Though he is mostly known these days for hosting a podcast, Taz wrestled and commentated for numerous wrestling promotions, including ECW, WWE, and TNA. In ECW, Taz was known as “The Human Suplex Machine,” and while wrestling may be a work of art, Taz always looked like he was legitimately hurting his opponents. On a recent episode of The Apter Chat , Taz revealed to host Bill Apter how Vince McMahon was concerned about his in-ring style when he signed with the WWE, as Michael McClead of WrestleZone transcribed.
“Vince was more concerned—the wrestlers have too much pride to tell you. Vince was more concerned once I signed the deal. He was like, ‘Some of the stuff you do is a little bit scary for some of the guys…Some of that stuff, you look like you’re killing guys.’ Well, that’s my job Vince. My job is to look like I’m killing you.”
Taz, who used to go by The Tasmaniac, revealed that he got the idea for his name from, exactly where many fans assumed, The Looney Tunes’ character the Tasmanian Devil. The former ECW champion said that he used to keep a Tasmanian Devil stuffed animal in his car, and his friends would call him Taz.
Back when the former WWE commentator started wrestling, nearly every worker had a gimmick. So, he thought of The Tasmaniac for his gimmick. The former wrestler revealed that his character was a hybrid of The Missing Link, The Wild Samoans, and The Steiner Brothers, which explains his vicious style and the myriad of suplexes that he used to perform. Taz also said that he was inspired by Mike Tyson, which is why he used to wear a towel to the ring.
Bill Apter asked Taz why he left TNA wrestling, now known as Impact wrestling, and the former WWE superstar said that he had a blast in TNA. He said that he loved working with Mike Tenay and everybody there. Taz said that Dixie Carter was a very nice person, but that TNA just became a little too crazy for him. He said that he was there for six or seven years, and then revealed that he left because TNA’s checks started bouncing.
The former TNA commentator said that he told the company that if he can’t get paid, then he’s no longer coming to Nashville to do voice overs. The former WWE superstar said he was very mad over the situation, and that’s when Taz signed with CBS Radio to do a podcast titled The Human Podcasting Machine .
