As aforementioned, after a backstage incident with Rob Van Dam, a lot of ECW talent didn't really buy into the hard man schtick that Taz was selling. That shouldn't really matter, because it's surely far more important that fans believed Taz was the tough guy he claimed to be, and they did. A major part of the appeal of Taz was that he was a destroyer, a wrestler capable of ending careers through his inventive variations of the suplex. Fans bought into this idea hook, line and sinker, really trusting that Taz could kick pretty much anyone's teeth down their throat. For his part, Taz lived the gimmick even when the cameras weren't rolling, refusing to stop for autographs or photographs with fans, feeling that would diminish the aura he had worked so hard to build. In the WWF, this kind of thing didn't really wash for a newcomer, but in ECW, Taz was king, and he wasn't afraid to let everyone believe that he was tough as old boots.
