Rhino On The Moment Hulk Hogan Stopped Being His Hero

During his appearance on the Talk'n Shop Podcast, former WWE Superstar and ECW original Rhino spoke about his first experience meeting Hulk Hogan at a WCW show.

"I get booked, it was a pay-per-view, it was Macho Man and Ric Flair in the main event, and Macho Man had his dad, Angelo Poffo," Rhino said. "So back then you could rest with the boys, right? So I'm sitting next to Angelo Poffo, talking, watching Hogan, and he could see that I was watching him out of the corner of his eye. And he didn't have to work, he was just walking down halfway and then security had to pull him back.

"I was supposed to wrestle Road Warrior Hawk, just to do a job before the pay-per-view to air on TV, but Hawk didn't show up. So they just go, we might have you dress as security and hold Hogan back. And I thought to myself, 'I'm going to touch him!' And I'm like, 'so they don't use real security'. I'm in the business for like six months before that."

Rhino spoke about being 21 at the time and watching Hogan closely while backstage at the show. The former SmackDown Tag Team Champion revealed that Hogan drank several beers before his match that night, eliminating him as his childhood hero.

"All of a sudden he had his own little locker room, there was a cooler, you know outside, where they put the pop in," Rhino mentioned. "All of a sudden he reaches in there and pulls out a beer. And I thought to myself, I'm training, I'm learning carbs and all that stuff. He's got abs and I'm like, the kid inside of me took over, he said, 'train, say your prayers and eat your vitamins, he said nothing about beer'.

"Yeah, he was 44 at the time, so I know he's over 21, he's legally able to drink, he's not wrestling, I'm doing all this in my head, right? And I'm watching the monitor, right, so I, this still live in my head rent-free. So I'm like, 'okay, you know what? One beer, I'll excuse it'. The child inside of me excuses things. Maybe it's a ritual. So then he grabs another one.

"So I'm like, my dad could drink 18 beers and not get f-cked up, so Hogan can have two. Now I'm comparing this. Then he grabs a third one, now I'm concerned right? Not because of him getting out there and doing his job, now I'm concerned because of my childhood image of him is being destroyed. So I'm making more excuses, right? Then he'd drink a fourth one, and then a fifth one and I'm really starting to get upset.

"Well, by the fourth one, the Big Show comes back because that's when he was sitting in the audience. They would show and then they would walk off, he had the trench coat. Him and the Big Show, The Giant. 'Okay his buddy came back, so he has to have a beer with his buddy'. So that's like the fifth one. So here comes a buddy, have one with them. So he drinks his beer, and I go, you know what, 'I'm f-cking done. I'm done. He's not my hero, I wish I never got booked for this.' I still haven't forgiven him, I need an apology from him."

The former WWE superstar revealed back in 2019 that he was offered "more than double" what he was making at the time with WWE but still turned it down. Rhino left the company to join IMPACT and has been with the company ever since.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Talk'n Shop with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.