10 Stars That Benefited The Most From ECW

8. Tazz

Despite being a terrific technical wrestler, as well as a legitimate badass, Tazz (spelled €˜Taz€™ in ECW) always had a multitude of factors working against him, which surely would have prevented him from getting noticed by either the WWE or WCW. At 5,9€ the WWF of the early-mid 1990€™s would not have looked twice at him. Vince€™s attitude of €˜You Must Be At Least This Tall To Be Pushed€™ was even stauncher then than it is now and Tazz, who appeared to be built like a muscular bowling ball, would simply not have been on the WWF or WCW€™s radar as a result. Having watched him as a colour commentator for so many years now, it is easy to forget just how F€™N good Tazz actually was in the ring. Go back and watch him wrestle Tajiri from ECW€™s Heatwave €™99 Pay Per View €“ Ouch. As you know, Tazz eventually found fame in ECW and was pushed to the moon as Paul E€™s New York tough guy, a role Tazz played up to with relish (and stern dedication to character). He ended up becoming a two-time ECW Champion (although one of those runs occurred when he was contracted to the WWF €“ don€™t ask!) Tazz then jumped ship from ECW to the WWF in 2000, almost a full year before most of his contemporaries did. Although he has stated in interviews that he had become disillusioned with ECW and its product, which led to his leaving, it seems more likely that Tazz simply read the writing that was on the wall and decided to get a head start on his colleagues. Either way, it worked. Tazz was pushed in the WWF and packaged in exactly the right way. The Attitude Era fans ate him up with a spoon. For a while, he was probably WWF€™s hottest new talent. They even had him end rising star Kurt Angle€™s undefeated streak at the Royal Rumble Pay Per View (in his debut match, no less).

Then, something really weird happened. Tazz began a surprising, but very well played out, feud with the WWF commentary team of play-by-play announcer Jim Ross and colour commentator Jerry €˜The King€™ Lawler. Lawler had been standing up in defence of his friend Jim Ross, after Tazz had repeatedly threatened him. Tazz was really getting over as a vicious, bullying heel when all of a sudden he started doing full shows as a colour commentator - and ultimately replaced his former rival Lawler! Watching this unfold at home was very strange indeed, because just weeks previously, the villainous Tazz had been trying to attack poor old JR at every opportunity and now they were happily working together! However, Tazz proved to be very adept at announcing, making full use of his extensive knowledge of wrestling holds and his good chemistry with JR. He even developed his own version of Lawler€™s €œpuppies!€ fetish, by constantly referring to the WWE Divas as €œhot tamatas€. Upon the return of €˜The King€™, Tazz joined Michael Cole to commentate on the Smackdown! brand and subsequently spent several years correcting Cole€™s embarrassingly limited wrestling knowledge. He could often be heard politely, but firmly, telling Cole the proper name of the hold or manoeuvre on display. Michael Cole is awful on commentary, but, whilst he was working with Tazz, I never realized quite how awful, because Tazz actually covered for him pretty well. Today, Tazz teams with Mike Tenay to call TNA events and the pair generally make a good announce team (in fact, a far better announce team than WWE presently has). Without ECW, would Tazz have become a two-time World Heavyweight Champion, as well as gone on to become one of the most successful wrestlers-turned- commentators? Probably not.