ECW original Rhyno appeared on the Kurt Angle Show, where he talked about a number of topics including getting an opportunity to work with Taz and how they complimented each other in the ring.
Rhyno said, “Yeah. And I’ll tell you a quick story about Taz. The first time I wrestled him, he cut a promo. He’s like, I’m going to make you bleed. And he didn’t. Yeah, well, here’s. Here’s the deal, right? I don’t want to get too into it. I’m still an old-school kayfabe, but he throws me into the guardrail, right? And headfirst, and I dropped something, so I’ll just leave it at that. So I’m like, Oh, man. And then all of a sudden, you know, and the match was so good, and I made Taz, you know, and Taz can make himself look good anyways, but we meshed really well together. And Paul came through the back and Paul goes, Hey, none of that matters. The match was great. And we complimented each other in the ring, Taz and I. And, unfortunately, he went to, you know, we didn’t get a chance to work a bigger angle, you know, not unfortunate that he went to WWE, but, unfortunately, we didn’t work a bigger program.”
Rhyno also spoke about why he stayed in IMPACT Wrestling (then-TNA Wrestling) instead of returning to WWE when they relaunched ECW in 2006.
“It’s funny because if you go back to 2006 when WWE was going to relaunch ECW, they had called me, and I resigned with Impact. The reason why I resigned with Impact is that when I got canned from WWE, I was going through a hard time in my life, and I don’t mind elaborating on that if you guys want to. So, I got canned. So then Dixie Carter gave me an opportunity, and the money wasn’t that great, but she gave me an opportunity, and I went there. And then after a year, they’re like, it was only a one-year deal because they signed me when they didn’t have a network, and they were in talks with Spike at the time. It’s funny because most of my career was with Spike from ECW in 99 until 2010. So whenever they switched to WWF. I went to WWF within 4 or 5 months. Then they got WWF and went back to USA Network. Within three months, I was back on, I was with Impact, and they were on Spike. Yeah. And nobody ever talks about that, right? And that was with impact all the way until 2011. So anyway, so fast forward to 2006. We worked out a deal for three years with Impact. And the reason why I didn’t go back to WWE or WWF well was because I feel like there’s someone when I had a low point in my life who gave me an opportunity and after a year, you know, I would take off for more money or, you know, maybe a better opportunity. So your loyalty was kind of like, that’s a crappy thing to do, you know? So even though it’s just business, they would understand no harm, no foul as a person. And in a way, it was better that I stayed there. I believe in God and everything and think God works in mysterious ways. I don’t think I would have been ready for that opportunity then. Now, fast forward to 2015. I was ready for NXT and WWE and tagging with Heath and all that, so.”
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