Raven discusses his Hardcore Match against Rhino from 2001.
Throughout his lengthy career, Raven has had quite a few memorable matches with many wrestling legends. One of those matches came in 2001, when Raven faced off against Rhyno in a Hardcore Match at WWE Backlash.
In that match, there was a spot where Rhyno went to gore Raven. At the last second, Raven moved out of the way, which sent Rhyno head first into a shopping cart.
In a new interview with Fightful, Raven recalled the process of putting the sequence together.
"I wanted to use a shopping cart. I was gonna pick it up and have him come between me and the ring, between the second and third rope like he’s coming to grab me and I was gonna smash him in the head. Except, then, I realize I couldn’t pick the thing up over my head because it was too clumsy and I was gonna look stupid. So I said, ‘Why don’t we switch it, Rhino? You pick it up, and I’ll feed you through the second and third rope. Bang me in the head, we’ll throw it in the ring.’ Then I think he said, ‘Let’s have you drop toe hold me on it.’ I don’t know if that came before or after. He comes up with great ideas. He goes, ‘Let me go to Gore you and you move, and I’ll go into the shopping cart.’ I’m like, ‘You can’t fit in there.’ I still don’t know how he fit in there. It’s a miracle. I thought for sure he was gonna hit it and just bounce back because his shoulders weren’t going to fit inside it. But he squished himself in there and did it. I loved that spot, man."
Raven also went on to discuss using a DDT as his finishing move. The former WCW/ECW/TNA legend noted that he feels like he did the move the right way.
"Well, I did it right and not lazy. There’s a lot of [times] taking it lazy and just dropping. But when I do it right, the ones that look the best, when I go to my back, I kick my legs up straight so that they’re at a 90 degree angle with my hips. So it looks more sudden. Plus, I try to drop as quick as I can, too. It’s the suddenness that makes it look so good. A lot of guys, they just fall back. When I’m being lazy, my legs don’t go straight up. When I’m being lazy, they land like everybody else’s. But when I’m doing it right, I think it looks pretty cool and that’s why I chose it. I know a lot of guys use it as a high spot, but I was like, ‘When I do it, I’m gonna do it so it looks like a finish and make it a finish,’ and you can do it to anybody. That’s part of having a finish, you gotta be able to give it to anybody. [Chris] Candido used to powerbomb guys off the top rope —which, first of all, is incredibly dangerous, but secondly, you can’t do it but about five people back then because nobody was going to take it."
Elsewhere in the interview, Raven discussed CM Punk. Click here to learn more.
Fightful will have live coverage of MLW Underground when it airs on Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m. on REELZ.
