There have been quite a few things said about Rhino being the world champion now in TNA. I have posted my comments about him being champion myself, how he is a suitable and credible champion, but how it just isn’t his time to be champion right now. However, TNA has given Rhino the ball and they have to make sure they give him a firm grip on the ball, not just give it to him in a position where he drops it in a month. Rhino has been getting the reaction of the fans lately so TNA needs to treat Rhino like a face world champion who just won the title at their WrestleMania. And unless Rhino is fighting Hulk Hogan next month at Backlash. . .I mean Genesis there should be no plans for him to lose that belt in the near future. But future pay per view opponents, matches, and defenses are for another part of the board, this is about what Rhino needs to do on Impact and at the Prime Time Special to help establish himself as the World Champion of the WWE’s only competitor.

First of all, Rhino just like any other face needs to come out at the opening of Impact, or since they already taped it, at the opening of the Prime Time Special and get a minimum of five full minutes to talk. TNA isn’t about a lot of talking, but there are four people in the company who get to talk as much as they want, they are, in this order:
1) The World Champion
2) The X Division Champion
3) ½ of the World Tag Champions
4) The other ½ of the World Tag Champions

Rhino is the number one guy in the company now, he is who fans are going to be paying to see, so you need to allow him as much time as needed to further establish his character as a whole with some mic time. Then after he talks his opponent or I would hope his opponentS for Genesis can come out and there can be a stair down and you can throw on whatever other gimmicks or stipulations you want. But it is pivotal that Rhino is allowed to talk on the mic and given a chance to say whatever it is he wants to say, and what he needs to say.

After all, Rhino has been through a lot in his career over the past five years. He has been through as much as anyone in the wrestling business if you really think about it. And when he gets on the mic on Impact or on the Prime Time Special he needs to tell us all about it. If this sounds like I am marking out for Rhino, I’m not, although I am a fan of Rhino I am just writing things that he may need to say, that neither he nor the “creative minds” of TNA would think to have him say.

Five years ago he was brought in as a no name muscle man for Steve Corino’s failed stable. Rhino like Corino did nothing but get pimp slapped by Taz until he left the company, then did nothing but get pimp slapped by Raven and Tommy Dreamer until they went on to feud with the Impact Players. When Rhino got away from Corino and joined up with the network, and had his feud with The Sandman he really started to come into his own and became the ECW Television Champion. A belt held by the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, and Rob Van Dam. He then took that title and became the only person in ECW history to unify the TV Title with the World Title and was ECW’s last World Champion ever!! That is a big deal and a fact that WWE has tried to sweep under the rug, Rhino should not let that happen and should use a small portion of his mic time to bring that to the common wrestling fan’s attention. Rhino then came into WWE and immediately won the Hardcore Title, and defended it against Raven in a true show stealer match at Backlash 2001. Rhino soon represented ECW during the alliance and main evented the InVasion pay per view, along with Team 3D who he’ll be teaming with again at Genesis. Rhino then won the very prestigious WCW United States Title held by every homegrown legend WCW ever had. Then after suffering a career threatening injury he was pushed aside for the new crop of WWE Goldberg wannabes in Batista, Tomko, Chris Masters, and others who are so untalented they’ve already been cut or sent back down to Ohio. When the time came Rhino jumped off of the sinking ship in New York to he new life of professional wrestling, TNA where he has seized every opportunity presented to him. He main evented three consecutive TNA pay per views, and won the world title in his forth. Then talk about the grueling experience of wrestling three times in one show and becoming the NWA World Champion during the title’s centennial year (something no one has done thus far). Make the fans feel for you, and give the people something to grab and hold onto for the months to come with Rhino as the world champion, make the fans want to see Rhino win, not just have a hell of a match like he does night in and night out.

I’m not saying Rhino needs to recite that, but he should have a speech that says something along those lines to make the fans support him, just like Jarrett does to try and make the fans hate him. I have my own opinions about Jarrett which I’ll put down in future posts but that is nor here nor there, the point is focus on Rhino big time to give him some more legitimacy as world champion and not just some guy that got the belt thrown on him at the last minute. Because Rhino isn’t some rookie who has had too much success to early and has all of a sudden had a belt put on him (Lesnar, Goldberg, Batista) he has been around the block now and can bring a lot to the table, so TNA just needs to put some camera time and production money into Rhino’s character and they will have a world champion that they can be proud of now, and have no bones about giving the belt to him again in the future.