Wrestling veteran Riyno recently opened up about a scrapped early creative direction from his original WWE run that would have aligned him with Edge and Christian Cage as their storyline sibling.
Speaking on The False Finish podcast, the former ECW Champion shared that WWE initially pitched him as the “little brother” of the popular tag team duo during the early 2000s Attitude Era.
“They wanted to dye my hair and have me as their little brother,” Rhino revealed.
However, the plan didn’t sit well with either Edge (Adam Copeland) or Christian (Jay Reso), who reportedly voiced their concerns directly to WWE management.
“Adam and Jey both went to them [WWE management] and said, ‘Listen, the fans are going to sh*t all over this.’”
While WWE clearly saw Rhino as a valuable enforcer-type figure to complement the comedic yet dominant tandem, the proposed family angle was ultimately dropped. Rhino did eventually align with the duo in various segments, but without the forced storyline connection.
Rhino also recalled discussions around renaming his character entirely. At one point, WWE creative sought a new name to differentiate his persona, leading to input from a legendary figure behind the scenes.
“Then they’re [WWE] like, ‘Well, we need a different name.’”
“Legend actually said, ‘Like Chyna, they put a Y. Why don’t they change it to a Y?’ so I suggested that.”
Thus, the spelling of “Rhino” was transformed to “Rhino,” marking the version fans came to recognize in WWE and beyond.
Rhino would go on to become a key part of the Invasion storyline, win the Hardcore Championship, and remain a respected veteran across WWE, ECW, TNA/IMPACT, and now NWA.
Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more classic backstage stories and current wrestling news.
