Rhino Wishes He Had A Bigger Angle With Taz In ECW

They are two of the most celebrated names in ECW, but Rhino and Taz barely crossed paths in Paul Heyman’s celebrated promotion, a fact that upsets Rhino.

‘The Man Beast’ joined ECW in early 1999, with Taz leaving the promotion at the end of the year before making his WWF debut at Royal Rumble 2000. The two did wrestle three times during their time in ECW, but only once on television, and Rhino said the following about wanting to work more with the ‘Human Suplex Machine’ during an appearance on the Kurt Angle Show podcast:

"A lot of people forget I was the [ECW] TV Champion too," Rhino said. "So I was the only one to unify both titles. And coming from a promotion, like what Kurt [Angle] was saying, working with [Tommy] Dreamer and [The] Sandman and Rob [Van Dam] and Raven, and all these guys, and Mikey Whipwreck, Spike Dudley ... I'll tell you a quick story about Taz. The first time I wrestled him, he cuts a promo, he's like, 'I'm gonna make you bleed.' And he didn't.

"Well, here's the deal, right? I'm still old-school, kayfabe, but he throws me into the guardrail headfirst, and I dropped something [a blade]... We meshed really well together. I came through the back, and Paul [Heyman] goes, 'Hey, none of that matters; the match was great.' And we really complimented each other in the ring, Taz and I, and it's unfortunate that we didn't get a chance to work a bigger angle."

Rhino would eventually win the ECW World Championship at ECW’s final PPV event Guilty as Charged in January 2001, and would hold the title until the company folded mere weeks later. The two would have a quick singles match on WWF Raw is War in June 2001, with Rhino coming out on top.

H/T: Wrestling Inc.