why WWE Had The Undertaker Throw Rikishi Off The Hell In A Cell

On the Kurt Angle episode of “Something To Wrestle With Bruce Prichard” on the MLW Radio Network, Bruce and Conrad discussed every aspect of Angle’s time in the WWF, including the infamous 6-man Hell in a Cell match at Armageddon in 2000.

Bruce says the spot where Rikishi got pushed off the cell onto a truck bed which was full of pine chips was the brainchild of Jim Ross and Michael Hayes. They had a truck there because Vince and his stooges were trying to destroy the cell by ramming the vehicle into it.

Bruce says that Shawn Michaels and Mick Foley set the bar so high that officials felt like they had to top that. There was a constant thought during a Hell in a Cell match that somebody’s got to take a bump off the cell. Bruce said that he hated those bumps off the cell because he wanted the boys to be safe.

There was also concern about the future Hall of Famer walking on top of the cell because the structure had fallen through before, and Rikishi was a heavy guy. Bruce confirms that Mick Foley wasn’t supposed to go through the cell during his epic encounter with Undertaker at King of the Ring 1998. In fact, the cell broke and he went falling to the mat below in a totally unplanned death-defying spot.

Bruce says they did practice the Rikishi bump prior in the day but he wasn’t landing on just pine chips. Daddy Uso also had a crash pad to land on that was buried under the bed of wooden debris to cushion his fall.

This spot was essentially also done as a way to get Rikishi off of television for a little while so they could repackage him because his heel persona was growing a bit stale.

Bruce says he always discouraged talent from doing dangerous moves such as Kurt Angle’s moonsault off the top of the cage and would often try to convince Kurt to rethink the move. Even when Bruce and Kurt’s paths crossed in TNA, Prichard continued to try and convince Angle to avoid such risky spots.

Sometimes you’ve just got to take the bump to make the match work.