The GOAT bridge german suplex.

I come from a different time, the Taz I know is different. I have my favorites that are just not popular at all now in the "All Time Great" scheme of it all and I see the criticism for them and their performances and some of it is legit and it kills the mystique I had in my imagination for them. But fuck that. We're turning back the clock to 1998 and yes Taz was a legit wrestling deity to me(a mark). 

Feb 18, 2023 4:09:34 GMT Neo Zeed said:

The GOAT bridge german suplex.

GOAT Northern Lights bridge, too. 

Listen, I'm a Sabu guy, 4 life, that's where my loyalties will always be, but Taz 1996-1999 is a bad man. 

ME: Maybe, my memory is exaggerating how far back Taz would bridge his Northern Lights suplex, surely his back didn't really bend over his ankles like I'm remembering

TAZ:

That is so fucking amazing. I really don't think a better Northern Lights Suplex exists.

Seeing Al Perez hit a german with a bridge that was even better than that last night on Mid-south '85 I think I falsely remember Taz doing germans like that, did he though? Most of his german suplexes were release?

I just really think Taz is by far the greatest martial arts gimmick character there ever was. Wrestling doing martial arts is usually so stupid it's hilarious. You would hear them say Ricky Steamboat was a master of Karate and Tae Kwon Do and Jujitsu but it's like they really had no clue what all that really was. Japan was different obviously, I guess this would apply to US wrestling. But Taz coming out in early 1996 as one of these new hybrid warriors like you see in the ultimate fighting pay per views, the judo throws being called by their names, the hybrid rules matches against kickboxers/Paul Varelans, etc, his own Tapout merch before it became a clothing line at Wal Mart, the dojo, and the actor pulled it off superbly. 

You'll get no argument from me. Taz ruled. One show-Barely Legal- was all it took to make me a Taz fan 4 life. Greatest badass character in wrestling history. King of Suplex. Great on the mic. Dude was on fire from 96-99. My favorite ECW wrestler and think I had him #13 overall last time we did a PW's Favorite Wrestler countdown.

I didn't really experience him since I hardly watched ECW but man that northern lights. Most of the time that move just looks... very transitional. I could never in my life buy it as a legit near fall. I did enjoy it being busted out @ 20 for the triple. Always thought it was a decent high profile use of it and it looked guud. It like one of the only "technical" moves he used since he was pretty much a brawler. The fuck random Benoit talk.

Back to Taz (is it lame to spell it Tazz?) Dude it just looks like a "real" move? Ya know what I mean? Some moves are just a little too... gymnasticy/soft looking. Shout out to A-Fox for putting in the work however. Dude I can't tell if the gif is slow mode or real time, if the latter... he even looks like he's TRYING to get leverage to pin. Like... damn dude, ya wanna talk about textbook rasslin. It may not look AS pretty as others, but it looks like a move with the right No Mercy camera angle that you'll buy it as a finisher.

"He was a killer and now he's a color commentator. And not even a good one."

God dude can we just pretend he "beat" Angle and then just went to the booth? He had nothing else to prove. "This your guy? Not impressed" after his victory and just bounces. That's a KILLER. Taz also cemented a career for himself. Scout and specific school FOR wwe, managed to always stay in the spotlight at the b level (smackdown, tna, aew...) so like he's documentary worthy. For realsies.

Nobi keep up this wrestling lookback streak. I hope a certain someone returns during this wrestling talk renaissance. Unlock the love we all used to have for DIS BUSINESS.

Just a fun 16:30 to spend. Not that I'm ever that far off, but hearing Joey Styles making those calls, just gave me the ECW feels again. 

Yep, I'm ready to throw a wrench in my yt alogrithims. Let's do this. I always loved these videos because something they're really stretching what a moveset is.

I mean he's OK but he's no Matt Jackson.

Taz: I'm jealous

From the man's mouth.

That's good shit, pal.

Brudda, TAZ choked out 911, he choked out Paul Marlens, he'd choked any of those BUMS from the UFC. They were pussies compared to TAZ!

Taz really was the one guy who made me believe ECW was a totally different animal in 1996 as being "this shit is real." A pro wrestler challenging all these MMA guys really made me take notice and he fit the role of a bad ass shooter perfectly. Him and Sabu are 1a and 1b when it comes to my favorite ECW wrestlers. He was also involved in one of my all time favorite squashes:

Now, I wish RF had a best of Taz complication. Beat him if you dare! survive if he lets you!

Feb 21, 2023 23:39:13 GMT Ed said:

Now, I wish RF had a best of Taz complication. Beat him if you dare! survive if he lets you!

They did! I got Best of Taz Volume Whatever in 1998. Honestly wasn't that great! Seeing Taz squash Lance Storm in 3 minutes in Poughkeepsie IS great! The first time you see it. But when it's followed by the same exact match in Waltham, Dayton, and Fort Lauderdale even Taz can get old.

Trying to think why I purchased that one particular Best of Taz tape. Guessing it's because it was either the most recent or it featured the Bigelow pay per view match(es). 

Feb 21, 2023 23:46:40 GMT @ness said:

9/10. Needed more Taz rattling off the list of big names he beat preferably with accompanying footage. Loved when he would do that. He did it at Barely Legal. Might have been on the pre-show. Remember sitting there thinking "Damn. This guy is legit." 

Feb 21, 2023 23:45:12 GMT @admin said:

@admin is trying to fuck around & get choked out too. Bad move, BRUDDA!

Seeing all this old ECW stuff and I'm like man, why didn't WWE sign him?!?

Has Taz ever talked about the Tapout clothing brand? As in publicly admitting he wants to kill everyone involved?

Feb 22, 2023 0:56:13 GMT Kilgore said:

Has Taz ever talked about the Tapout clothing brand? As in publicly admitting he wants to kill everyone involved?

I wish Taz cut a promo about Tapout.

He has talked about Tapout in an interview I read back in the old PW days. He pretty easily could have sued them and made a pretty good payday out of it.

When the clothing brand got huge in the 2000's I always assumed it was the same brand, that Taz was just an early adopter of the brand back in the day. But no, that was all his deal.

I had to dig up my AHT post about the year 1996 that he had in ECW. He debuted this character at November To Remember 1995(prior to that he was like the 3rd Steiner Brother, pretty much Bron Breakker in 1995, prior to that he was Tasmaniac). I feel like Taz's 1996 is one of the best years any wrestler had.

Taz's character from January to December of 1996 is absolutely one of my all time favorite things ever produced by any promotion. There may have been more consistent guys in the ring through the year, but nobody captured my interest as much as Taz. He started out earlier in the year taking out jobbers like Koji Nakagawa, Joel Hartgood, and El Puerto Ricano, just absolutely folding them in half with suplexes and choking them out. He developed the all time greatest, most authentic MMA gimmick any pro wrestler could ever dream of having, a good solid decade before the sport even took off. He called out Sabu and Paul Heyman all year long, choking out The Last Survivor of the Hart Family Dungeon, a Muay Thai Kickboxer, and even a 6'8", 300 pound UFC tournament finalist in a series of "ECW vs The World" worked shoot fights. He went toe to toe with the one man that he feared, Dr. Death Steve Williams. He dumped Tommy Dreamer off of the Eagles Nest balcony through a table with a suplex. He mopped up the floor with British technician Johnny Smith before he called out Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle. Then he took November to Remember hostage until his arch nemesis finally grew the balls to face him. Absolutely one of the greatest characters in pro wrestling history, and pretty much the best calender year that any ECW wrestler has ever had. Taz is my MVP for ECW 1996, and really nobody else even comes close for me. I would argue that the Taz character has aged better than anything else that happened in the business in 1996, including the NWO. Taz in ECW was an even better MMA character than the real life accomplished fighters that crossed over from MMA to Pro Wrestling in the years that followed.

And the beauty of it was that it was all an act, brilliantly played off. I don't' think Taz the real life guy Peter Senerchia had much of any amateur background in anything that can be proven. He was just a pro wrestler playing the character.

Was Taz the first indy darling?

Feb 26, 2023 15:41:48 GMT @ness said:

Was Taz the first indy darling?

Sabu was much more hyped than Taz (who was still the Tasmaniac) when he was getting all the press in 1993. He was big in the Apter mags and had several tapes that circulated among collectors around that time. Cactus and Eddie Gilbert were big in Philly a few years before but they had national exposure on TBS, not sure if that counts. Lightning Kid also had a bit of hype in GWF before he came to the WWF as well. Owen Hart in Stampede is another candidate when he was lighting it up from 1986-88. Good question.

Always marking out for any reference to "Apter mags"

I always think of The Lightning Kid as the first indy darling, although Shootist is right is that there were others before him. But The Kid seems the most like a true indy darling as we think of them now (skinny, undersized, can't cut a promo, but wrestling ability has people hyped). He's like an ROH guy transported into the early '90s indy wrestling scene.

I kind of think of Macho Man as a sort of indy darling of his day now. Part of his dad's outlaw promotion, getting written about because he's the Macho Man, he so clearly rules, even in his early days. Then Memphis/WWF are genuinely treating him as a free agent they need to sign. That's indy as fuck.

Taz is awesome, he was always one of my fave loony toons characters.

Shootist set the table with Sabu, Lightning Kid, Gilbert & Cactus then Kilgore knocked it out of the park with Randy Savage. Macho working his dad's outlaw promotion in Smoky Mountain country makes him the first indie darling I can think of, though I'm sure there are others lost to time who predate him. This question once came up years (decades?) ago on another forum where I remember people going to bat for Bruiser Brody as another early indie darling. Don't necessarily agree given he worked a lot of major territories, but he did have that independent spirit.

Al Snow hyped as "the best kept secret in wrestling" is another guy who deserves mention around the time of Sabu. @ness Sabu was the ultimate indie darling when I got into the Apter Mags(!) in 95-96. The hype was off the charts. Like you have no idea. Taz was just another guy playing in The House Sabu Built. This is why it was so shocking when Taz beat him clean at Barely Legal! To use a reference from your era it would be like comparing Danielson to Roderick Strong, though I think mid 90s Sabu was more hyped than Danielson, or any other indie darling before or since.

Feb 27, 2023 1:41:10 GMT Baker said:

Taz was just another guy playing in The House Sabu Built. This is why it was so shocking when Taz beat him clean at Barely Legal!

It's a goddamn, travesty, man. Especially on the show that so performatively wanted to say, "This might not make business sense, but Terry Funk is going over because he helped build this place!" Who else helped build that place, Paul? I hate it so much. Fucking hurts, bros.