On a recent edition of “The Kurt Angle Show,” Impact Wrestling star Rhyno discussed the dying days of the ECW brand, signing with WWE, and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On whether he saw issues in ECW in 2001: “Yes and no. You know what was crazy is — and I give a lot of credit to Pee Wee and Sabu for my career, because they — you know, after coming from Germany, you don’t learn a lot about the ins and outs of wrestling, you know, when you’re on the road all the time. Because you’re there working every night, you know, you kind of get the ins and outs there in that territory. But when I was over here, you know, Pee Wee was saying once we got that deal with TNN, he goes, ‘Everybody’s thinking this is the Holy Grail and everything’s going to — all of our dreams are going to come true all at once.’ He goes, ‘It’ll take one year before we really start seeing the TV really turn into dollars,’ you know? So it’ll take about a good year until we start seeing it in attendance, and ratings and all that stuff.
“And sure as s**t, he was right. But unfortunately, after that first year, TNN had already moved on to WWE. And I mean, you could see the crowds growing back and getting bigger than what they had been. So, you were thinking, ‘Okay, this isn’t going to end,’ you know, ‘We’re getting better.’ And then we’re hearing stuff about the network. We’re like, ‘Well, surely be picked up with someone else.’ And then we didn’t. So towards — I’d say the last month and a half, two months when we weren’t hearing a deal coming through, that’s when I kind of figured that the writing was on the wall. And then you didn’t see any dates after July or January 13th. And Paul said, ‘Hey, we’re going to take a little break.’ And usually when that happens, you know. So Bruce had already called me and we kind of — after, I told him, you know, ‘Wait until after there’s nothing there.’ Bruce Prichard. And he and Paul were good friends. And I told him I’m not going to take off until, it’s final that they’re not coming back. So.”
On being the last ECW World Champion: “You know, and a lot of people forget I was a TV champion too, So I was the only one to unify both titles. And coming from a promotion, like what Kurt was saying, working with guys like Dreamer and Sandman and Rob and Raven and all these guys and Mikey Whipwreck, Spike.”
On whether he was worried about signing with WWE: “Not really. Because they were doing that thing. Paul had come there and I was always, it was kind of like a mentor to. I had Edge and Christian, I went to them with a lot of questions. I was just going to work, you know, and that’s what I did in Germany and they always used me. they saw the potential there and they used me. And then I went to ECW and Paul, seeing the potential, and they used me there. And I always fit in any locker room I was in. And then when I went to WWE, well WWF back then, I just fit. And I had Edge and Christian there. They were like, Christian came up to me one time. This is after I started. He goes, and I had signed. And Austin and Triple H were talking in the cafeteria. They go, ‘Oh, we heard, we just signed that, Rhyno guy from ECW. Hopefully, he’s not a jerk or whatever.’
“So basically, Christian said, ‘Hey, listen. No, he’s a good friend of mine. He’s a great guy and he’ll fit in well.’ Because you know, Kurt, I mean, someone comes into that locker room and they’ve got the wrong attitude, they’re not going to be around. So they said, ‘No, he’s great.’ So I had that too. So it was a little adjustment, and then once I got to WWE, I noticed, working every night with guys, that was so fine-tuned. A lot of guys were fine-tuned, but it’s just like I felt I got even better, you know? And then I never really worried about my spot because if I went there, I showed up and I worked hard. I knew I would have a good position.”
