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SlamWrestling
July 6, 1999
In
talking to Terry "Rhino" Richards, you soon realize
that the age-old stereotype of the "big, dumb wrestler"
doesn't apply here. While Richards is certainly big, weighing
in at 285 lbs, the Detroit, Michigan native is anything but dumb.
Ask him his opinion about American and Canadian relations and
his knowledge becomes instantly apparent. Richards admits to be
disappointing in the declining morals of his country. "To
be honest with you, I respect the people who go into the armed
forces, but I would never go because I don't think what America
today is, I don't think its worth dying for. You've got the President
who wouldn't go to the Vietnam War. How can he, or how can any
President, send troops to war? I know it's in the best interests,
but today I think it's more a business."
He is deeply disappointed in President
Clinton, especially. "I mean, I don't care who you are, if
you don't love your wife, you shouldn't be with her. If you love
her, you shouldn't do stuff like (having an affair). I think it
just shot the morals in America today." In 1997, he joined
a wrestling group in Detroit called "Thug Life" that
included Joe E. Legend, Christian Cage (The Brood's Christian),
Sexton Hardcastle (The Brood's Edge) and Bill Skullion. Their
anti-American stance mirrored that of Bret Hart in the WWF. "We
didn't steal it from them; I'm sure they had something like that
in mind for a while. It just happened to come out at the same
time." The group met while wrestling out in Winnipeg and
on Indian Reserves out west. The other members of "Thug Life"
made Richards an honoury Canadian. "I really do like Canada."
One of the group's anti-American actions included Joe E. Legend
and Hardcastle burning an American flag during a card, to upset
the American fans. Richards was not at ringside for the incident,
but is quick to defend his former teammates. "It's not against
the law anymore to publicly burn a flag."
Richards took no offence to the
action. "As far as that goes, I don't disagree with it and
I didn't get mad at them." Looking back on the incident,
he adds "If we went back in time, I would have been mad,
but now I wouldn't." He is equally conversant in the topic
of his trade pro wrestling. "Fake is a hardcore word for
it, because there's so many injuries. Wrestlers don't have a season;
it's all year round." While the WWF may claim wrestling is
sports entertainment, Richards disagrees with them somewhat. "It's
a sport, because you have to be an athlete. You have to be well-tuned
in cardio-vascular. (You have to be in) very good shape. It's
very tough."
After a match, Richards can attest
to how tough it is. "I'm sore, my body's beat up. I don't
think it's fake." He maintains that parents need to "step
back" and instruct their children: "Don't do this stuff."
Richards knows first hand the dangers of children trying to emulate
the wrestlers they see on TV and in the arenas. "I know a
fourteen-year-old kid... he's eighteen now... and he broke his
neck. It's sad because he's paralyzed from the chest down. Let
the kids know 'Don't try this stuff'." "It's really
not acting," Richards maintains, saying that the wrestler's
in-ring image and mood is based more on reality than some might
think. "A lot of people just dig deep and bring their personality
out," Rhino explains, adding that "Before I go out and
wrestle, I just think of a lot things that (anger me) and take
it out on the fans and they just react." "It's easy
to be yourself, hard to be something you're not." "It's
really a rough business, you gotta be dedicated, " Richards
says about his sport. "That's more or less (like) anything,
any type of occupation." Richards can see the link between
American politics and morals and pro wrestling. "Whatever
happens outside the ring ends up falling inside the ring.Look
at Hulk Hogan, a couple of things he did with Monica Lewinsky
look-a-likes, and the cigar and stuff like that, which draws the
money.
"As far as the role the WWF
took, as far as more hardcore, more women, (it's) not good morals,
as opposed to what it was in the eighties. Good vs. Evil, good
always won." Today, Richards notes that "Well, good
still overcomes evil, but in a more sluttier way." Richards
caught the wrestling bug in high school. In addition to playing
football for eight years, he also excelled in amateur wrestling,
"went to State (championship), sophomore, junior, senior
years." The younger Richards might not have been recognizable
next to the huge wrestler we see today.
"I was only 5'8" when
I was graduating from high school. I had a little growth spurt
and started training in the gym." His training and exposure
to area independent wrestling got Richards to thinking about a
pro career of his own. He then contacted Scott D'Amore of Windsor
to train him. He was soon wrestling for Border City Wrestling,
a Windsor-based promotion that D'Amore was affiliated with. Wrestling
has taken Richards all over the world, including working in Austria
and Germany for promoters Otto Wanz and Pierre Williams, in the
1997-1998 seasons.
Wrestling in Europe has been very
good to Richards. He won several CWA (Catch Wrestling Alliance)
World Tagteam titles, with Jean-Pierre Lafite and Joe E. Legend.
He and Legend still hold those titles. He also wrestled what he
considers to be his greatest match against Hans Shueman in Germany.
"It went nine rounds, nine three-minute rounds. I didn't
win, but it's probably one of the best matches I've had. Big crowd.
It was my first time overseas. It went back and forth. He went
all out; I went all out. From what I've heard from other wrestlers,
it was probably the best championship match that year." But
the happiness that Richards found in Germany was not limited to
his in-ring success. He also met his future bride there.
In comparing wrestling in Europe
to North America, Richards says that "over here, there's
more entertainment thrown in for the big bucks. Over there, it's
still a competitive sport. When the houses were down over here
in the early nineties as far as attendance, they were up over
there. Their economy was better than ours, and that has a lot
to do with it." In terms of the nature of the sport between
the two continents, Europe "has rounds. It's more of a competitive
sport, it's more like amateur wrestling. It's still professional
wrestling, but it's a lot harder." Since his return from
Europe, Richards has made his way to the Philadelphia-based ECW,
which he credits to "knowing a couple of people."
After a tryout match, Richards
caught the eye of promoter Paul Heyman, aka Paul E. Dangerously.
He worked with Heyman for a while longer and "one thing leads
to another." While appearing at a UCW card in London, Richards
got a phone call telling him that Heyman wanted him to come to
Philadelphia the next day. "I'm just trying to get my foot
in the door right now." Richards notes. Richards has high
praise for the Philadelphia-based hardcore promotion. "ECW,
I think, set the way for the WWF because right at the time they
made the switch (between their old and new styles), they worked
together for a little bit and I think the WWF used ECW to make
that switch."
"As far as ECW goes, I feel
strongly that it's a really good company to work for. It's smaller,
it's more a closer team. I feel it's up and coming. It's not swinging
chairs and breaking tables, it's wrestling. I mean, they do throw
tables in there. You know, you got a couple people in there who
are chair-swinging, table-breaking freaks...barbed wire baseball
bats, that's their reputation but they do wrestling too. I feel
it's got a cult-like following. People are wanting something different,
wanting something like underground. They don't want the big-media,
big glamour, glitz. I think they're going to make a big mark on
the wrestling world, they already have."
Richards says about his next endeavour.
"I'm looking forward to it." But don't look for him
to billed as Terry Richards however. The nickname of Rhino was
given to him by D-Lo Brown and Scott D'Amore at a show in Detroit
a few years ago. He has since dropped his last name of "Richards"
in the last couple of months, to avoid confusion with former ECW
mainstay Stevie Richards. Rhino has already wrestled ECW Heavyweight
Champion Taz, facing him on June 17th in Chicago and June 18th
in South Bend, Indiana. "Hell of wrestler," is how Richards
describes Taz, "very dedicated." Richards is equally
impressed with fellow ECW star, Sabu, describing him as "crazy,
he's been through a lot. His uncle, The Sheik, has put him through
hell, in training. He had heart, he just kept on. It's like being
beat down and getting up and being beat down and getting up and
never quit. To be honest with you, I'm suprised the human body
can take what he's taken as far as his matches, crazy matches.
I've seen tapes of him and you know what, he's a hell of a wrestler
too. He'd do anything, you name it, from wrestling, high-flying
and I've really gained a lot of respect for him, watching him
wrestling.
Richards has also appeared in the
WWF, wrestling a "dark match" against Briar Wellington
on the undercard of a Raw taping in Cleveland in June, 1998. "It
was really good, Richards remembers. "They really liked me,
and I went to their (training) camp. Nothing would come of it,
as I had agreements to go back to Europe."
In working with the WWF, however,
Richards made sure not to "burn a bridge" with ECW.
He maintains that "I really believe strongly in the company
(ECW). It's a helluva company (with) a lot of hungry, hungry guys."
In looking to the future, Richards says "I see ... nothing
but good. You need a strong heart, sometimes you hit a plateau,
you just gotta change up some things, be creative. When you get
beat down, just get back up and come back fighting."
Rhino will continue to travel into
southern Ontario for shows. He's booked for the CWA show at Medieval
Times in Toronto on August 10 and is expected to be a part of
the next UCW show in London
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