During the late 1990s, there were few wrestlers that could grab our attention like Rhino. He had the size and ferocity that drew our attention to him during his run in ECW.
He was fun to watch and his Gore remains among the best, if not at the top, of the spears used regularly, and it set him apart at the time as the War Machine.
He’s had a great career and even won the United States Championship and Hardcore title during his first run in the WWE, and then had solid runs through TNA (Impact Wrestling), ROH and others before he returned to the WWE in 2015.
He spent some time in NXT where he teamed with Baron Corbin in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament, and then moved back to the main roster where he teamed with Heath Slater to become the inaugural Smackdown Tag Team Champions.
But things went south after that as he explained on Doc Gallows and Karl Anders (The Good Brothers) “Talkin’ Shop Podcast” about his experience and how it was about more than the money.
Not on the road
Rhino explained how he loves being on the road and meeting and working with different people and he and Heath weren’t doing much of that. Special thank to Inside the Ring for the following transcripts.
“They (WWE) offered me the biggest contract they ever offered me. This was in 2019. And the thing was, it wasn’t like, ‘oh eff you, I want to one-up you or I’m better than this, I’m better than that’. They had a lot of guys under contract.
“Heath and I, we were only on the road like, one house show loop a week or a month and I love being on the road, I just enjoy it. I just enjoy being around the boys, I like to work.
“I would just be sitting home more, but making money. I was becoming miserable and I was hating, not just the wrestling business, I was hating life. I was talking to Scott [D’Amore, IMPACT executive] when I was able to and he was like, ‘yeah we’d love you but, you know, we have a budget, it’s pretty tight. But, you could go out and do indies’.
“I always enjoyed the indie scene because I like finding that talent and helping the talent out, I like being on the road and I can drive. So if I can help find the next Rock, or the next Austin, or the next Good Brothers you know, right? So that’s the goal.”
Interestingly, Inside the Ropes pointed out that Rhino’s contract with WWE ended in 2019, but he returned to Impact Wrestling in July 2019 and appeared at Slammiversary wearing a mask because he was still under his WWE contract.
That speaks volumes and it’s awesome that Rhino loves to give back and he deserved better than to just get paid and we’re glad he moved on to where he’s happier.
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