Rhino reflects on making his way back to WWE through the early days of NXT.
Rhino was an ECW legend and had some success in WWE, before ultimately going to TNA Wrestling and becoming NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion. However, in 2013, Rhino was ready to return to WWE and Triple H was building the NXT brand into the phenomenon it would become.
During a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Rhino reflected on making his way back to WWE and being told by Terry Taylor that while Triple H was all for bringing him back, Vince McMahon wasn't as high on Rhino as a performer.
“Hunter wanted to hire me back after TNA. Vince told Hunter, 'I like Terry as a person but he’s never going to work for us again, never.' I heard that in 2013," said Rhino. "Terry Taylor actually told me, I’m not sure if he was supposed to tell me or if Hunter told him. Hunter was a big fan of my work, he knows the importance of veterans working with younger talent in the ring. He said It’s not a battle I can win. I see Pat Patterson who has always been a fan of mine in Montreal in 2014. When you hear that it's like ugh, but I know I can change minds. Never doesn't mean never. So Pat goes to Vince, Steve Lombardi tells me I’m going to get a call. So, no call, Pat went to Vince, you gotta hire this guy, looks great, the crowd loves him, and we need him. Nothing.
"So Triple H, everything was going great in NXT, it was the hottest show," Rhino said. "Vince likes everything to go through him because if it goes wrong he has no one to blame but him. Which is totally respectable, I get it, but he likes ideas. Hunter booked me for NXT and I worked with Elias before he came up with that character. I was like please remember me. Hunter knew it would work, he knows how to book stuff and how to run wrestling. If something worked, Vince would be like ok, you don’t have to run stuff by me. I’m not saying I opened the door for Samoa Joe and the other guys, they were all important for NXT. but if he had someone come out and it was a dud then it wouldn’t have gotten the leeway.”
These days, Rhino is working for TNA Wrestling as a producer and on-screen talent. Learn more here.
Thanks to Chris Van Vliet and his team for sending the above quotes.
