Beat Me If You Can, Survive If I Let You - Tazz in WWF

[wrestlingrecap]

In my latest article, I reflected on Tazz and his run in the WWF after a dominating tenure in ECW.

I'm very interested in seeing what everyone thought about Tazz initially entering the WWF and then how his career played out.

wrestlingrecaps.com/2018/10/11/beat-me-if-you-can-survive-if-i-let-you/

[Spider2024]

His WWF theme was A+ (as well as the titantron vid itself: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEhzpeBlDFU

[Snake Pit]

All I remember are his ''THE MOOD IS ABOUT TO CHANGE'' pre-debut videos (which I can't seem to find on YouTube) and his match against Angle.

It was all downhill after that.

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

Oct 11, 2018 10:22:06 GMT -5 Snake Pit said:

All I remember are his ''THE MOOD IS ABOUT TO CHANGE'' pre-debut videos (which I can't seem to find on YouTube) and his match against Angle.

It was all downhill after that.

Pretty much. He peaked right at the front. After that, it was Hardcore Title purgatory, being the lowest man on the Alliance totem pole, and then retirement.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Oct 11, 2018 10:06:15 GMT -5 Spider2024 said:

His WWF theme was A+ (as well as the titantron vid itself: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEhzpeBlDFU

Must be why they reused it for Roman

[Rican]

All-time great theme. It still slaps.

I weirdly enjoyed his brief tag team with Spike Dudley.

[corndog]

Don't know why they couldn't use his ECW theme in WWF.

[Toilet Paper Roll]

Theme was great. Really wish he would have had an IC feud or something like that instead of fueding with announcers

[Deleted]

Oct 11, 2018 12:04:08 GMT -5 Toilet Paper Roll said:

Really wish he would have had an IC feud or something like that instead of fueding with announcers

He was feuding with King and JR in his first 6-8 months. I mean, you do that program with a tired veteran, not a newcomer who has/had potential.

And his last match in the WWE was losing to the "I was a heel for my last couple months in the WWE" Godfather on a weekend show in mid-late 2002. Yikes.

I mean, damn, you don't want to accept the (popular?) belief that ECW guys intentionally got screwed over in WWE, but it's very tough to cling to anything but...

[Deleted]

To me, he stopped looking “legit” as soon as he started wearing that baggy tracksuit.

He just looked like a jabroni. If he acted and looked the way he did in ECW, I could buy him kicking Steve Austin’s ass... but not in that stupid tracksuit.

[Slanted and Enchanted]

A shame that his career fizzled out the way that it did. But there was a silver lining in the fact that he stuck around for years after as an announcer for both WWE and TNA. Compared to most ECW alumni he has both his physical and mental health well intact and he never went off the rails and destroyed his life like so many of his peers sadly have done. He's got his radio show and comes off a fair, level-headed guy, with no bitterness towards anyone in the industry and is well liked. Good for him.

[Viking Hall]

Oct 11, 2018 12:11:29 GMT -5 @knapp said:

Oct 11, 2018 12:04:08 GMT -5 Toilet Paper Roll said:

Really wish he would have had an IC feud or something like that instead of fueding with announcers

He was feuding with King and JR in his first 6-8 months. I mean, you do that program with a tired veteran, not a newcomer who has/had potential.

And his last match in the WWE was losing to the "I was a heel for my last couple months in the WWE" Godfather on a weekend show in mid-late 2002. Yikes.

I mean, damn, you don't want to accept the (popular?) belief that ECW guys intentionally got screwed over in WWE, but it's very tough to cling to anything but...

Wasn't he done physically though? Although that theory has always had me wondering how he passed a physical considering how quickly he got to that point from debut.

[Deleted]

His first night in when MSG went nuts for Taz, as the actual human suplex machine showed up and all was right with the world is the only way to remember WWE Taz. After that it was probably a brutal combination of his neck injuries, WWE implementing its safe style/no one wanting to take his exotic suplexes, and likely top guys not wanting to put him over because he’s short. He was a decent announcer for a while though.

[Deleted]

Oh, I'd forgotten about the WWE guys not wanting to take his suplexes. Yeah that'd kill anybody's performance.

Oct 11, 2018 12:34:58 GMT -5 @negan said:

To me, he stopped looking “legit” as soon as he started wearing that baggy tracksuit.

He just looked like a jabroni. If he acted and looked the way he did in ECW, I could buy him kicking Steve Austin’s ass... but not in that stupid tracksuit.

I thought the tracksuit looked better than the tights, but fair point. And again it's a visual change you make after a long while and not just a few months.

[cjh]

Oct 11, 2018 12:01:42 GMT -5 corndog said:

Don't know why they couldn't use his ECW theme in WWF.

He did use it at both ECW One Night Stand events.

The composer of the song, Harry Slash, sued WWE for using the ECW theme song "This Is Extreme" during the Invasion angle.  WWE eventually settled with Slash by purchasing the rights to the music he composed for ECW.

[chronocross]

The timing was bad, he had a great debut, maybe the feud would have gone longer with Kurt but they overturned the decision and said that since it was a choke, Angle's undefeated streak still was intact.

Plus the next week, 4 hot prospects from WCW come over including the guy who was the WCW World Champ, he was forgotten and saddled in a feud with Bossman/Albert, then to the Hardcore Division.

[James Fabiano]

Oct 11, 2018 14:52:14 GMT -5 chronocross said:

The timing was bad, he had a great debut, maybe the feud would have gone longer with Kurt but they overturned the decision and said that since it was a choke, Angle's undefeated streak still was intact.

Plus the next week, 4 hot prospects from WCW come over including the guy who was the WCW World Champ, he was forgotten and saddled in a feud with Bossman/Albert, then to the Hardcore Division.

Damn you Stevie and the bWo, er, Radicalz!

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

The Something to Wrestle With podcast explains some of the issues why Taz failed in the wwf.

Bruce Prichard said that in the locker room, it didn't sat well with the guys when a newcomer like Taz tried to pull his fake tough guy persona and he was told to relax. Apparently one of the guys ribbed him by putting a towel over his head and mocking the way Taz used to cross his arms.

He also told someone, I think Dlo Brown, that he couldn't wear orange because that was Taz's gimmick, Dlo and the rest of the locker room laughed.

Taz's work needed for him to always be a killer and suplex everybody. While that worked in ECW, in the wwf the matches couldn't revolve around Taz, he needed to adapt his work and sell more, according to Bruce, Taz had problems adapting.

His promos were also a problem. In ECW he got away with always being a killer and cursing his opponents out,but in the wwf he was asked to add some depth to the promos. Thats why he was paired with Lawler.

His wrestling style. Vince didn't want to use Taz as a monster heel or babyface because of his size.

Finally, in my opinion, there was a match that sealed his fate. Taz worked a triple threat with Rock and Kurt Angle, well the match was so bad that the next week his push pretty much died.

[agent817]

Oct 11, 2018 14:42:51 GMT -5 cjh said:

Oct 11, 2018 12:01:42 GMT -5 corndog said:

Don't know why they couldn't use his ECW theme in WWF.

He did use it at both ECW One Night Stand events.

The composer of the song, Harry Slash, sued WWE for using the ECW theme song "This Is Extreme" during the Invasion angle.  WWE eventually settled with Slash by purchasing the rights to the music he composed for ECW.

Which explains why his music was dubbed in Network edits. I never knew that until now.

[Mozenrath]

He had a pretty decent run, I'd say, particularly the Lawler feud that segued into him doing commentary, or his Tough Enough stuff. Still, not wanting to risk neck surgery, being an awkward size, and a character that just wasn't really equipped to be a top heel in WWE meant he was a guy who would be a midcarder with shining points, and there are worse places to be.