WWE signing Tazz felt like a huge moment at the time for anyone who followed his ECW career. Tazz clearly was over with that diehard audience and showed promise at the start of his WWE stint. Unfortunately, the wrestling career of Tazz never panned out in WWE with many ups and downs.
Tazz eventually pivoted to broadcasting and became the top Smackdown play by play commentator for many years. The desire to leave the WWE environment and chase other goals saw his time ending without an official return. Few talents have as fascinating of a journey as Tazz did from wrestler to broadcaster to radio personality. The WWE stint deserves a look back at some forgotten things about Tazz.
10 Losing To Triple H As ECW Champion
Wrestling witnessed one of its most surreal moments when a WWE wrestler defeated a WCW wrestler for the ECW Championship. Tazz came back to ECW to defeat Mike Awesome on a house show when Awesome defected to WCW and legally had to drop the belt for ECW.
WWE didn’t even utilize this ideally by having Tazz wear the belt and face WWE Champion Triple H. Tommy Dreamer interfering caused Tazz to lose the match, but any loss at all took away from his steam. WWE booked a match that wasn’t needed and hurt Tazz once again.
9 Walking Off ECW Commentary With Mike Adamle
A strange moment in Tazz’s career came on the ECW broadcast team with Mike Adamle. Things were already shaky enough for that team on a third brand constantly losing viewers. However, the remaining fans were shocked when Tazz and Adamle stood up and left the table before a show ended with no explanation.
Bruce Prichard confirmed that Vince McMahon informed them both to do this over their headsets. Tazz and Adamle were starting to show tension and it caused Vince to make them leave the table. The backstage aftermath saw Tazz unhappy and confused about the decision.
8 Was One Of The Tough Enough Trainers
The original concept of Tough Enough saw WWE and MTV working together to have wrestling’s first reality show. Wrestler hopefuls without any trainers would learn from some of the tougher WWE talents and took part in contests with eliminations each week.
Tazz was part of the first season’s training staff with fellow wrestlers Al Snow, Jacqueline and Tori. Maven and Nidia were the first winners that learned a lot from Tazz. WWE kept Tazz and Snow for the second season with other names rotating in and out.
7 Hosting Sunday Night Heat Before Commentary Role
Tazz being a man of few words in ECW shocked most fans when he ended up receiving a broadcasting role in WWE. Most remember Tazz starting off on commentary for the Smackdown brand with Michael Cole, but their teamwork started before that.
WWE picked Tazz to be the Sunday Night Heat co-host with Cole when that aired live at WWF New York in Times Square. Tazz living in New York made it an easier trip for him to appear weekly. WWE witnessed the chemistry forming between Cole and Tazz to eventually move them to commentary on the blue brand.
6 Breaking Michael Cole's Heart By Leaving Smackdown For ECW
ECW starting back up as WWE’s third brand featured Tazz having to make a big decision as a character. Rob Van Dam showed that Raw or Smackdown talents associated with ECW could move back to the brand if it made sense.
WWE had a fascinating segment with Tazz changing his demeanor from joking with Michael Cole and walking out of Smackdown to join ECW. Cole sold it perfectly feeling betrayed that his longtime partner and friend was leaving him high and dry.
5 Choking Out Paul Heyman
Paul Heyman’s infamous shoot promo to Vince McMahon still gets discussed today when he does interviews. However, the end of it is often overlooked when Heyman uses Tazz sitting on commentary on an example of what he was talking about.
Tazz was the most dominant wrestler in ECW under Heyman’s booking and was used as a joke in comparison during his WWE run. The end of the segment saw Tazz getting up and entering the ring to choke out Heyman to a huge applause.
4 Short Tag Team Run With Raven
The heel turn for Tazz in WWE as a wrestler was done to set up a feud with commentators Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler of all people. Tazz had a few matches with Lawler that culminated at Unforgiven 2000 with a shocking ending.
Former ECW star Raven arrived and hit Lawler with his DDT finisher to help Tazz win the match. The unlikely duo teamed up for about two months in the WWE tag division, but they didn’t get booked well enough to make an impact beyond that first night.
3 Tag Title Reign With Spike Dudley
Another forgotten tag team from Tazz’s run saw him teaming with another ECW talent. Spike Dudley was feuding with Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley when Tazz emerged as his partner. WWE booked them to win the tag titles from the Dudley Boyz in a hardcore match.
The tag title reign lasted about six weeks before they dropped it to Billy & Chuck. This was the final story for Tazz as a wrestler since he transitioned to commentary shortly after. Tazz was retired from the ring by the end of that year and the voice of the Smackdown show.
2 Sable Pouring Water On Him For Judging Bikini Contest Wrong
Judgment Day 2003 featured Sable and Torrie Wilson facing off in a bikini segment hosted by Tazz. WWE often placed a broadcaster in charge of those contests to gage fan response and usually just named the face as the winner since that was who crowds cheered.
Sable surprisingly got a lot of cheers and seemed like she deserved the win over Torrie. Tazz named Wilson the winner since she was the face, but it set up a weird segment the next Smackdown. Sable stood on the commentary table and made some suggestive comments before pouring water on a livid Tazz to the confusion of the audience.
1 Steve Austin Whipping Him As Leader Of The Alliance
WWE had Steve Austin leading the WCW and ECW talents of The Alliance during the Invasion storyline. There were many group segments where Austin questioned various members of The Alliance, but it seemed like he always picked on Tazz.
This peaked one night when Austin lost it after he felt disrespected by Tazz and started whipping him with a belt as the other members watched. Tazz slowly distanced himself from the heels and moved into his broadcasting role around this time.