Tazz in WWE

[Perfect Timing]

Why did they sign him and bury him?

Those vignettes made him seem a big deal and a win over the up and coming Kurt Angle in his debut match made it seem they had plans for him. He was really fun in that match and you could see why he had such a following down in ECW. The attire change,everyone seemingly getting the upper hand in feuds with him and then getting put in his place by Jerry Lawler killed his chances. A year later he was in Alliance and getting whipped with a belt by Steve Austin. Did he piss someone off or something?

[Natural Born Farmer]

Think it was as simple as him being signed on his reputation, and then the WWE souring on him quickly once they saw how much smaller he looked on camera relative to almost everyone on the roster.

[Kevin Hamilton]

His neck was f***ed up. Can't discount that.

[Viking Hall]

Yeah his body gave out on him essentially. Definitely a what if situation if he had been in better shape but there were a lot of names lost in the shuffle then too so it may have not made a difference.

[thetower52]

His body shit out and he was a oompah lumpa

[Deleted]

Didn’t help that they banned like 90% of his suplexes when they first implemented WWE safe style after all of those neck injuries.

[CMWaters]

Another factor too: not too long after his debut, we had the arrival of The Radicalz (which wasn't planned for when Tazz was coming in), and intentionally or not they stole his thunder because, while popular, ECW was not as widely seen as WCW.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

I think his neck injuries made it impossible for him to keep performing at a high level I think he also couldn't work and wasn't in the best shape at the end.

Then there was also the difference between what Heyman let him do against what Vince wanted him to do. In ECW Taz could get away without selling and being a bad ass, in the wwe while he could be a bad ass babyface, as a heel he wasn't ready to be a coward and sell for the baby faces.

[Deleted]

IT'S TAZZ!

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Wasn't his neck essentially f***ed by the time he got in the door

Also, someone correct me if i'm wrong did he have a triple threat match between him, Rock and someone else?

[CMWaters]

Nov 12, 2017 22:53:34 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

Wasn't his neck essentially f***ed by the time he got in the door

Also, someone correct me if i'm wrong did he have a triple threat match between him, Rock and someone else?

Angle was the third, in Pittsburgh IIRC. Leading to, during the match...
Angle: I was born just down the road from here at Mercy Hospital...
*Angle gets attacked by Rock, Rock grabs mic Angle was using...
Rock: It doesn't matter where you were born!

[kingoftheindies]

Mixture of injuries, size, and attitude but mostly attitude at first. Tazz is a guy you'll always hear stories about as someone who bought into his own hype as a badass thanks to the hype train that was Paul Heyman, but when he got to the WWF more guys were willing to call his bluff than there were in ECW (and even in ECW, he got punked by RVD pretty bad when he provoked him)

[CertifiedBA]

Nov 12, 2017 21:37:14 GMT -5 CMWaters said:

Another factor too: not too long after his debut, we had the arrival of The Radicalz (which wasn't planned for when Tazz was coming in), and intentionally or not they stole his thunder because, while popular, ECW was not as widely seen as WCW.

They could have figured out an angle to include him, if they'd wanted to....maybe they could have when Eddie went down.

[Rudy Gobert Fadeaway]

Another casualty of WWE's obsession with eliminating first names

Razamatazz could have been huge

[Deleted]

Nov 12, 2017 23:38:17 GMT -5 Rudy Gobert Fadeaway said:

Another casualty of WWE's obsession with eliminating first names

Razamatazz could have been huge

And here I thought he was just a victim of unnecessary Z's like the Dudleyz and the Hardy Boyz.

[Rudy Gobert Fadeaway]

Nov 12, 2017 23:56:45 GMT -5 @mrsirdrdaddy said:

Nov 12, 2017 23:38:17 GMT -5 Rudy Gobert Fadeaway said:

Another casualty of WWE's obsession with eliminating first names

Razamatazz could have been huge

And here I thought he was just a victim of unnecessary Z's like the Dudleyz and the Hardy Boyz.

His indy name was Razamatazz Cincinnati Jazz

[Deleted]

Nov 13, 2017 0:00:38 GMT -5 Rudy Gobert Fadeaway said:

Nov 12, 2017 23:56:45 GMT -5 @mrsirdrdaddy said:

And here I thought he was just a victim of unnecessary Z's like the Dudleyz and the Hardy Boyz.

His indy name was Razamatazz Cincinnati Jazz

Was this before or after he invented Tazzercise?

[The Barber]

Nov 12, 2017 21:21:40 GMT -5 thetower52 said:

His body shit out and he was a oompah lumpa

Yeah, I think that was the main cause. When Vince has to look down to you, you ain't gonna be WWF/WWE champ.

[thegatewaydrug]

Nov 13, 2017 0:00:38 GMT -5 Rudy Gobert Fadeaway said:

Nov 12, 2017 23:56:45 GMT -5 @mrsirdrdaddy said:

And here I thought he was just a victim of unnecessary Z's like the Dudleyz and the Hardy Boyz.

His indy name was Razamatazz Cincinnati Jazz

The World's Sweetest Nickname!

[Mozenrath]

Nov 12, 2017 20:43:43 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

His neck was f***ed up. Can't discount that.

Yeah, I want to say he didn't want to get fusion surgery and risk paralysis, etc, and that, along with I think being a parent and wanting to scale back, was what led to the feud with Lawler to transition him into a commentary role. I may be mixing things up, however.