PUBLISHED: February 4, 2007    DEARBORN/DEARBORNHEIGHTS

Current Dearborn resident and Annapolis High School graduate Terry Gerin grew up in the age of “Hulkamania.”

He watched as the super-stars of the then-World Wrestling Federation entertained packed houses on shows such as Saturday Night’s Main Event and WWF Superstars.

Gerin, more famously known as “Rhino,” started wrestling as a freshman at Annapolis, but he didn’t aspire to compete in the Greco-Roman events of the Summer Olympics.

“As soon as I started watching (professional wrestling), I was hooked,” Gerin said. “Just watching Hulk Hogan and those other guys made me love it.”

Gerin took in an independent show in Taylor in August 1994, but not just for the in-ring action. The aspiring entertainer went to get a business card. A month later, he found himself training at the Border City Wrestling School in Windsor, Ontario.

Gerin stepped into the squared-circle for the first time as a professional on March 10, 1995. He remembers the experience vividly.

“The crowd was kind of small and I didn’t get paid,” he said. “But I just got this adrenaline rush that was unbelievable. I played football in high school, but this was something different. I can’t explain how I felt.

“I just knew that wrestling was something I wanted to do. I didn’t have to do it, but the feeling I got can’t be matched.”

Gerin admitted wrestling on the independent circuit was a lot different that what he would later experience. He said the locker room had a family atmosphere. He said each performer went out and did their best to entertain the people who came out to see them.

“I can’t really hit the nail on the head of what it was,” Gerin said. “It was just a fun environment.”

The “indie circuit” proved to be a launching pad for Gerin, who’s in-ring name was “Terry Richards” at the time. After being known as “Terry Rhino Richards,” Gerin would come to be known simply as “Rhino” went he hit Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in January 1999.

“(Promoter) Paul Heyman said they already had a Richards before and that he would come up with something for me,” Gerin said.

But at his first show in Redding, Penn., Rhino was set to enter the arena when the ring announcer asked him what his name was and where he was from.

“I just told him, ‘Rhino,’” he said.

It wouldn’t take long for fans to remember the “man-beast” who hailed “from Detroit, Michigan.”

Gerin captured the ECW Television Championship at an April 2000 Pay-Per-View event. He dropped the strap in August of that year, but regained it less than a month later. Shortly afterthat, “Rhino” set his sights on a much bigger prize.

Gerin won the ECW World Championship on Jan. 7,2001, at the “Guilty as Charged” Pay-Per-View event. He defended the belt until April 10, 2001 — when ECW declared bankruptcy.

Gerin said a storyline was setup for him to burn the ECW title belt. His current brand,Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, had him place the belt in a bag and burn it at one of their shows.“

I actually didn’t burn the belt,” Gerin said. “It’s still in Dearborn, but I can’t say where.”

Gerin said he cherished his time with ECW. He said it was great to work with Heyman and in-ring performers such as “Tommy Dreamer” and “Sabu.” He admits that it was in ECW where originality was on display night after night.

ECW literally was extreme. Characters often introduced objects such as steel chairs, Singapore canes and barbed wire into their matches. It was also commonplace for grapplers to perform “blade jobs,” which consist of taking a small razor and cutting a tiny portion of your skin for the purpose of gushing blood.

“It was a lot of fun (in ECW),” Gerin said. “We went out there every night and made history. We didn’t go out there and half-ass anything.

“We knew it was pretty violent, but we also knew that there was something about what we were doing that turned people on, but they still wanted to know that guys were OK afterwards. It was a lot of fun, too.”

That fun would be short lived, though, as ECW, founded in 1992, went bankrupt in April 2001. Gerin said the shut down was tough and that Heyman, one of the founders of the company, tried to do “too much” and made mistakes financially.

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Chairman Vince McMahon bought the rights to ECW and the contracts of a number of the company’s super-stars. Gerin, whose in-ring name took a slight change to Rhyno, was now a part of the most famous sports entertainment company in history. Gerin, however,joined the company before the rest of his extreme cohorts. He made his debut on the March 19, 2001, edition of “Monday Night Raw.”

It wouldn’t be long before Gerin would be reunited with a number of his ECW buddies. A storyline was developed that saw the members of the now-defunct ECW and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which McMahon also held the rights to, join forces in a faction labeled “TheAlliance.” As a member of the group, Rhyno captured the WCW United States Championship in September 2001.

Gerin said life in the WWE was much different compared to that in ECW.He said that while they pay was better, the production part of things was stressful.

“We didn’t have writers in ECW. We just went out and did our thing,” he said. “In WWE, we’d have the writers calling us all the time trying to put things together.

“I didn’t really like that. I just wanted to go out and dazzle the crowd. I didn’t want some writer calling me on my day off when I could be spending time with my wife or playing with my kid.”

Even though a piece of paper dictated much of his in-ring performances, Gerin said there were several aspects of WWE life he did enjoy.

When he suffered a broken neck in the fall of 2001, Gerin was out of action for 14 months. He said McMahon paid for the entire surgical procedure. He added that he took part in several autograph signings, too.

“I did pretty good while I was out,” Gerin said. Gerin returned to action in early 2003, which was difficult after being able to spend more than year with his family. “Usually, we only get 2.5 days off a week,” he said.“It’s a lot better now than the guys back in the 80s had.They’d be on the road three months at a time.”

Gerin made his last appearance on WWE television in April 2005 in an ECW reunion special called “One Night Stand.” He made his debut in the up-and-coming company, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), on July 17, 2005 — TNA was established in 2002. He subsequently went back to the spelling of his name from his time in ECW, too. During his year-and-a-half with the upstart company, Gerin captured the NWA World Heavyweight Title on Oct.23, 2005. He lost it Nov. 3 of that year.

Gerin said life with TNA is good. He said he likes that all shows are taped in Orlando and that performers have the opportunity to get acclimated to the Florida city.

“We get to stay in the same hotel and we know where all the good food and hang out spots are,” Gerin said. “It’s nice that we tape in the same building, too.”

While TNA doesn’t quite have the notoriety that WWE or ECW may have, Gerin is happy where he’s at.

“WWE wanted me back when they decided to restart ECW, but I’m glad I didn’t go back,” Gerin said. “The product is so much different now and I don’t like the way it’s going.”

Gerin, now 31, admits that there are aspects of each company he’s been a part of that he loves. He said he’s had the opportunity to travel worldwide and put on great shows.

For all of the traveling and main-eventing he’s done, Gerin still enjoys the simple things.

“When I’m home, I love cutting the grass,” he said.“I’m a grass fanatic. I had a company do it once before, but I like doing it.”

Gerin also likes visiting downtown Dearborn. He said he frequents a couple of bars in the area and he’s not bothered when people recognize him, either.

“Sometimes people come up to me, but most of the time I know everybody wherever I go,” Gerin said.“I travel a lot and I’ve been on TV for eight years, so I expect to have people come up to me sometimes.”

While he enjoys being at home, Gerin said there are no plans for retirement anytime soon.

“I’m only 31, so I think I want to wrestle for maybe 10 more years,” he said. “I want to raise my stock and become a star in the next five years and then spend my last five years helping young guys get over. I’ve learned a lot over the years and I want to pass that knowledge on.”