'Въпроси и отговори' с Taz

[nWoHulkster]

Някои от по-интересните въпроси, на които Taz е отговарял във Facebook-a си през последните 3 месеца. Забавно четиво.

They say every man has their price, is there an offer you cant refuse to wrestle one more match? Like if TNA just offered you a crazy one match deal, would you risk it?

NO..I will say it again and again and again...I am D O N E.

If you could have one last match, who would it be against and why?

-Randy Orton...the guy is flat out phenomenal!

-AJ Styles (speaking of phenomenal)...seems like a hellva athlete and he brings it!

-CM Punk, John Morrison & Shelton Benjamin....every time I've seen these guys apply there trade its dead on!

-Daniels.....I remember several years back asking a highly ranked WWE front office guy in L.A. at Staples Center when we gonna hire this dude?

-If I could do a dream tag team match it would be Taz/Sabu vs MCMG (Chris Sabin & Alex Shelly)...back in the day we woulda tore it up with the Guns!

What do u think of the new look of the ECW title compared to the one u held?

I hate it. To compare what I held to that MONSTROUS HUNK OF SILVER they have is comical....but hey, at least its consistent what everything else in comparing the original ECW to WWE version of ECW.....there is NO comparison at all. Just change the name to anything but ECW and it will be a pretty cool 60mins. But at times, I guess some must attempt to re-write history in in their own eyes.

Who was most influential in giving you your first big break?

Without question, Paul Heyman. Paul believe in me way before ECW. For a very short time in around 1989'ish Paul was the booker for IWCCW (Salvoldi territory out of N.J.) and Paul wanted to push me and Salvoldis didn't want that because they were mad at me for me walking out before a show in Upstate NY many months prior to Paul coming in as book. I walked out because the Salvoldis broke there word to me (SHOCKING) on some business stuff and back than I was kind of a "hot head"! So I kept my values & morels and walk and I didnt have a pot to piss in and almost ran out of gas heading back to Brooklyn cause I had no $$! So when Paul took over he wanted me on IWCCW TV and Salvoldis really didn't want me....so we had TV taping up in Middletown NY area and I was walking in this small arena with Ted Petty & Tommy Norton and I heard someone screaming at Mario Salvoldi and this someone was defending me and putting me over....I looked at Teddy who was a veteran to me and always help me and said Teddy who the hell is that?? Teddy said that's Paul Heyman....I'll never forget it I heard,"you don't take him, I walk!!"....and I had never even met Paul up to that point in my life!

For u Taz, i Wanna Know What Was Ur Favorite Suplex ??

This may be a little surprising to some but the Front Head & Arm Tazplex. I tried to incorporate the T-Bone (some call an Exploder) in just about every match...but the Front Head & Arm was always kinda a challenge with taller guys (just about 90% of the guys I worked with fit that bill...lol!) but I felt it had a certain impressive look to it!

My fave Taz quote from doing colour was when he introduced Brock Lesnar: "Well, here comes the pain!" I gotta know, if he came up with the simple but effective line or was that someone feeding him that line to say everytime Brock came out?

That was indeed a line I came up with. I actually got it from the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team....the Blackshirts which is a nick name for there defense. Years ago they UN had a tshirt for the Blackshirts which said "here comes the pain"...so like many other cool gimmicks in the business that line was stolen too! lol

In the old ECW who was the one guy that was just the biggest asshole? Who was somebody that NOBODY liked, and always wondered 'How the hell did this jerk get here?'

I hate to admit this but I'm gonna shoot straight with you, I was probley the biggest A-Hole back in the original ECW days. I don't think most of the locker room "liked" me....and they shouldn't have. At times, I was a bit immature and difficult to deal with....it took me a long time to "make it" and I was always told I would NEVER make it in the industry and that motivated me but also developed a huge chip on my shoulder so I wasn't mature enough (sometimes) to handle the push and was very protecting of what I achieved. If I had to do it all over again, I would put a better effort in being humble! Life experiences and settling down has taught me to not take myself so serious.

How did you come up with the catch phrase: Beat Me If you Can, Survive if I let you?

Well it was a combination of Paul E and myself. We were in the infamous basement of Ron Buffone's (ECW TV Producer) parents house (which was our studio) taping promos at around 2:00am on a Monday night and Paul was the one who came up with the front end of the catch phrase and added the Survive if I let you....but mostly Paul.

How do you feel about there being less catch phrases in the WWE? It seemed during the 90's everyone had their own, but you don't see them as often today.

Very good observation. I thought about a lot while sitting ringside many times....I think its a lost art! It NEEDS to come back! Audience interaction on TV during a wrestling show is VITAL. But, I do feel in the 90's TOO many guys had catch phrases....most of the time catch phrases cannot be forced, meaning it is one of those things that just has to catch on (pun)!

How did you decide to use the "Tazmission" as your finisher?

I wanted to be different. I wanted to use a submission hold that wasn't the typical Figure Four or Boston Crab type submission. So I went to my Judo back round and used the Kata Ha Jime (the authentic Japanese name). I also picked the Tazmission because I knew I could use it on anyone....no matter how big or small....that is extremely important. That is how I also came up with winning a match via "Tap Out"...no one had done that in the U.S. in Pro Wrestling on TV up to that point. I was a big fan of PANCRASE (Japanese Pro Wrestling /MMA company in the 90's, they were UFC before UFC) back than and wanted to incorporate some of there concepts in my style in regards to being a "hybrid fighter".

Who do you see as the 'next big thing' in WWE? John Morrison? Shelton Benjamin?

MVP

Who is your favorite wrestler you've been in the ring with?

I assume your question is "who is my favorite I've wrestled". This answer might surprise some of you. I've been VERY lucky to wrestle some great stars & great guys from Undertaker, Stone Cold, Rock, Kurt Angle, HHH, Sabu, Dreamer, RVD, Team 3D, Bam Bam, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho and Edge. But honestly speaking, I had LOVED working with Chris Candido!! I had the opportunity to wrestle Candido from early Northeast Indies, Smoky Mountain and ECW (the real one!). Chris was an awesome guy that I miss very much and was grossly underrated!

When did you start wearing the towel on your head during your entrance and what inspired it?

Once the Taz-maniac died and TAZ was created (around 1994 or 95). Mike Tyson use to wear a white towel on his upper body that had a hole in it to slip his head trough. I thought that was bad-ass. I didnt want to copy his stuff or his gimmick so I thought I would use a black towel (and back than sometimes an orange towel) on my head insead of like a pancho like Tyson wore. Iron Mike wasn't the biggest dog in the fight and was from the mean streets Brooklyn USA and also was a "no frills" combatant....so in my mind I saw a connection to his persona that inspire me back than.

I wanted to know when you decided to retire were you upset that you only wrestled 2 years with wwe?

Absolutely NOT!!!! I felt like I had a certain legacy in my wrestling career before I arrived in WWE, a legacy that I was very proud of and I was concerned it would get tarnished even more by WWE....I wish it was 1 year! Along with the agents & writers they had back than and the "other powers that be", I felt like they never had a CLUE what the Taz character was truly about. Obviously my neck issues had a lot to do with me hanging them up also.

Why did you start wearing orange?

In the early 90's most guys were wearing Red & Black...I just wanted to be different & unique. I saw how very unique colors like Pink & Black work for a top name like Bret Hart and I thought Orange & Black could work for me.

MMA has exploded since the days of ECW, but at any point did you consider taking part in MMA instead of wrestling? With Brock Lesnar's success in the UFC and Bobby Lashley getting his feet wet, do you see MMA becoming a significant threat to the wrestling business? And lastly, do you feel that the physical toll on ones body is greater for a professional wrestler or a mixed martial artist?

Yes I did consider MMA as a career during my ECW days...but i felt that I would have much more longevity in the Wrestling business. No I do not see MMA as a threat to the wrestling business. Completely different animal with a different fanbase....now if you said will MMA effect the Boxing business I would say YES...MMA is KILLING the Boxing business. As far as comparing the physical toll, full time Wrestlers in TNA & WWE are almost consistantly humping the road and getting banged up as oppsed to MMA guys who fight once every couple of months...training doesnt count in my book.

What is the one moment you believe defines your career and why?

Without a doubt making my WWE debut at Madison Square Garden in my hometown of NYC against Kurt Angle in 2000. For me at that time, making it to the highest point in the business was in the WWE and to debut at MSG proved to me that I "made it".

How do you think Michael Cole is doing on Raw, a lot of fans don't like him and want J.R. back, what are your thoughts?

Well I think Cole's doing a fine job on Raw. Cole is one of my better friends in and out of the industriy and I really miss working with him! And folks I can promise you this....you might dislike Cole's on air work or enjoy Cole's work but I can tell you that I dare you to find anyone whom preps as much as Cole! His work ethic and dedication cannot get any better!! He was like that when we did Heat from WWE Restaurant, he was like that in the WWE Studios for any post production work and throughout our time together on Smackdown Cole was non stop show prepping...always prepared!! And if the powers that be in WWE didnt think he was Cole on point, he would not be on Raw this long....trust that!

Taz, I was wondering about your wrestling style. You performed Tazplexes in ECW that were too dangerous for WWE. Other than Sabu, did you ever injure anyone else while performing those Tazplexes? Also, did a lot more planning go into the performance of those Tazplexes in order to keep the possibility of injury lower?

Thanks god...I have never hurt anyone one with any of my Suplex's. That was a HUGE concern of mine, but I trained very hard on doing extremely unique throws (suplex's) and pride my self on the actually safty of the moves. I would perform certain "type" of suplex's on certain wrestlers. I wish I could sit here and give you all the details and the magic of performing some of the throws I did and did them without injuring anyone! But I'm still a little old school....the magician doesn't tell you how he makes the rabbit disappear!

Also, there has been some exaggeration on "WWE wouldn't let Taz do his suplex's". In defense to the WWE, I cannot recall being told by WWE not to do certain suplex's. At times, my instincts told me that some of the "power people" in the company at times felt I came across in the ring as dangerous....that's good! Because my job was to come across as dangerous!! But I did want the rest of the locker room to trust the wrestler I was, and in some cases some of the wrestlers were just too damm big to do certain suplex's! Great question!

Taz, Being the master of the suplex... who do you think throws the sickest suplexes now?

Good question. I feel outta touch with some of the newer talent in Japen but I know for many years there were some awesome throws being done in that awesome country! By greats like the late Misawa, Masa Saito, Hiro Hase, Tiger Mask & Thunder Liger! So now in the states its like the "art" of the suplex is just thrown (pun intended) away...not special! A lot has to do with TV time restrictions on most TV matches. So will name the U.S. workers that I feel have excellence technique behind their throws

--Kurt Angle

--Scott Steiner

--Samoa Joe

--Shelton Benjamin

--William Regal