Taz has been signed to a multi-year contract with All Elite Wrestling.
The announcement was made official in a press conference of sorts on Thursday via AEW’s twitter account. He sat alongside Cody and AEW Vice President Chris Harrington before signing the contract.
Who Is Taz And What Can He Bring To AEW?
Taz is an Extreme Championship Wrestling legend with the nickname “Human Suplex Machine.” A name like that gives a clear picture of his style in the ring. His persona was a take no prisoners, hard hitting and most of all a no nonsense character. In the 2000 Royal Rumble, he made his WWE in-ring debut by submitting the undefeated Kurt Angle. However, shortly after his debut Taz spent less and less time in the ring as injuries piled up.
The next stage of Taz’s career was how most people would remember him in the WWE. In 2002 he moved behind the booth as a commentator. He added a great deal to his color commentary because he was a high level former ECW wrestler. His knowledge of the hardcore wrestling style helped add to the viewer’s compehension of the popular new style. However, his greatest strength was that he had wrestled a lot of the wrestlers in the not too distant past. Jerry Lawyer in WWE and Larry Zbyszko in WCW were the color guys, but haven’t wrestled full time on TV in about 10-15 years.
It is not uncommon to have a wrestler do guest spots behind the booth, but to reappear week after week was. Macho Man may have been the last person to do it, but it had been close to 10 years prior.
Taz left the WWE to become a commentator in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from 2009 to 2015. This is not the first time Taz has done work with AEW. Back in October he was a guest commentator for AEW Dark and as a pre-show commentator for AEW’s Full Gear.
WHAT TAZ’S LIKELY ROLE WILL BE AT AEW
It is not clear what his role will be in AEW. However, it is a safe bet it will most likely be as a commentator. They have plenty of backstage producers and help developing talent. Currently AEW Dark only has Excalibur commentating of the matches with a rotating guest commentator. Having Taz be Excalibur’s co-announcer would make a lot of sense.
However, I think Jim Ross needs to go. He is a wrestling legend, but he just doesn’t have it anymore. Ross is getting better as he gets more familiar with the new crop of wrestlers and their moveset. However, Taz would fit better there on AEW Dynamite and maybe have Ross move to AEW Dark.
Taz has also announced some sad news for his podcast, Taz Show, as it will be on hold for a while.
To keep up with more AEW news, check out The Illuminerdi’s wrestling page.
