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SlamWrestling
Sept 6, 2000
ECW
invades Canada for their first show this Saturday in Mississauga,
Ontario, and two of their superstars can't wait."We're really
excited" Jerry Lynn to SLAM! Wrestling at an indy show in
Guelph. "I know that Canada gets ECW through TNN and that
there's a lot of fans for us." Terry "Rhino" Richards
agreed. "People get ECW TV and they're starving for it. They're
tired of driving three hours to Buffalo, or coming from the other
side of Toronto to see it. It's going to be in their own backyard
and it'll be a good show." With the uncertainty of ECW's
television status this fall it is likely that once again Canada
will be left without the ECW hardcore product. Lynn assures that
it won't stop ECW from returning. "If we do a really good
house up there I wouldn't be surprised if Paul E. has us do a
pay-per-view there."
While on the topic
of ECW television, both are certain that no matter where they
end up things will work out for the best. "We're all hoping
we get on USA because we at least know they'll try for us,"
Lynn said with a hint of anger in his voice. "Hopefully they'll
want to invest some money in us and that'll make them try harder
to get a nice return out of us. I mean, with TNN we were basically
their little guinea pig to see how wrestling would do without
any advertising whatsoever. Really anywhere we go we're going
to do better then we did with TNN 'cause they just basically screwed
us." Rhino seemed less worried about the impact moving networks
would have on the company. "I'm not really worried about
it. Wherever I wrestle, whoever I wrestle in front of, whether
there's 20,000 or twenty I'm going to do my job. I don't really
worry about TV deals. I don't have a lot of input, and I don't
know too much about it other than turn on the station and there
it is."
Another ECW happening
that has people talking is the XPW "invasion" that took
place at the Heatwave 2000 pay-per-view. For those who don't know,
the independent promotion XPW caused a disturbance during the
show, which lead to a physical altercation in the parking lot
outside of the building. After joking about the situation being
a work, Rhino got serious and admitted the situation was blown
out of proportion. "I don't think it was a big deal to be
honest with you. Were their names said? Who knows why they did
it, who knows what they did it for." Lynn jumped in with
a less sympathetic view of the situation. "They were trying
to make a name for themselves off of us, but all that came out
in the end was that they made fools of themselves, and they embarrassed
themselves. There was no way they were going to get any good out
of it."
When asked about
Paul Heyman's involvement in the altercation, Rhino was quick
to put any rumours to rest. "I was coming back from Burger
King and I guess what happened was they got pushed out the door,
and I heard there were a few punches thrown by the security guards
but it was all just a big rumour ... If that promotion succeeds,
that's great, there's one more place for wrestlers to work."
Often the subject of rumour himself, Rhino is getting tired of
it. "I've signed with the WWF three times and WCW was calling
me with Mike Awesome and I never once received a call from WCW.
It was all just rumours. It was in bad taste." Individually
these two men have been involved in feuds that have set ECW rings
on fire.
When asked about
his feud with the Sandman, Rhino made no attempt to hide the real
life animosity behind the two. "When you go out there, you
just have to go out and hope he's drunk because when he's sober
he's dangerous. [He laughs] Honestly, I think he's a filthy drunk
and I've told him that, but to each his own. ... He's just a disaster
and he'll be lucky to live into his forties." He was also
less then kind with his comments regarding the time the Sandman
came to ring drunk and among other embarrassing acts, pulled his
pants down in the ring. "Actually I thought it was kind of
funny at first, but you know what, I mean, with a [bleep!] that
small you gotta be piss drunk to get naked in the ring. [He and
Jerry both laugh.] No, actually, when he got naked I couldn't
believe it, I wasn't going to wrestle him naked. But he pulled
up his pants and wrestled, and pulled people's earrings out and
stuff like that but s--- happens and it gave people something
to read about." Switching over to Lynn, he admitted that
the legacy he and Rob Van Dam have built doesn't come with too
much pressure. "There's a bit of pressure because everyone's
expecting a really good match every time we wrestle. Then there's
a pressure to try and top the last match so people won't be disappointed
but that's really it. Rob's easy going, and he's willing to try
anything, and he always wants to do better too so that makes it
easier." Even after injuring his face earlier in the year,
Lynn says that he isn't any more cautious then he was before.
"That was a freak accident. You really can't be overly cautious
'cause that's usually when you get hurt. If you're to afraid to
do something, then that's when something will happen. It was just
one of those freak things."
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