Before he was the elder statesman of the NXT roster, before he hung out with Edge & Christian in high-profile WWE matches, and before being the ballistic missile of Pal Heyman’s ECW (and being its final champion before closing its doors), Rhyno had wrestled a few matches with WCW (and WWF) 20 years ago. After watching the match above, I took note of a couple of things:
- His Name: this is ‘Rhyno: Year One’ if you will (as in if you will allow me to make a Batman: Year One reference), as he wrestled under the name Terry Richards.
- His Opponent: Rhyno’s taking on “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, and yet I know it’s just something Duggan does, why does he chant “U-S-A” chant against American opponents?
- The Guy in the Crowd: At around 2:18, you’ll see some doe marking out something fierce when Duggan starts doing mounted punches.
- That Set: Remember those entrance ramp doors from WCW Saturday Night? Pretty sci-fi for southern-based “wrasslin’,” huh?