text: World Wrestling Federation (1997–2001) Lawler, still known as Brian Christopher, joined the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1997 and began competing in the light heavyweight division. Taka Michinoku defeated him in the finals of a tournament for the Light Heavyweight Championship. In mid-1998, he started teaming up with Scott "Too Hot" Taylor to form the tag team Too Much. When he was known as Brian Christopher, his father Jerry Lawler would talk him up as being superior to all the other Light Heavyweights but never publicly acknowledged that Brian was his son, although after Paul Heyman revealed that fact on Raw, Jim Ross (Jerry's broadcast partner) always hinted at it. Often a running joke was that someone (usually a commentator) would mention their relationship, which led to both of them adamantly denying that they were related.
  On the June 13, 1999, episode of Heat, Brian and Scott adopted the ring names Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty, returning after a hiatus. Their tag team was renamed Too Cool, and they were later joined by Rikishi. They defeated Edge & Christian in May 2000 on Raw to become the Tag Team Champions. They were even occasionally involved with top-card feuds, notably being enemies to the McMahon-Helmsley Faction and their associates, such as The Radicalz, Edge and Christian, and T & A. The trio's run ended in late 2000 when Rikishi was revealed as the man behind the wheel of the car that hit Stone Cold Steve Austin at Survivor Series. Shortly after, Rikishi turned on his teammates. While Scotty was sidelined in 2001 with a broken ankle, Lawler formed a short-lived tag team with Steve Blackman. In June 2001, he was released from the WWF for illegally conveying drugs across the Canada–United States border.