10 Greatest ECW Champions
4. Taz
The most miserable man on the planet walked a long, hard road to world title glory. Debuting for ECW all the way back in 1993 as one half of the Tazmaniacs, Taz spent six hard hitting years working his way up the hardcore ladder.
Returning from a horrifically broken neck in December 1995 under the Taz name, now a Human Suplex Machine, Taz put together technically sound, super stiff mat focused battles. Inspired by MMA, opponents would tap out to Taz’s dreaded Tazmission finisher and this novelty fast became the main way to submit in a match to this day.
After bagging the TV belt and creating the charmingly misanthropic FTW title, Taz decimated Shane Douglas at Guilty As Charged '99 and began an eight month reign as top dog. Obliterating much of the roster during this time, Taz was the face of ECW’s move to TNN in August 1999. A major draw for the rabid cult fan base ECW had acquired, Taz’s take no prisoners run at the top was enough to win over the booming WWF who booked him to choke out Kurt Angle in his debut match.
Known more for his colour commentary work in the years since, Taz was once the kind of no-nonsense heavy hitter the likes of Samoa Joe and Tomohiro Ishii portray these days.