Rhino (@rhinoterrygarin) is a professional wrestler known for his time in ECW, WWE, TNA and Ring Of Honor. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet in Las Vegas to talk about the return of TNA Wrestling, coming up on his 30 year anniversary as a wrestler, his memories of being ECW’s final World Heavyweight Champion and also the final ECW TV Champion, giving Sandman’s wife a piledriver through a table, how Paul Heyman got his gore over by famously shouting “Gore! Gore! Gore!”, coming up with the idea for Jeff Hardy to be speared off the ladder by Edge at WrestleMania 17, goring Chris Jericho through the Smackdown set and much more!
Quote I’m thinking about:“Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.” – Bob Kerrey
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On the TNA name change:
“I got used to saying impact, and then they switched it up, which I thought was a smart move, going back to TNA. A lot of the overseas markets still called the TNA and presented it as TNA. And I actually sat down with Scott D’Amore, and I asked him, Why move back to TNA? And he explained to me, and when they announced that I mean, everybody in Chicago, everybody started chanting TNA and the support online for switching it back. I mean, it’s incredible. And it’s not just like a shock moment. I mean, people were wanting that.”
On the six-sided ring:
“To me when I first got in there, when I went over there in 05. I thought it was going to be a little difficult, but I just decided, okay, well, if I want to go to the ropes, I’ll head towards the ropes. If I want to go to the turnbuckle. So you had a little bit less rope to play, Well, more rope, technically, but, you know, not as much room in between. [Is it tighter?] About the same cable. Yeah, it didn’t take me long to switch, you know, or get used to it.”
On the Gore:
“Well, here’s the thing, Paul [Heyman] gave it the name to Joey [Styles] and I’d use it, I wouldn’t use it as a finish. Steve Lombardi gave me as a finish. And now that one of the old veteran wrestlers, when you’re younger, you’re like, Oh, that guy don’t want it. That old veteran don’t want to do this because he wants to be lazy, he doesn’t want to take this bump or that bump. And as you become that veteran, you realise, because of all that time you put in, you’re helping them out, right, so I’ll get back to Lombardi. would use a pile driver as a finishing ECW. Then when I went to WWE at the time, you can do a pile driver on only Undertaker could. So that was a blessing in disguise because my back would have been torn up. So I would work with Steve on the live events. And this is important for younger guys to work with veterans. And then I had hit him with a spear when he comes off the ropes or a Gore. And then I pick them up and do a TKO. So I settled on a TKO for a finish. I’d always use the gore as a cut-off. And, and it would get a good reaction. And then he goes, Why don’t you just cover me after you go me? And I go, this motherf*cker, shouldn’t It’s okay. Okay, so I go, he does not want me to pick him up and take a TKO. But he said, you get a better reaction off of that, then you’re going to pick me up and do a move that gets no reaction. And I didn’t know what a setup would be for a TKO. He goes plus, you can hit it on anybody. So I’m like, okay, he doesn’t want to take the move, but whatever. So I just started doing that as a finisher and just built from there. And I figured I’d do the thing in the corner, you know, for a setup because we would have setups and stuff, belly to belly or spine Buster before that. Yeah, listen to the veterans.”
On the final days of ECW:
“I didn’t think it was gonna be over. Wherever it was, it was in Pine Bluff, Missouri or something like that. And I’m just like, Nah, Paul’s [gonna save it] and I wasn’t drinking the Kool-Aid. I believed in the product. And I believed in Paul and I believed in everybody in the locker room. Yeah. So if that’s drinking the Kool-Aid then I was, but if you told me, Paul Heyman, farted rainbows. I wasn’t gonna drink the Kool-Aid enough to say, Yes, he does. But if everybody working hard for that product, and, and he was working on something, and he might have had something come through, like a TV deal or something like that. I was probably 50/50. He might, he might not.”
On that first TNA promo:
“When I went there, Scott D’Amore was producing and stuff. I think Dutch [Mantell] was writing the shows and Jeff and, and Scott. And Scott goes here we’ll give Rhyno a promo. Jeff Jarrett goes, he can’t talk. D’Amore says Yes, he can. And Jarrett goes, Well, if he could have talked, he would have talked in WWE. And D’Amore goes, I don’t know exactly what he said that you can actually ask him. So he ended up sliding my first promo in, then I’m in the production meeting. Jarrett sees it. He goes, I told you he can’t talk. He goes, it’s on you, he told Scott, When he crashes and burns. It’s on you. And I’m cutting a promo, and we’re underneath the bleachers, got lighting, and I’m cutting a promo. And I see Jarrett talking to him. And then and then we watch it back and he goes oh hell, he can cut a promo. And I didn’t know what that meant. And Scott told me that afterwards, he said Jarrett didn’t think you could talk.”
On WWE:
“I learned so much working with Jericho. And I’ll never forget, because see, I’m the type of person, I’ll watch and study and I’ll learn. I’ll go to people one on one, I’m better one on one than standing up in the middle of the locker room going Oh, hey, rah, rah, rah, all this stuff. If I have to talk in front of people in a banquet setting or whatever I can, it’s not an issue. But I’m better one on one, What’s your issue? Is it personal? I can help you out because I went through personal stuff. Is it professional? Sometimes you might start cooling off people start getting upset with themselves what’s going on? And I tell them, Don’t worry, I mean, you have ideas and everything, but it’s not a bad thing, and don’t get discouraged, so I’m pretty one on one. I was always watching and hearing other stories, Triple H, how he does stuff. And Stephanie and even Shane McMahon and even Scott, I have a lot of conversations. Vince said you don’t learn wrestling, you learn the business and you learn wrestling from town to town. You talk about it over dinner at Denny’s. But I learned so much from Jericho after the shows and stuff before I started working with him in the ring, and just with Edge and Christian and we’d all get together and we’d all meet up at a Denny’s or a Waffle House or something. And then when I started wrestling Jericho, especially with the Stephanie McMahon [angle], where she was the owner of ECW. I learned a lot off of Stephanie, because we do pre-tapes and the lighting crew is there. So I’d asked her questions and how she worked in the mailroom in the summers and stuff when she was a kid and work your way up. And her parents said you got to learn all parts of the business and you gain respect from the people that you will lead and you’ll know what they need to do their jobs, so a lot of stuff like that. So I’m thinking to myself, Wow, childhood labour. I could have worked for WWE when I was 12. So no, but you learn different things and you learn about people and then you learn how charitable people are and that they don’t brag about it and nobody would know, but you hear things, you see things. That’s what I tell guys especially now they can learn so much with their phones watching matches, watching promos. What was old can be new again. What didn’t work that night might work the next night.”
On planning the WrestleMania 17 match:
“So it’s a big match. Everybody’s down there. And I didn’t do any appearances because they took me off TV. Lita was taken out, Spike was taken out, I was taken out. So nobody knew we were going to be there. So we didn’t have any appearances or anything. And so, I kind of was, just go work out, lay low, go to bed early. And I go to bed early a lot whenever I can unless I’m on the road wrestling. So we’re all asked to be at the Astrodome in Houston. And I think it was like 11 When we got there, maybe 12. And I mean, I tried to take a nap before so I’d be awake. And I’m sitting in Michael Cole’s announces seat and I’m just sitting there and they’re comfortable, especially at one o’clock. And they’re just working and this and that. And they’re talking and I’m starting to doze off. And it’s you know, when you’re starting to doze off you are fighting it, but it’s not working. And all of a sudden, I hear this Rhino! And I jumped, it’s Edge. And Bubba’s glaring at me. Bubba, told him, Look at your boy, sleeping. WrestleMania is tomorrow. A big match. Yeah, I mean, that was a big match ahead. So anyways, now I’m like, Okay, I gotta get up, walk around, move around. I didn’t want to interrupt the match. I’m not in the match, but you’re part of the match later on. And, you know, and it was one of those things where you’re still the new kid on the block. You kind of want to know your role. You don’t want to be overly then it’s like, Who’s this kid? You don’t want to fall asleep. So I got up and started walking around, and that Spear spot, Edge and Jeff Hardy, they’re just kind of going over this and he can’t jump that far. And you’re 18 feet [in the air]. I think those are 18-foot ladders or something crazy. And I’m just like, I’ve got the answer. But I don’t want to say anything because I have got heat with Bubba. And we knew each other in ECW and he knew I wasn’t a jerk or anything. So that’s why I think he let it slide and he didn’t actually kill me. So I’m just like, kind of like wanting to raise my hand going, Oh, I know the answer. I know the answer. And I’m like, You got to get him swinging. You know, that’s the whole key to that. So you got to get them close enough. Everything else is on you. I go, why don’t you just pick up the ladder? Because you don’t see Edge up there. And, Bubba, if you’re trying to get the ladder out from underneath, so that all happens. So I redeemed myself to Bubba. It’s legendary. That’s probably the greatest Spear ever.”
On the best Gore:
“Believe it or not one of the best Gore I’ve ever hit on someone was in Cadillac Michigan at the Wexner Centrer. It wasn’t for WWE. WWE used to go up there a lot in the 90s. Then they grew out of the building. And then we went back there. They just added it to a little bit was sold out. Big Show and Rey were in the main event. And it was for an independent group that we had probably about 900 people there. And Sabu was on the card too. And the guy’s name was Gameboy, but I still see him really cold dude. And I don’t know what it was, but you could probably find it out there. It was so gnarly. I literally thought I was sending them to the hospital.”
On Goring Chris Jericho through the SmackDown set:
“When they told me they’re like, Hey, we’re getting the set can you do something? I’m like, this ain’t gonna be memorable. But that is probably one of the most memorable moment. I think it hurt him more than a table but Jericho is tough, he can handle it. He’s like bring it.”
On The Rock taking the best Gore:
“Yeah, well he would flip and everything. And sometimes people would try to do that. And it just like kick me the back of the head. He jumps as well. I don’t know what he does, but he’s just amazing. Just an amazing athlete. I think he like jumps to the stunner too.”
On his ECW Mount Rushmore:
“Sabu, Taz, Raven and Sandman.”
On being rehired for NXT:
“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. I heard that in 2013. 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. He said It’s not a battle I can win. I see Pat Patterson who has always been a friend of mine in Montreal in 2014. When you hear that, I know I can change minds. 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. 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. Hunter knew it would work, he knows how to book stuff and how to book 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, but if he had someone come out and it was a dud then it wouldn’t have gotten the leeway.”
What is Rhino grateful for?
“God, the career I’ve been blessed with and everybody who comes up to me and talks to me.”
