I never thought I would see this happen. And I literally mean never. You know how people say never say never. I'm saying never.
I never thought I would see the old-school, intense, no-nonsense Taz again. But it happened on Friday night. And I want to thank my small group leader Chris McElwee for cancelling my group so I could see it. So Chris if you're reading this (and quite frankly, who isn't?) Thanks.
Tazz was all emotion and anger on SmackDown. This attitude has not been seen from him since 2000 when Taz ruled ECW as its World Champion. Sources close to Tazz say he has been increasingly agitated in recent weeks since Raw analyst and wrestling icon Jerry the King Lawler began his barrage of attacks on ECW, calling it “extremely crappy wrestling” and disrespecting its legacy. It got personal this past Monday on RAW when Lawler focused his attacks to Tazz, saying “Tazz used to be tough, but now he’s just a joke-cracking King wannabe.”
Staring square into the camera, his eyes bulging, his top lip turned up in anger, Tazz removed his sunglasses and told Lawler, “This is very simple. You want to go out on Raw. You want to talk junk about me. You want to talk about me not being tough no more. You want to talk about me being washed up and trying to imitate you. Here's the deal my friend. This is simple. One Night Stand, you and I one on one. You show up, you get choked out! I guarantee it. As God as my witness I guarantee you. I got one left in me Lawler! I will choke your ass out at One Night Stand! Because I am Tazz. Beat me if you can old man! Survive if I let you!”
Let me tell you something. Every time Taz said "Beat me if you can! Survive if I let you!” in ECW you knew someone was about to get the hell beaten out of them. I remember from 1996-1999 when he was giving a promo, he could make your whole body shiver. He was that intense, that focused, and that capable of punishing you. He came out to the ring with a torn black towel draped over his head, adding a little darkness and mystery. Then he got in the ring. As he was being introduced he ripped the towel off his head and then the bell rang to start the match. He was a methodical wrestling machine with a full arsenal of suplexes and the choke out sleeper, the Tazmission. Oh and he's Italian and he's from Brooklyn!
Let's jump ahead. In the fall of 2001, about 7-8 months after Taz came to WWE, he came back from an arm injury, turned heel, and I knew at that some point something was different. No more torn towel over his head, no singlet, replaced by sunglasses, black pants, and a collared sleeveless work shirt. He was quickly pushed into a feud with the announcer Lawler, who then at Summer Slam, thanks to interference from announcer Jim Ross (yes that is correct), beat Tazz, essentially killing any hope for a successful WWE career.
He won the hardcore title a few times (this is when the title was changing literelly three or four times on each show) and the tag titles with Spike Dudley but shortly after they lost them, (about 2 1/2 years after he came in to WWE), Tazz' chronic neck problems forced him to retire. He swore he just would not wrestle again because he didn't know if he could go full speed, which makes total sense. For him to be wrestle at One Night Stand is a shock and is huge. Because nobody saw this happening. And that the match is against Lawler is perfect.
So I won't be able to watch it live as I'll be in Mississippi. But to Peter Senerchia (his real name). Choke Lawler out!
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