Rhino Talks About Seeing The 'Writing Was On The Wall' In ECW
On the heels of a TV deal with TNN in 1999, ECW talents had reason to be optimistic about the company's future. But savvy veterans of the business knew that it would take time for that move to truly pay off and, armed with that information, Rhino wised up to ECW's eventual demise accepting that it was only a matter of time before too long.
Appearing on the last episode of "The Kurt Angle Show," Rhino was asked by Kurt Angle if he saw the issues ECW was starting to endure in 2000, just a little over a year into its run on TNN.
"Yes and no," he said. "[Referee Randy] 'Pee Wee' [Anderson] was saying once we got that deal with TNN, 'Everybody's thinking this is the holy grail and all of our dreams are gonna come true all at once. It'll take one year before we really start seeing the TV really turn into dollars.' And sure as sh**, he was right."
Rhino recalled that just as they had started to see attendance and ratings improve, "ECW on TNN" was canceled in favor of "WWF Raw Is War," moving over from USA Network. While talent and staff still held out hope, it became clear pretty quickly that things weren't going to get back on track.
"We'll surely be picked up with someone else," Rhino remembered thinking. "And then we didn't. Towards the last month and a half, two months, when we weren't hearing a TV deal coming through, that's when I kind of figured that the writing was on the wall."
Time to Move On
"Paul [Heyman] said, 'Hey, we're gonna take a little break,'" he added, "and usually, when that happens ..." Just as Rhino didn't have to complete that sentence to make his point, things were already in the works for his next move in the wrestling business.
"Bruce [Pritchard] had already called me," he said. "I told him wait until after there's nothing there [with ECW]. Him and Paul were good friends and I told him I'm not gonna take off until it's final that they're not coming back."
Rhino would go down as the final ECW World Heavyweight Champion (at least in its original incarnation), defeating The Sandman and defending the belt on two occasions before the company closed up shop. He'd move on quickly to WWF after all, debuting on "WWE Raw" in March of 2001 and aligning himself with Edge and Christian.
That affiliation led to a significant cameo in the much-heralded TLC match at WrestleMania X-Seven. Later, Rhino (now "Rhyno") played a key role in the ECW side of the infamous "Invasion" angle and has enjoyed a lengthy career that goes on to this day with Impact Wrestling.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit The Kurt Angle Show with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.