Rhyno

Terry Gerin
Terry Gerin
	File:Terry-gerin.jpg
Born	October 7, 1975; Detroit, Michigan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Rhino,; Rhino Richards,; Rhyno,; Terry Richards
Billed height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Billed weight	270 lb (122 kg)
Trained by	Doug Chevalier,; Scott D'Amore
Debut	1994

Terry Gerin (born October 7, 1975 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring names Rhino and Rhyno. He is currently working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

Career

Terry Gerin grew up in inner city Detroit. His father died when he was fourteen, and his mother often had to work up to three jobs to support their family.

Gerin trained as a wrestler at the Can-Am Wrestling School in Windsor, Ontario, Canada under Doug Chevalier and Scott D'Amore. He debuted in 1994 on the Detroit independent circuit under the ring name Terry Richards, and appeared with the World Wrestling Federation in 1995 as a jobber. Gerin later adopted the ring name Rhino Richards and began wrestling in Canada, where he formed a stable known as "THUG Life" with Joe Legend, Christian Cage, Bloody Bill Skullion and Sexton Hardcastle.

Extreme Championship Wrestling

Gerin debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1999 as Rhino, quickly joining forces with Steve Corino and Jack Victory. Rhino and Corino challenged Tommy Dreamer and Raven for the ECW World Tag Team Championship at Anarchy Rulz 1999, but were defeated. In late 1999, Rhino began feuding with The Sandman, and at November To Remember 1999 he teamed with the Impact Players to defeat Dreamer, Raven and The Sandman.

On March 12, 2000, Rhino lost to Super Crazy in the finals of a tournament for the ECW World Television Championship. He won the title on April 22, 2000, defeating Yoshihiro Tajiri. He lost the title to Kid Kash on August 26, 2000, but regained it less than a month later on September 9, 2000. His second title reign saw him defeat challengers such as New Jack, Rob Van Dam and Spike Dudley.

Throughout mid-2000, Rhino continued to feud with The Sandman, defeating him in title matches at Hardcore Heaven 2000 and Heatwave 2000. In the course of Rhino's match with The Sandman at Hardcore Heaven he delivered a piledriver to The Sandman's wife and valet, Lori. At Heatwave, Rhino attacked the couple before his match and attempted to force Lori's head into a toilet.

Rhino won the ECW World Heavyweight Championship on January 7, 2001 at Guilty As Charged, defeating The Sandman in a squash match immediately after The Sandman had won the title from Steve Corino in a three-way tables, ladders, chairs and canes match. Upon his victory, Rhino merged the ECW World Heavyweight Championship with the ECW World Television Championship, creating the ECW Unified World Heavyweight Championship. He defended the title until April 10, 2001, when ECW declared bankruptcy.

World Wrestling Federation

Following the closure of ECW, Gerin signed a contract with the World Wrestling Federation. He debuted on the March 19, 2001 episode of RAW under the ring name Rhyno, aligning himself with Edge and Christian. Rhyno went on to help Edge and Christian defeat the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz for the WWF World Tag Team Championship in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at WrestleMania X-Seven.

Rhyno, Edge and Christian went on to form a stable with Kurt Angle known as Team RECK, with all four members reaching the semi-finals of the 2001 King of the Ring. Rhyno was eliminated from the event by the eventual winner, Edge. He went on to compete for the WWF Hardcore Championship, which he won on three occasions in mid-2001.

On the July 9, 2001 episode of RAW, Rhyno joined forces with several other ECW alumni, including the debuting Tommy Dreamer and the returning Rob Van Dam. The stable, led by former ECW owner Paul Heyman, went on to merge with a rival stable of WCW alumni later that night, forming The Alliance. The Alliance vied with the members of the WWF roster throughout 2001 in a storyline known as The Invasion. As a member of The Alliance, Rhyno feuded with Chris Jericho (who had insulted Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, the on-screen owner of ECW, on numerous occasions). On September 23, 2001 at Unforgiven 2001, he defeated Tajiri for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship. He held the title for just under a month before losing to Kurt Angle on the October 22, 2001 episode of RAW. As a result of his loss, Rhyno was "suspended" from The Alliance on the October 25, 2001 episode of SmackDown!. The suspension was an angle concocted to explain Rhyno's absence while he underwent cervical fusion surgery for two herniated discs in his neck. The surgery was performed on November 12, 2001.

Rhyno returned to WWF (now WWE) television thirteen months later on the February 27, 2003 episode of SmackDown!, aligning himself with Chris Benoit. Rhyno and Benoit went on to unsuccessfully challenge Team Angle for the WWE Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania XIX. Rhyno and Benoit continued to team together until July 2003, when Rhyno turned on Benoit. Rhyno wrestled on SmackDown! throughout the remainder of 2003 and early 2004, attempting to win the WWE United States Championship on several occasions.

In March 2004, Rhyno was drafted to the RAW brand of WWE. In July 2004 he formed a tag team with Tajiri, and the duo challenged for the World Tag Team Championship on several occasions throughout 2004.

In April 2005, at a post-WrestleMania 21 party at the Universal Sheraton in California, Rhyno engaged in a public argument with his wife, who he was in the process of divorcing, over the custody of their daughter. In the course of the dispute, Rhyno shattered a large vase that was standing in the hotel lobby. He was fired by WWE on April 11, 2005. He made his final appearance on WWE television at the WWE-produced ECW reunion pay-per-view ECW One Night Stand on June 12, 2005, losing to Sabu.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

File:Jarrett-rhinodriver.jpg

Rhino hits Jeff Jarrett with a Rhino Driver on the entrance stage of the TNA Genesis 2005 pay-per-view.

Rhino made his debut in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on July 17, 2005 (reverting to using an "i" in his name as he did in ECW, instead of the "y" spelling WWE had trademarked), by hitting then-NWA World Heavyweight Champion Raven with the Gore! following a match with Abyss, thus debuting as a member of Planet Jarrett. These events led to a match being scheduled between the team of Rhyno and Jarrett and the team of Raven and the returning Sabu at the Sacrifice pay-per-view on August 14, 2005.

During the Sacrifice preshow, Director of Authority Larry Zbyszko informed Jarrett, who had lobbied for a title shot for several weeks, that if he could pin Raven, he would receive a shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at the September 11, 2005 Unbreakable. However, should Jarrett lose the match, he would be prohibited from receiving a world title shot for one year. Later that night, during the tag match, Jeff Hardy returned to TNA, attacking Jarrett and enabling Rhino to Gore! and pin Raven. An irate Jarrett, furious at having lost his shot at the title, watched as Zbyszko announced Rhino to be the new number one contender immediately after the PPV went off the air.

Rhino faced Raven at Unbreakable in a match which saw him accidentally Gore! a shopping cart in an homage to his WWF Hardcore Championship bout with Raven at WWF Backlash 2001. Despite interference from Jarrett, Raven retained his title after DDT'ing Rhino.

Rhino fought Jeff Hardy in the main event of the first episode of TNA iMPACT! on Spike TV on October 1, 2005. The match was declared a no-contest after both Abyss and Sabu interfered. At TNA Bound For Glory 2005 on October 23, Rhino, Abyss, Sabu and Hardy faced each other in a Monster's Ball match, which Rhino won after hitting a middle-rope Rhino Driver on Hardy. Later that night, Rhino won a 10-man Gauntlet match to determine who would face Jeff Jarrett for his NWA World Heavyweight Championship after Kevin Nash, Jarrett's scheduled opponent, was rushed to the hospital due to a legit injury. Rhino went on to defeat Jarrett and win the title. The climb from a heel in Monster's Ball to the NWA Champion in the course of three separate matches made Rhino turn face.

Rhino lost the NWA World Title to Jeff Jarrett at a 2-hour Primetime special edition of TNA iMPACT! on November 3, 2005.

Starting with the November 26 episode of iMPACT!, TNA started airing promos about Rhino's career and personal life in preparation for his title rematch at Turning Point. He lost the rematch after a guitar shot and interference from all of Team Canada.

Rhino then wrapped up a brutal feud with Abyss, who (due to his alignment with Planet Jarrett) halted Rhino's war on Team Canada. The feud saw Abyss Black Hole Slam Rhino on to several chairs, and Rhino smash Abyss through a steel wall with the Gore!. Their singles feud ended in spectacular fashion at Against All Odds when Rhino Gored! Abyss off of a fifteen foot ramp on to four tables.

In April 2006, Rhino became a member of Sting's four man team of "Warriors", joining A.J. Styles, and Ron "The Truth" Killings to fight Jeff Jarrett's "Army" in a Lethal Lockdown match at the Lockdown Pay Per View.

On June 9th at TNA Hardcore War, a house show at New Alhambra Arena in Philadelphia, Rhino wrestled and defeated Jeff Jarrett. Afterwards he publicly acknowledged that he had been offered a contract to come back to WWE and wrestle for the new ECW. However, Rhino signed a two year contract with TNA.

On July 11, 2006, TNA released a press statement hyping up Rhino's appearance on TNA iMPACT later that night, with Rhino making an open challenge against the WWE for their current incarnation of ECW. The shocking revelation was that he didn't like the direction of the new ECW and threw the "real" ECW World Heavyweight Championship into a oil drum and burned it. Rhino stated in the interview that the WWE threatened legal action if the belt was shown on television and so, the "title belt" was hidden inside of a burlap sack. He did say that WWE was full of crap because they were trying to make more profit by recreating the past and the fans of TNA agreed with him. He did, however, say that he will become NWA World Heavyweight Champion, so he can prove that Vince McMahon is a hypocrite.

To further this statement he issued an open challenge, very similar to that of Kurt Angle's, by stating:

It doesn't matter who you work for – what company – whether it's a four-sided ring, six-sided or eight-sided – come to the iMPACT! Zone and face me face-to-face, because the end result is always the same - GORE! GORE! GORE!.

Rhino has since engaged into a feud with Monty Brown and Samoa Joe. On the July 27th IMPACT!, Rhino fought to a no contest with Samoa Joe. The finish saw the referee knocked out, Monty Brown interfere, Samoa Joe put Brown in the Koquina Clutch while at the same time lining up with the table, and Rhino Goring both Joe and Brown through the table.