9 months ago
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WWE
Rhino has had a long and storied career. He was the final ECW World Champion and the final ECW Television Champion, and his gore is often cited as the most devastating moves in wrestling. That said, one part of his career that doesn't get brought up much is when he made his return to WWE in 2015.
Sitting down on the "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" podcast, Rhino admitted that he was grateful for WWE re-hiring him as there was a point in time when Vince McMahon didn't want to bring him back. "Hunter wanted to hire me back after TNA," Rhino said. "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. Terry Taylor actually told me; I'm not sure if he was supposed to tell me or if Hunter told him." Rhino stated that Triple H was always a fan of his work and saw value in bringing him to "NXT" to work with younger talent and help them grow.
After a long process of fighting to change people's minds, Rhino was brought back by Triple H to work in "NXT," where he hoped that the fans at Full Sail University would remember him from his work in ECW and TNA. "When I went out, I worked with Elias before he came up with that character," Rhino said. "People chanted holy s**t...I was praying like, 'Please let them remember me.' I was still wrestling full-time, I've never stopped wrestling, and Hunter knew that, and he knew it would work."
Rhino made such an impression that after working in "NXT" and being offered a Legends deal, Vince McMahon handpicked him to get a full-time WWE deal on the main roster for three years. He won the "Smackdown" Tag Team Championships with Heath Slater, before leaving WWE in 2019.
Please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" when using quotes from this article, and give a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
