Even a short-lived experience wearing the NWA world heavyweight strap around his waist was an awesome feeling for Terry Gerin.

Especially after the wrestler they call Rhino thought his career may be over following his release from WWE.

"Six months ago, I thought my career was dead in the water," said Rhino, who won the strap from Jeff Jarrett at TNA's Bound for Glory pay-per-view, then lost it a couple of nights later (aired on Spike TV this past Thursday). "I came to TNA and I thought the fans had forgotten about me."

Uh, no. After Rhino gored Raven at Sacrifice, the fans chanted his name over and over. And it hasn't stopped.

"They didn't forget me," he said. "It goes to show you ... never say never."

It's been a bit of a different ride for Rhino in TNA.

"In WWE, I wasn't booked in matches where I could highlight my talent," he said. "WWE's on a bigger scale, but I didn't understand where some of the storylines were going ... like that necrophilia angle.

"A guy standing in the ring and talking for 20 minutes ... that's not what I like as a wrestling fan. With TNA, there's more wrestling and with that comes a story."

Rhino isn't about to do any WWE bashing, but he wonders about the company's agenda.

"ECW: One Night Stand had a better buyrate than Hunter (Triple H) vs. Dave Batista, but they did nothing with it," he said. "

Rhino has been a heel for plenty of his wrestling tenure, but he likes his current role, as a fan favourite.

"I loved being a heel for all those years," he said. "But I like working as a babyface. When you're putting people through tables, unless you're a real bastard, people are going to cheer you. Right now, I want to be a babyface, especially when they chant your name."

Rhino hopes he gets another chance to wear the prestigious NWA strap.

"It was great to hold the title ... words can't describe how good it felt ... and it sucked losing it," he said. "They had to cheat to win it (back), but it fuels the pay-per-view. I want to be a two-time title holder."

Titles are something he's not short on. The reigning ECW champ when that promotion folded, puts his life and limbs on the line each time in the ring.

"Whether it's 50 or 5,000 people watching, I still wrestle my ass off,"he said. "I don't want to shortchange them."

The next TNA pay-per-view is Genesis, on Nov. 13.