10 Greatest Things About ECW’s Final Year

10. Taz Returns To Save The Day

Sure, he wasn't in his famed singlet, and he came out to his WWE entrance music, but seeing Taz(z) turn up to topple Mike Awesome and once again become the ECW World Champion was a huge moment on the 14 April 2000 edition of ECW on TNN.

At this point, the Human Suplex Machine had debuted with WWE four months prior - choking out the undefeated Kurt Angle at the Royal Rumble from Madison Square Garden - whilst Awesome had signed with WCW while he was still the ECW Champion. After speaking to Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman was able to wangle it for Taz to make a shocking return to ECW and topple the Canadian powerhouse for the ECW Title in what would be Awesome's final match in the original run of the company.

The Buffalo, New York crowd rightfully lost their mind at seeing the one-time Tazmaniac back in the Land of Extreme, and historically this match was unique in how it featured a WWE star battling a WCW star for the biggest prize in ECW.

After Taz got the win, he would actually get to wear the ECW World Championship on WWE TV, although part and parcel of that was having the ECW Champ beaten by then-WWE Champion Triple H, of course. Once he'd done the J.O.B. to the Game on an episode of SmackDown, Taz quickly dropped the ECW Title to Tommy Dreamer at CyberSlam later that same month.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 8th Nov 2022

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