WWE Told This Wrestler Not To Mention ECW

An ex-WWE star was told to stop mentioning the original ECW during promos.

rhyno 2001
WWE.com

Stephanie McMahon once told Rhyno to quit mentioning the original ECW during promos.

Rhyno told 'Talk'N'Shop' that the then-WWF didn't want Paul Heyman's promotion to get any airtime towards the end of the invasion angle back in 2001. One day, whilst chatting to Stephanie in between takes, Rhyno learned that he wasn't supposed to talk about Extreme Championship Wrestling at all.

That was news to him, especially because ECW had been part of the invasion idea alongside WCW. Apparently, according to Stephanie, Vince wanted to "move away from that" and onto a clear WWF-centric focus again. This, obviously, was another one of McMahon's well-known whims.

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Rhyno had been namedropping ECW for cheap pops during house show promos, but Steph warned him against continuing that. The pair had a decent relationship (stemming from the prior summer when they worked together) behind the scenes, so Rhyno appreciated the heads up.

He didn't get too salty about this polite warning either - Rhyno could see that Stephanie was only trying to help him out. He also knew he'd have no choice but to tow the party line anyway.

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