Real Name: Terry Richards
Eruption: Excitement
Nature: Caregiver
Alleigance: Independant
Concept: Unstoppable Force
Background:
Richards caught the wrestling bug in high school. In addition to playing football for eight years, he also excelled in amateur wrestling. He went to State championship his sophomore, junior and senior years. The younger Richards might not have been recognizable next to the huge wrestler he is today. He was only 5'8 when he was graduating from high school.
His training and exposure to regional independent wrestling got Richards to thinking about a pro career of his own. He then contacted Scott D'Amore of Windsor to train him. He was soon wrestling for Border City Wrestling, a Windsor based promotion that D'Amore was affiliated with.
Wrestling has taken Richards all over the world, including working in Austria and Germany for promoters Otto Wanz and Pierre Williams, in the 1997-1998 seasons. He knows German and Japanese as a result of his travels.
Wrestling in Europe has been very good to Richards. He won several Catch Wrestling Alliance World Tagteam titles, with Jean-Pierre Lafite and Joe E. Legend. He and Legend still hold those titles although Legend has since retired and the CWA no longer exists. The belt rests in a box in his garage.
He also wrestled what he considers to be his greatest match against Hans Shueman in Germany. "It went nine rounds, nine three-minute rounds." He didn't win, but describes it as probably one of the best matches he's ever had. Big crowd. It was his first time overseas. It went back and forth. They both went all out. Other wrestlers have given praise by describing it as probably the best championship match that year.
But the happiness that Richards found in Germany was not limited to his in ring success. He also met his future bride there.
After he returned from Europe, Richards made his way to the Philadelphia based ECW, which he credits to "knowing a couple of people." After a tryout match, Richards caught the eye of promoter Paul Heyman, aka Paul E. Dangerously.
After a few good years with the federation that saw Rhino headlining several PPV's, the bottom fell out of Pro Wrestling with the advent of Novas. Unlike Vince MacMahon who decided to get out of the business while he still could, Paul Heyman decided to take his show underground. Bloody combat between two human opponents and the occasional Mitoid kept the federation alive for a few years. But then Rhino erupted and all that changed.
In a match between him and a Mitoid named Infernus he got caught up in the spirit of having an opponent who honestly didn't feel any pain. This was before people started realizing that Mite had fatal results. He set up Infernus for the Gore on a table in the corner of the ring, went to the other side and started his running assault. In all the excitement, his heart pumping, his feet pounding in an attempt to throw all his body weight at the Mitoid, he erupted.
Infernus died instantly. Of the people in attendance, 32 where between Rhino and the wall, of which 21 died and 3 are still invalid. The structural damage to the building was in excess of 100,000 dollars and outside the arena Rhino overturned a public transportation bus before he could stop himself in his headlong charge.
The legal battles that ensued ruined Paul Heyman and ECW. Paul finally dropped out of the business and into the bottle.
Rhino spent three months at a Rashoud clinic, mostly for psychological evaluation. Everyone agrees that his bloody eruption is one of the most traumatic ever documented. The home video tapes of that match sell for upwards of 3,000 dollars. Utopia managed to get all the charges of Manslaughter dropped but Rhino declined to join Project Utopia. Doubt about his powers still haunted him. For a time he was even afraid to aproach his wife until he taught himself how to shut off his powers.
These days he tours the nation speaking to kids and doing an act where he headbutts a tank shell. In a large stadium he stands at one end of the field with a large concrete wall behind him. The tank rolls in at the other end and the gunner targets his chest area and then fires off an explosive round instead of the shaped charge used by most modern militaries. Rhino then lowers his head very quickly activating his Shockwave field but he doesn't start running. He doesn't always hit the shell with his head but if it hits anywhere on his Shockwave field it detonates and from the stands it looks as if he's just headbutted a tank shell. After that he talks to the kids, signs autographs and they take pictures of him lifting the tank. He used to do a routine where a local sherif would shoot bullets at his chest. Some cops would use Armor Piercing bullets which would sting Rhino and leave red welts until his Armor became impervious.
Roleplaying Notes:
In talking to Terry "Rhino" Richards, you soon realize that the age old stereotype of the "big, dumb wrestler" doesn't apply here. While Richards is certainly big, weighing in at 285 lbs, the Detroit, Michigan native is anything but dumb. Richards can see the link between American politics and morals and pro wrestling. "Whatever happens outside the ring ends up falling inside the ring.
He thinks that Project Utopia does good work and helps people in areas he can't even begin to understand, but he doesn't trust his own powers enough to join them. He also doesn't wish to join the XWF for the same reason. He has only one power and that power is to go through anything. In an XWF ring that means that unless his opponent can dodge out of the way he'll end up as a pasty smear on the wall. It also means that no ring can contain him and that travelling at 800 kmph the people in their seats are just as much at risk as anyone Rhino is charging.
He's the first to speak to kids about the dangers of imitating novas and XWF fighters. He lets the kids know 'Don't try this stuff'.", "It's really not acting," Richards maintains, saying that the wrestler's in ring image and mood is based more on reality than some might think. "A lot of people just dig deep and bring their personality out," Rhino explains, adding that "Before I went out to wrestle, I used to think of a lot things that angered me and take it out on the fans and they just reacted."
"It's easy to be yourself, however its hard to be something you're not."
"It's really a rough business, you gotta be dedicated, " Richards says about the sport he left behind. "That's more or less like any type of occupation. Except that in this one you're definetly going to be injured more often than not."
Quantum Powers:
Armor: 3 (Impervious)
Body Modification: +4 Bruised Health Levels, +10 Maimed Health Levels
Boost Strength: 4
Hypermovement: 3
Immolate: 3 (Bashing)
Invulnerability: 4 (Frontal Assault)
Aberrations:
None
Health levels:
Bruised x7, Hurt, Injured, Wounded, Maimed x11, Crippled, Incapacitated, Dead
Invulnerability: Rhino is Invulnerable to any and all attacks that hit him from the front while he is moving forward. This Invulnerability only applies to attacks that hit him when he is in motion and it also protects him from the effects of crashing into objects in front of him. The main purpose of the Invulnerability is to protect him from the effects of his own strength which could otherwise easily exceed his capacity to absorb damage when he runs headlong into steel dumpsters at more than 800 kmph. However it also protects him from Quantum Bolts and Mega Strong attackers trying to stop him from reaching his objective. However since his Invulnerability projects itself as sort of a bow wave he is vulnerable to attacks from behind or those that can get around his 'umbrella' of protection.
