The legacy of Taz sees him remembered for different roles in different companies. ECW made Taz their biggest star for a few years as fans loved cheering him as an unbeatable face. The move to WWE saw things changing drastically when the company showed little interest in pushing him as a wrestler.
Taz made the transition to commentary for roles in WWE, TNA, and now AEW. The current AEW run has Taz as a character again outside of commentary leading his Team Taz faction of Brian Cage, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Ricky Starks. Without further ado, let's find out more about the legend behind the scenes with the most fascinating backstage stories of Taz’s career.
10 Felt He Was Ruined After MSG Pop In WWE Debut
The WWE debut of Taz at the Royal Rumble 2000 event gave him one of the biggest pops in company history. Taz’s hometown treated him like a king after enjoying his ECW run, but nothing came afterwards despite the huge expectations.
Various interviews from Taz saw him revealing he did not feel good about the pop due to the WWE system. Many people believe Vince McMahon dislikes pushing wrestlers who were created elsewhere and Taz getting such love before getting established might have hurt him.
9 "Pick A Hand" Moment With Rob Van Dam
Rob Van Dam and Taz had one of the most memorable backstage stories in ECW history. Both men were upset following some mistiming in a match together. Taz had a reputation for stiffing others and not buddying with his peers.
The reaction of RVD was to approach Taz with the infamous quote of “pick a hand.” Taz did indeed pick one of the hands which resulted with Van Dam slapping him with that same hand. Both wrestlers have confirmed the story and even talked about it together when RVD appeared on Taz’s podcast.
8 TNA Tried To Make Him Pay Money Back
There were reports of Taz and TNA having backstage issues due to confusion over his pay. Bruce Prichard revealed that TNA often made mistakes and rubbed talents the wrong way when coming up with solutions.
The story from Prichard claims that TNA overpaid Taz with a miscommunication in finances and expected him to pay them back months later when realizing the mistakes. Taz was one of multiple wrestlers to deal with TNA’s foolishness on the business side.
7 Ignored Vince On Commentary When He Was Upset
Taz spent many years as a broadcaster when WWE allowed him to move to the commentary team. Vince McMahon has a reputation for yelling in the headsets of the commentators during the shows and making the job harder.
The post-WWE life of Taz allowed him to share stories confirming that Vince could make it a tough night at the table. Taz did reveal he sometimes ignored the orders by Vince when it became too hostile and he just called the action before answering to the boss after the show.
6 Throwing Crowbar's School Books Outside Of WWE Locker Room
Devon Storm found success in WCW as Crowbar in the company’s final year, but he also wrestled for ECW in years prior. The young career of Storm saw him trying to get established in any opportunity given to him.
Storm was attending college classes when working for ECW and it led to him getting in hot water. The story from Storm claimed that Taz was the one to throw his books outside of the locker room. An unsigned talent bringing schoolwork to the ECW locker room was never going to work out well for Storm.
5 Believed WWE Stole Creative Ideas From His Radio Show
Taz found success hosting a daily radio show for CBS breaking down the wrestling industry. There were a few occasions of Taz growing upset with WWE coming up with ideas that he believed he introduced first on his show.
The assumption of Taz was that WWE writers and creative team members would steal ideas from his show to improve their product. Taz still reviewed the WWE events with his insight, but he stopped bringing up his ideas.
4 Shane Was Mad About Taz's Wrist Tape With "FTW"
Bruce Prichard confirmed a story about Taz being told to change something before his first match in WWE. Shane McMahon was the one to approach Taz about the “FTW” letters written on tape that he often wore in ECW.
The orders from Shane to remove it claimed that WWE didn’t want to have the profanity associated with any of their talents. However, it was the time of the Attitude Era when wrestlers said and did much worse even on that night itself of the Royal Rumble 2000 event.
3 Tried To Talk TNA Into Signing Seth Rollins & Kevin Owens
Taz kept his eye on the ball of the wrestling industry when he was leaving WWE. The move to TNA was to hopefully continue his time as a broadcaster and contributing to the company growing into a bigger wrestling entity.
Many stories were shared about the TNA time on Taz’s radio show. Two fun tidbits featured Taz viewing Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens as potentially huge stars during their time in Ring of Honor. Taz claimed that he tried to convince management to sign both rising stars, but it just never worked out.
2 Almost Convinced Kurt Angle To Join ECW
Kurt Angle’s first introduction to professional wrestling came when he appeared at an infamous ECW event. The anger of Angle saw him cursing out Joey Styles when he witnessed the segment of Raven attempting to crucify The Sandman.
Taz was actually the person who convinced Angle to attend a show shortly after he won the Olympics gold medals. The connection may have seen Angle starting his career in ECW instead of WWE if he didn’t despise the product he saw.
1 WWE Never Called Him For SmackDown 1000
Many fans instantly associate Taz with the SmackDown brand for WWE since he called the action for a long time. The voices of Michael Cole and Taz were what fans instantly thought of when thinking back to the first few years of SmackDown following the brand split.
Taz was surprisingly not at the SmackDown 1000 event when WWE brought in dozens of legends. The radio show of Taz saw him revealing that it felt disrespectful to not get a call, but he wasn’t going to lose any sleep over it. WWE apparently took issue with some things Taz said that blocked him from getting celebrated on the show he contributed to.