Rhino initially had reservations about using the Gore because he didn’t want wrestling fans or his peers to think he was copying Goldberg.
During a recent appearance on the Johnny I Pro Show (see video below), the ECW legend discussed the origins of his signature finishing move. Rhino explained that Tracy Smothers eventually convinced him to use the move, although he was hesitant because Edge had already started using a spear and Goldberg had made his version famous.
“I didn’t know I was going to stick with it. It was just one of those things where Tracy Smothers asked me if I could do it. I didn’t want to do it because Edge started doing it, Adam, and then Goldberg was the one that got it over.”
Rhino said his biggest concern was being viewed as someone who had simply taken another wrestler’s move.
“So then I started doing it because Tracy asked me if I could do it in a match, and I didn’t want to do it. I was hesitant. I didn’t want to be a move stealer or something like that because Goldberg got it so over.”
Smothers ultimately convinced Rhino not to worry about what other wrestlers might think.
“He goes, ‘I didn’t ask you what the guys in the locker room may think. I asked you if you could do it.’ I go, ‘Yeah.’”
Ironically, Rhino had actually tried the move once before on an independent show in 1996 — and walked away believing he would never use it again.
“So I did it one time in ’96 on an independent show, a guy asked me to do it. The promoter at the time was explaining how to do it, and I’m like, well, ‘I’ll never do that again.’ I literally thought that to myself after I hit that, ‘I’ll never do that again,’ and that’s one of the things I’m known for.”
The move eventually became a permanent part of Rhino’s arsenal. Paul Heyman christened it the “Gore” during Rhino’s ECW run, while Steve Lombardi later encouraged him to make it his finisher after he joined WWE and could no longer use the piledriver.
“Then Paul Heyman gave it the name Gore. Then when I went to WWE, I couldn’t use a pile driver. So Steve Lombardi actually told me I should use it as a finish, and the rest is history.”
Rhino also offered his definitive explanation for the difference between a Gore and a spear.
“And just to clear everything up, there’s a big difference between a Gore and a spear. Nobody’s ever kicked out of a Gore. So if they kick out, it becomes a spear.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Rhino reflected on his relationship with the late Sabu. Despite Sabu’s wild in-ring persona, Rhino remembered him as a much different person away from wrestling.
“Oh, a lot. A lot, yeah. Because you hear all the stories. I never met him until I got hired in ECW, and we never crossed paths, and he was going over for New Japan and all that stuff.”
Rhino described Sabu as a kind person, although it apparently took quite some time for the two ECW stars to warm up to one another.
“Yeah, and then he’s not the guy you’ve seen in the ring. Yeah, very kind guy. But he didn’t talk to me for the first six months traveling together.”
Asked to reveal something about Sabu that might surprise wrestling fans, Rhino recalled seeing him pray before a flight had even left the ground.
“I was very surprised when I seen him pray before a flight, and we didn’t even take off, so it wasn’t a bumpy flight. I’m like, Sabu’s over there praying.”
