10 Things You Need To Know About The Original ECW Invasion
8. Sabu Fears Taz 9/23/96
The next night on Raw, following Mind Games, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog defended the tag team titles against Skip and Zip, The Body Donnas. It seemed like any other match at the time with Clarence Mason, on commentary, insisting he didn't steal the champs clientele away from Jim Cornette under duress. All of a sudden an ECW chants breaks out and Taz jumps over the ringside barricade, bringing the match to a temporary halt as he holds up an orange sign with black text that reads SABU FEARS TAZ Jim Ross put over the moment as a shoot, never mentioning the renegade promotion by name and angrily referring to it as some local outfit that wrestles out of a bingo hall trying to get their 15 minutes of fame. The real purpose of this moment was to give ECW worldwide exposure while promoting their most anticipated and heavily built match that would headline the companys inaugural pay-per-view, Barely Legal. This was major water cooler talk amongst hardcore fans and for those who never heard of ECW, the objective was clear. Who is Taz? Why is Sabu afraid of this guy? What is ECW? Maybe I should look into this!
Atlee Greene is a freelance writer for various sites, including ForcesOfGeek.com, Gerweck.net, CamelClutchBlog.com, and WhatCulture.com. He is also a former independent professional wrestler and promotes shows in the Massachusetts area.
