Rhyno released, Creative Team Member gone as well

[MyOwnSummer]

[WWE] Two Depart WWE

Posted By Jeremy Lambert on 04.08.2005

 

Rhyno gets GORED ...

According toPWInsider.com, World Wrestling Entertainment informed Rhyno earlier today that he was being released by the company, stemming from the post-Wrestlemania 21 incident at the Universal Sheraton in California. As reported here at InsidePulse, Rhyno broke a large flowerpot vase in the foyer of the hotel during an argument with his wife. WWE management escorted Rhyno back to his hotel room and he flew home for Los Angeles the following Monday, as opposed to staying for the Raw show.

 

There's no word yet if Rhyno's release will change his status for the ECW One Night Stand PPV. The WWE will utilize outside talent for the show on June 12th in New York City.

 

Also on the day's departures was Tom Chehak, the managing editor of the WWE creative team, who has left the company. There are no details as to why he left the WWE. The company brought Chehak in to oversee both the Raw and Smackdown! brands' writing teams after WWE commissioned Hollywood consultants to help their creative process and sugget as to how they could improve it. Chehak has reportedly been ridiculously ill-suited to work with in the wrestling business and nobody in thw company was impressed by his creative vision.

 

Credit: PWInsider.com

I'm a little dissapointed that Rhyno's been released because I was a fan of his. My favorite hardcore match in the WWE was his match with Raven in 2001 (IIRC) at a ppv.

 

However he's never really been used to the best of his ability and I remember reading somewhere that Vince didn't like him. His temper tantrum was the last straw but hopefully he can get a good job in TNA or Japan.

[goodhelmet]

You can say he was never used to the best of his ability but he was far more entertaining to watch in WWF than when he was in ECW. In fact, I can't think of one Rhino match in ECW that is worth watching.

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

He was easily one of the most overrated products of late ECW. I forgot he was even still with the company, so I can't say it's a blow to have this happen.

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

You're pretty much on the chopping block anyway if all it takes is something as ridiculous as breaking a vase to get you released.

[Guest Danny Dubya v 2.0]

Breaking hotel flowerpot vases > shitting in people's bags, in terms of youreinthedoghousity.

[Al]

Breaking hotel flowerpot vases > shitting in people's bags, in terms of youreinthedoghousity.

There's some validity in that, simply because this incident occured in public. Wrestlers prefer to keep problems in house, as evidenced by the kangaroo courts.

[Guest Some Guy]

How about beating your wife after you've walked out on the company with no notice? I guess breaking a flower pot is worse. Rhyno was pretty over in 2001 and then they started to bury him, he was a decent worked in the WWE environment and certainly deserved a better spot on the card than he had.

 

CWM, the HC match against Raven was at Backlash 2001 and was the best WWF Harcore title match ever.

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

As if being released is actually determined by the incident. I say they were looking to dump him, and this was the perfect way to do it without it appearing like just another talent cut.

[Guest The Man in Blak]

How about beating your wife after you've walked out on the company with no notice?  I guess breaking a flower pot is worse.

If Rhyno was one of the biggest draws of the last decade who was symbolic of the WWE's new golden age, I suspect they would have let it slide.

 

Rhyno's good as a supplemental piece - he was great as the angry hunchback for ECK and he could have been nice as an enforcer for a Raven's Nest, if they had ever gone that route...but he was never a worker that you could build a program around. He doesn't have the crossover appeal that Bill Goldberg had (probably the most comparable worker, unfortunately), and he didn't really bring anything to the table exciting in terms of moveset, though he sure could lay down a mean spear.

 

The aforementioned match with Raven is probably his best WWE work and, though I've seen some of his ECW matches, they're kind of a blur to me, which means that they probably weren't so great. It's unfortunate that he's gone, considering that there's plenty of lower/middle card talent that doesn't have half of what Rhyno has, but his departure is probably not going to sink the company.

[Guest Some Guy]

I realize the differance between Austin and Rhyno, my point was that Rhyno was fired for making a scene in a hotel seen by maybe 50 people. Austin was arrested for beating his wife, which made the news in Texas and the rounds on the net and he walked out on the company twice. One is way worse than the other and far more embarrasing and damaging to the company.

[Guest Hunter's Torn Quad]

The Austin comparison is more ironic than you think.

 

Rhyno and his wife are in the middle of a divorce, and his wife is wanting to take their daughter back to Germany to live with her, which is what happened with Austin and his first wife.

 

So people know, the fight started because Rhyno's wife showed up at the hotel without their daughter, and Rhyno was understandably upset over this. She was the one who apparently started the argument, which ended with Rhyno smashing the potted plant.

[MyOwnSummer]

As far as I know Austin didn't "beat" his wife. He pushed her or something like that. That's still horrible and scummy and disgusting but there's a big difference between that and beating her.

 

I might be confused though since there's so many domestic abuse cases with sports stars...

[Guest Hunter's Torn Quad]

Debra did wind up with bruises on her eyes, and while she herself didn't press charges, the police would up doing so anyway, and I'm guessing they must have felt pretty confident that Austin did cause them, though it might not have been with his fists. For what it's worth, when Debra showed up bacstage at a Raw taping a few months ago, the talk was that, while nobody was agreeing with what Austin did or did not do, pretty much everyone felt it was understandable, given that Debra has a rep for being very annoying.

 

The woman Austin shoved was his psycho ex-girlfriend, Tess. She was the one who pulled out a knife at a restaurant with Austin and his attorney, tried to stab the lawyer, and then claimed that the attorney pulled the knife on her.

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

So basically because of his soon to be ex-wife, Rhyno has lost his job and possibly his daughter? Time to revive a Bitches Be Trippin' thread!

[Coffey]

Man, I didn't think that Rhyno would get fired over that shit but I guess he's "expendable." I've never really thought that he was anything special anyway. Especially since he's lost all of that intensity. Ever since his neck surgery, he's just not been the same. He used to deliver the Gore in a way that made you wait to see if he'd connect with it or not. Nowadays it's as shitty as Edge's version.

 

In ECW I always thought that Rhyno was a joke. I remember getting pissed off because they were pushing him so hard. I was like "why's this nubby bastard consistantly going over Sandman?"

[sek69]

Rhyno was over in ECW because of Heyman's ability to get anyone over and the fact that most of the guys in ECW were average sized. Once he was in the ring with WWE guys it really exposed him as a midget.

 

I can't say I'm gonna miss him, but getting fired for breaking a flowerpot is pretty lame. I guess they view public domestic disturbances the same way they look at flying first class, only main eventers are allowed to.

[Guest Hunter's Torn Quad]

It's true that Rhyno got over huge in ECW because of Heyman's ability to book around his weakness and emphasis his strengths. What I don't get is why a lot of people are getting overly critical of that fact. A wrestler gets over best with that type of booking, and why such an intelligent concept draws the intense hatred that it I've seen it draw is something I really don't understand.

[Guest Some Guy]

Nor do I. A lot of the "IWC" has a very HHH-ish view on certain guys because they don't like them. Look no further than TSM's WWE Folder to see the proof. Last year they were begging for Orton to get pushed (there is a "classic thread" called "Raw is Randy and that's juts dandy" where half the board creams their pants over Orton and now they hate him because of whatever reasons). I'm guilty of it to some degree as well with my dislike for Batista, but if he draws I don't begrudge WWE for pushing him. Every guy can be picked apart but many guys who do have some very strong points and the ability to draw, yet many weaknesses that can be hidden by good booking (Goldberg and RVD jump out at me right now) get crucified both by WWE politics and the "IWC." I don't get it.

[Guest Hunter's Torn Quad]

I'd say it's a simple, yet sad, case of them looking for any reason, no matter how trivial, to bring down a guy they hate.

[sek69]

The "IWC" always gets behind the underdog, then if the WWE ever pushes them they end up turning on the guy faster than one of Hogan's tag partners. I think part of it is the somewhat elitist attitude of being a mark for someone underpushed just to be different, then once your guy gets pushed and has people on his bandwagon being a fan of the guy is nothing special.

 

As far as Heyman style booking being hated, I'd wager most of the heat comes from the workrate wonks since that kind of booking usually protects poor workers. Not to mention sometimes Heyman didn't know when to stop, with half the matches having 947 run-ins and "lights go off and on" spots just to hide the fact that there was two garbage workers in the ring.

[Loss]

It's the right kind of booking, regardless. Even the best workers in the company aren't perfect. You wouldn't book Benoit to do 20-minute promos every week. You don't put Eddy Guerrero next to divas that are taller than him. You don't give Rey Misterio a live mic. It's the same thing, really. Why expose someone's weaknesses when the goal should be to make everyone look as good as possible?

[sek69]

The one negative of Wrestlemania weekend was an incident involving Rhyno, that has since resulted in his release.

 

Rhyno is going through a bitter divorce, and his wife is planning on moving to Germany with their child. She showed up at Wrestlemania, but without their daughter, and Rhyno lost his temper in the hotel. He got heated and violent and security had to be called, and he actually threw a large potted plant described as too large to lift.

 

Tommy Dreamer talked Rhyno into going ot his room, but he ultimately resisted and got into a shouting match with John Laurinaitis, saying basically that he had nothing left to live for and that he didn't care if he was released.

 

Rhyno was taken off the road immediately after the incident, and has since been released from WWE.

 

Wow. This is turning into one of those stories that ends with "...and then he turned the gun on himself."

 

Someone says they have nothing left to live for and they respond with firing him, taking away the one thing left in his life?

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

There's the sort of thing the company would release you over. If history's shown us anything, it's that they like to wipe their hands clean of potential PR nightmares such as wrestling deaths. Now if Rhyno goes and kills himself, WWE doesn't look as bad because he wasn't an employee at the time.

[Loss]

The right solution would have been to suspend Rhyno for 30 days, make him pay for the damages and then give him some time off, maybe even paying for psychiatric care or strongly suggesting that he do it himself if he wants to keep his job. Releasing him is irresponsible.

[sek69]

Maybe its just my bleeding-heart liberalness, but if someone's expressing suicidal thoughts you try to get them some help rather than kick them in the balls.

 

I guess Vince already proved his views on suicidal employees with the whole Kerry Von Erich deal, so as long as the blood doesn't get on his suit no big deal.