The WWE career that was Taz(z)

[CM Steel]

Taz was a big draw for the now defunct ECW promotion in the east coast. He was their Bill Goldberg with his epic winning streak. Face or heel, Taz was feared in the ring. But with money woes supporting a family Taz made the jump to the-then WWF. Where Taz (or Tazz in the WWF) made his WWF debut in New York City at Madison Square Garden at that year's Royal Rumble in a single's match against the undefeated Kurt Angle where Tazz picked up the hard fought victory.

Tazz was a bonafied main eventer in ECW, but in the WWF he was busted down to the hardcore division with other former ECW stars. But who can forget that epic one-on-one match between Tazz and then WWF champion Triple H when Tazz brought over the ECW title as a WWF contract wrestler? Tazz showed the WWF & WWF fans that he can hang with the best of them that night!

But over the past two years at that point dealing with an old neck injury. Tazz's wrestling career was coming to an end. Where he retired from the ring in 2002. But returned for one more match at the second "One Night Stand" pay per-view in a match against Jerry "The King" Lawler in a quick match with the victory via Tazmission. But what do you think of the WWF/E career of Tazz and if it wasn't for that old neck injury what could have became of Tazz's career in the WWF?

 

[Soulblazed]

IF Taz'z WWF career wasn't cut short, he could've been a mainstay in the main event scene for a few years with matches against Angle, Taker, HHH, Rock, Kane, Austin, etc..His match against HHH on an episode of Smackdown before he started getting jobbed out was a damn good match...Taz could've had great matches in the WWF with Benoit..They fought in ECW..It's a damn shame we never got a Benoit/Taz feud in WWF

 

[TheLoneCharles]

It's funny you made this thread, as I watched some youtube videos of Tazz while in the Alliance during the 2001 WCW Invasion.

While Stone Cold was an unintentionally humorous heel as the dictator of that group, it seemed to be Tazz that he had it out for. Tazz would at times sound like a total badass speaking against Austin, Tazz was always getting his ass kicked and never getting any kind of upper hand. Watching those old videos, I never understood why the ECW guys never tried to rebel while Austin was beating Tazz...either causing a civil war within the Alliance or deposing Austin as leader altogether.

This about sums up Tazz's WWE career. He came in as a much hyped badass and seemed destined for something great after his huge Royal Rumble debut against Kurt Angle. Much like how guys are pushed hard at first only to be jobbed out in the current era, that seems to be what happened to Tazz.

Whether it be injuries Tazz had, or the fact he couldn't use his suplexes that made his character in ECW...he just couldn't do much in WWE. Because if the WWE valued his character at all, Tazz wouldn't have been neutered in the Alliance without any kind of payoff for him.

 

[GrandSword]

I remember Taz getting his arm caught in a car door and Beniot kicking the door to kayfave break Taz's arm. I was frothing at the mouth for that feud when Taz came back, but it never happened. I think he returned and had an unlikely tag title run with Spike Dudley before sitting behind the announce desk.

Thought Taz was going to be an integral part of the new smaller guys that were feuding for the IC belt (Jericho, Beniot, Eddie, Angle, XPac etc) that were to eventually breakout. But his injury took its toll.

I don't think he would have win the belt, but had a second top heel spot like Rikishi had in 2001,

 

[OutsiderDX]

Even without the injuries, Vince would never had let Taz become a main eventer. Cite : HHH beating Taz on smackdown. Taz just didn't fit in with their current main-events, the Roided HHH, Undertaker, Austin, Rock.

His singlet / ring attire did not do him any favors in making him look intimidating. I'm shocked the WWE didn't change that. It was probably sabotage, knowing it would make him look like a peanut.

We saw what the WWE made of RVD, they buried him pretty good... keeping him away from the Main Event despite the consistant pops he would receive for years.

Being injured, getting jobbed to HHH, then being lost in the shuffle when Raven came in, Tazz just never got his footing.

He was the single most talked about person in wrestling when he beat Mike Awesome as a WWE employee..but never capitalized on it. Then he had an interesting angle going with Austin, but nothing came of it.

 

[SaveUsCMPunk]

I became a huge fan of Taz(z) upon first seeing him in 2000. He just looked so bad ass coming to the ring wearing a black towel on his head. Reading some of the comments in this thread brings back some good memories of my favorite time period in the WWE/F. I also remember the angle with Benoit "injuring" Tazz only for Tazz to return later in the year as a heel attacking Rikishi. Then he started doing commentary in late 2000/early 2001. I'll never forget how entertaining Tazz was on MTV's Sunday Night Heat. (MTV = More Tazz Victims. ) Later on he joined the Alliance and was quite literally Stone Cold's whipping boy with Stone Cold having Alliance members hold him down while he whipped him with a leather belt. Then, like an earlier poster said, he was the Alliance guy that stood up to Austin. I remember when Stone Cold was asking Alliance members if they trusted him. Tazz took the mic and said that the "Alliance didn't like him and as far as he was concerned DTA stood for "Don't Trust Austin." Of course, this resulted in Tazz getting his ass kicked by Austin while the Alliance watched for a bit before just leaving the ring.

Tazz's career was pretty much over by 2001. He was jobbing to people like Al Snow and Maven. By the following year, I seem to remember him jobbing to Goldust and the Godfather. (However, he did win a match on Raw against Mr. Perfect.) Even if he didn't have issues with his neck, his career probably would've gone a very similar route. Remember, he wasn't Vince's creation and Vince probably didn't perceive him as a big threat due to his height.

 

[Foshinzo]

That debut in New York (even though it was his hometown and part of the ECW territory) was a sign that Taz could have been much more.

However, let's look at the WWE's roster around that time.
At the top:
Steve Austin
The Rock
HHH
Undertaker
Mick Foley
Kane (I count him because he was over and had been at the top, recently)
Big Show (sort of)
...I'm sure I've left out others

Others getting over/in the middle:
Kurt Angle
Chris Jericho
The Dudley Boyz
The Hardyz
(a young) Edge and Christian
Chris Benoit
The APA
Many others once WCW was purchased (i.e. Booker)
I just threw together a few years worth of talent from memory as best as I could.

I mean, when Eddie Guerrero is carrying your European Championship at WrestleMania, you know you have massive depth in talent. I didn't even count X-Pac, Test, or so many others. Not to mention that the Women's division was really deep around this time, too: Trish, Victoria, Jazz, etc.

Taz was as good as any of those listed, I feel, but he didn't fit Vince McMahon's vision of the way wrestlers are to look.

He was short, he was ugly, and he didn't have a massive ego. He wasn't HHH. When we consider how much talent they were trying to squeeze on a card, it's no wonder they leave the guys that they aren't crazy about to the Hardcore Championship. Guys like Bob Holly sort of got over with the belt, though. I think Taz didn't get over because of his look and the fact that he didn't give a crap. ECW was his home, and he only went to the WWF for the money. I'm not saying that he didn't try, but I think he was happy with his career.

 

[JaylisJayP]

Not only did Tazz not fit the mold of a WWE star in Vince's eye back then, but he wasn't a Vince McMahon creation, so he had two strikes going for him right away. He could've been a little bigger than he was, but even in angles that seemed to be directed toward him (Invasion angle), he didn't really rise up.

He was talented, just wrong place as the wrong time.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

Taz's WWE career was shit, and this is coming from a longtime Taz fan.

With that being said, here are some highlights of his WWE career that I found to be memorable.

- Tazz's debut against Kurt Angle at the Royal Rumble
- Tazz choking out Kurt Angle again the next night on RAW

Tazz and Kurt Angle worked quite a lot of matches on TV if you look back. It was always good stuff.

- Tazz (as ECW Champion) vs Crash Holly for the Hardcore Championship on RAW
- Tazz (as ECW Champion) vs Triple H (as WWE Champion) on Smackdown!
- Tazz vs Chris Jericho

Tazz and Chris Jericho had some pretty good matches, minus the one where Jericho squashed him in 2000. Their match when Tazz was Tag Team Champion and Jericho was Undisputed WWE Champion was better.


- Tazz vs Jerry Lawler *Feud*
- Tazz vs Rhyno (King of the Ring 2001 qualification match) <-- when Tazz speared Rhyno, it got a good pop

- Tazz & Spike Dudley vs Dudley Boyz for the WWE Tag Team Championship
- Tazz vs Mr. Perfect
- Tazz choking out John Cena after the rap battle against Rikishi

Those are pretty much Tazz's best highlights in the WWE.

The main problem with Tazz was his size. Nobody was gonna take him seriously as a top guy beating WWE's top guys. Just look at the size comparisons. This isn't Paul Heyman's world. Of course, you could say the same thing for Rey Mysterio, but he had his speed and agility. Tazz only had his suplexes and a lot were stripped down because a lot of guys were worried or complained about the stiffness/danger. This narrowed Tazz down to his head and arm tazzplex, the T-bone tazzplex, Northern Lights tazzplex and occasionally the capture tazzplex. His ring entrance was bad-ass and he continued to don the black towel straight from his ECW days, but aside from that and his aggressive promos, he was a joke in the ring. Then there are the nagging neck injuries, so really, what can you do? I remember being pissed day in and day out back when I was a teen watching Tazz lose every single match. He faced just about everyone on the roster. I wanted him to win the Intercontinental Championship or the European Championship, but none of that came to fruition. I heard that Tazz didn't want to be the top guy in WWE (it could be due to his injury). I also heard that because the Radicalz arrived in the WWE shortly after Tazz did, most of what they had originally planned for Tazz was transferred over to the Radicalz instead. Who knows the real story? I don't care about his commentating. I'll just remember him for his ECW days.

 

[theBec2101]

First off, When Taz lost to HHH I knew the WWE didnt think much of him or anything or anyone that had to do with ECW. I do think though over time they would of pushed him and eventually gave him a run. They did it with RVD.
Taz was a great wrestler, He didnt have height but he did have size though. I think if never got injured he would of been top champion. He had alot of great matches in ECW and a few in WWE. But at the time Vince didnt want someone from another company go over one of his top guys. Look how long it took RVD.

 

[daddyJ_t]

dude what are u guys watching? rvd took longer to get to the top then he should of yes, but he was not vinces creation and he did maske it to the top, duel ecwwe champ remember? he droped the ball cause of the weed smoking. so ya cant say that with taz. his size was probably the main reason cause like others said he didnt fit the mold. and i agree, wrong place wrong time. if he wouldve came to the wwf even one year earlier he probably wouldve made a lot bigger of a splash. or if he wouldve had the neck surgery that austin and others had, he couldve prolonged his career another year or so. track record, when somebody comes back from an injury, they are pushed to the moon.

 

[Kidd Folarin]

size is not the reason taz was not pushed cause if everyone remembers, benoit and eddie were pushed. So lets eliminate that notion. He was good dont get me wrong, but aside from suplexes and the tazmission do you really think he could capture a audience OUTSIDE of the greater Philadelphia area? The good thing is, we will never really kno. Good topic tho.

 

[MTL722]

I was never really big on Tazz. Not that the guy wasnt fun to watch. His suplex repertoire is one of the best if not the best I've ever seen. The guy had a solid base and could throw seemingly anybody with all different kinds of suplexes.

Unfortunately for Tazz, a 5'9 powerhouse gimmick would and will never work. He certainly never looked like a threat to Austin when they were in the ring together.

Tazz found his niche when he sat down at the announce table. His voice and his intensity was better suited at ringside. He was simply too small to be a threat to guys like Stone Cold, Triple H, and The Undertaker

 

[SinCityBlitz]

Peter started having problem with his neck before he got to the WWF. So any push would not have lasted very long anyway. ECW was very hard on the body.

but he wasn't a Vince McMahon creation,

I don't understand why people say this because it's been proven wrong so many times. You can run down a very long list of guys who Vince didn't create but got over in the WWF.

 

[IT Factor]

I was a big fan of Taz in ECW and thought he was never fully utilized to his capabilities in WWF[E]. His injuries from the ECW times were a big reason that WWF never really got to launch a successful version of the "human suplex machine". You've also got to remember the time; guys like Stone Cold, The Rock, HHH,Taker, etc were all still big draws in WWF. It would've been hard for Tazz to become bigger than them. Therein lies the failed potential; had Tazz gotten to wrestle the Stone Colds, The Rocks, the Takers, etc he would've blown up big. His matches with Angle & HHH were great and showcased what he was capable of doing inside the ring and his innovation with suplexes and attention to making everything setup story. At that time in WWF, Triple H was notorious for being harsher on talents made outside of WWF. And his matches with Angle while good, were largely unnoticed because there wasn't much hype or build put into them[like the Austin, Rock, and Taker matches].

I don't think size would have been an issue once the hardcore WWF fans got to see all Tazz was capable of doing with guys twice or three times his size. His work in ECW was all the proof needed to reinforce that theory. The timing combined with circumstances prevented Taz[z] from being a big name WWF star. The same thing limited Chris Jericho for years until the hardcore WWF fans got to see him showcased against the Rocks, HHHs, HBKs, Austins, Takers, etc. If Tazz had ever gotten that chance, I believe his career would've taken a much different path.

 

[HBsam31]

I too was a huge fan of Taz in ECW. He just looked so badass there, and I loved his matches with Bam Bam. He tossed big guys around like nothing, and I really thought he could have been something in WWE. His matches with HHH and Angle were really good, and after he beat Angle I thought he might actually go somewhere. It's a shame he was injured so bad. I agree with It Factor in that if he would have got to have matches with The Rocks and the Stone Colds then maybe we would have really seen how over he could have got. Here is the thing though he just didn't look as baddass to me in the WWE. Maybe it was the fact he didn't get a chance to show it, or maybe because of the size of the top guys in WWE, but something was missing for me. Something tells me injuries or not he would not have gotten the chance to shine.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I never felt size held him back I guess it was more of his injuries. I mean the WWE obviously likes him enough to give him a comfortable role as a commentator.

Size didn't hold him back he got a huge pop in MSG when in his debut and looked credible taking on bigger guys. Sure he was only 5'9 but his move set and ring work looked realistic enough to inflict pain even against guys who are 6'5. And there no rule that a smaller guy can't beat a bigger guy. Of course I use the my favorite example of Jericho and Goldberg's backstage fight in 2004.

 

[UFOcalling]

I have to admit that I didn't ever see Taz wrestle as "The Tazmaniac" (or whatever he was known as in ECW, before simply becoming "Taz"), and my earliest memory of Taz was seeing him wrestle Sabu for the ECW Championship on PPV. The match was a falls-count-anywhere "hardcore" style match, and I think Sabu was the current ECW Champion. Taz was holding the FTW belt, and I think this match was to unify the two belts. I could be wrong, but that's what my hazy memory is recalling. Taz won the bout, by putting Sabu through a table outside the ring (if I remember correctly).

IMHO, Taz was great in his later ECW days (my first memories of him) and when he first arrived to WWF/E. Even though he wasn't very tall (5'7, if I'm not mistaken), ECW was great at not letting that be a problem. They made a guy who was about the same height of Rey Mysterio become their most legit badass. I think I remember seeing Paul Heyman say that the first submission win (at least in ECW, possibly in all of pro wrestling) was Taz's victory.

Taz would have been great in WWF/E, had he been given a legitimate push. Like it's already been mentioned, his WWE career was cut short by that nagging neck injury. I could definitely see him rise up the ranks, along with Y2J, Benoit, Angle, etc. Taz fit in well with that group of wrestlers, and could have helped the business as a whole at that time. I could see Taz getting at least one run with the WWE Championship, if not multiple reigns. Taz's rear-naked choke (the Tazmission) was awesome, and I can't believe no one else uses it today (besides Samoa Joe).

Unfortunately, Taz might not have been given much of a chance at all in the WWE - even if his career had not been tragically cut short. I think Taz's main problem was his height, which would have held him back in the long run. We all know that Vince loves "monsters", and Taz is average height for a man at best. I've seen his height booked differently over the years, but I'd have to imagine that he's somewhere between 5'7 to 5'10. Not exactly a "monster", like the type that Vince loves. Then again, Vince did push Angle, Guerrero, Jericho, Benoit, and (to a lesser extent) Rey Mysterio. Taz came in during that "golden age" of the smaller wrestler being on top, so you never know. Again, it's unfortunate that we didn't get to see Taz grow to his full potential at the WWF/E, but it is fortunate that he wrestled for as long as he did after suffering a broken neck. I'm glad he's still involved with the business, and I enjoy him as a commentator (even though I know that a lot of others don't).

 

[MINISTRYrising]

If Tazz had been able to carrie on wrestling then I imagine he would of ended up having a couple of IC and TV title run's and maybe he would have lifted the Tag Titles with somebody like Benoit or RVD. but in my opinion that would have been it. When WCW and ECW joined forces and became the Alliance, Tazz may have gotten more of a push as the top ECW guy, but with RVD join WWE there was never any chance of this happening.

 

[braveh]

I have no opinion of him as a wrestler in WWE. I thought he was pretty bad as a wrestler in ECW but still got the crowd reaction if that's worth anything. There was nothing memorable in his WWE-run. I remember him screaming "YEAH BABY REY MYSTERIO" when he was the commentator for Smackdown. That was more memorable than anything he did in the ring. He was weak.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

In my opinion, Tazz would have gone on to win the US and IC titles a couple of times and maybe lifted the Tag Titles with somebody like Benoit or Dreamer, but that would have been it. yes he would have Main evented a few episodes of raw and maybe One Night Stand against Cena. but he would never have become WWE or WORLD champion.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Not only did Tazz not fit the mold of a WWE star in Vince's eye back then, but he wasn't a Vince McMahon creation, so he had two strikes going for him right away. He could've been a little bigger than he was, but even in angles that seemed to be directed toward him (Invasion angle), he didn't really rise up.

He was talented, just wrong place as the wrong time.

The third strike would have been that he was a legit tough guy who Vince knew he couldn't bully.

Whereas guys like Tommy Dreamer could play the corporate card much better, Taz was always someone who would stand up for himself and at that time Taz had a large following and was bringing in casual fans to the product. WWE had to be seen to be going after guys like him as the WCW war was still not over.

He was a name they could "steal" that WCW had failed to get so he got a strong debut, then kind of got swallowed up when the Radicalz came in. Benoit in particular was Taz like in his abilities but more marketable and a better all rounder. This gave Vince the excuse to quietly bury Taz, much as he did with Saturn and Malenko after a few months, and he got the WCW boys to replace them.


It showed in the way he left the company, he played along with a lot of stuff while it was in his interest, the moment it wasn't he was off and had no problem letting Vince know and wait it out for his contract to run down.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

Actually, Taz was never mentioned about complaining. Taz did everything he was told.

If you've seen the New Jack shoot, Taz was never a legit counter-attack tough guy in real life. Sure, he's got the Judo background and can throw big guys around in the ring like they were rag dolls, but the perception of his toughness is exaggerated by his wrestling character.

What is known is that Taz has addressed his situation with wrestling in an article on WWE.com a long time ago called "The Butterflies are Gone" or something along those lines. I remember reading it and Taz said that it was his injuries that he couldn't do much, and that he did all his wrestling in ECW. He also mentions that he loves commentating and even if he was offered a big push in the WWE, he would refuse it because his passion is now commentating.