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Yeah... I'm seeing a Heidenreich run-in on this.
While JBL is on a slightly more entertaining "Diesel"-esque run as champ, he isn't really hurting the business as much as HHH did with his lackluster year-long title reign (that might have been an experiment with WWE). That actually hurt HHH more than it helped him, really. With JBL, it's a question of ....what's next after he eventually drops the belt (if not to Taker, to some other WWE superstar...Cena perhaps)?
It's a worse situation than Brock Lesnar post WWE-title loss because he's gonna really have to work to put on entertaining matches and feuds after this.
As for Rikishi, the two situations are definitely comparable, but they should have gone with the obvious choice (Billy Gunn or HHH). Rikishi was slowly becoming a routine act, and I liked him as a heel.... just Rikishi's "rationale" for turning heel sucked big time.
They were going for "shock" instead of sense, and that wasn't the only time it burned WWE. At least with Bradshaw, while the change was definitely sudden, JBL made it believable. The character was closer to home than expected. I don't think Rikishi really "felt" the heel turn, and when that happens, crap is bound to ensue (see Goldberg as a heel).
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