10 Wrestlers Who Really Never Saw It Coming

4. Rhino

seth rollins
WWE.com

So passionate about ECW was he, Rhino was caught blindsided by the close of the promotion.

As he explained in WWE's excellent The Rise and Fall of ECW documentary from 2004, the Man Beast simply did not believe that the Land of Extreme was going out of business. Sure, he'd experienced the missed paychecks, he'd seen major stars depart to WWF or WCW, and he'd been told that the end of ECW was nigh. But still, Rhino was adamant ECW would continue to operate.

The final ECW show - at least until WWE revived the company's letters - took place on 13 January 2001, with Rhino at that time both the ECW World Champion and the ECW TV Champion. On that night, the monstrous heel decimated poor Spike Dudley in the second-to-last match on the card.

On headlining duties for that show, there was Justin Credible vs. The Sandman, which was technically stretched out to two matches and then followed by the ECW roster sharing a beer in-ring to toast to the company. For Rhino, he was absent from that beer bash, for he still believed ECW would live to fight another day.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.