Somewhere between Taz playing football, studying judo and choking out one-time mixed-martial arts fighter Paul "The Polar Bear" Varelans, the association between Taz and mixed-martial arts left many ECW fans believing that if Taz were to enter into a shoot-fighting competition, he'd have a more than fighting chance of succeeding. However, nothing could likely be further from the truth. The genius of ECW's booking and presentation of Taz was to have him use many parts of MMA's mythology, including brutal suplexes, the kata hajime submission, tap outs, his "Team Taz" fight team and as well, the fact that he rarely ever lost in using his MMA style in a professional wrestling ring. In a strange allusion to the present belief by many one-time pro wrestling fans that MMA is "better" than pro wrestling, in using "MMA" in wrestling, Taz differentiated himself from the pack, won matches and became an ECW superstar. But was he a legitimate mixed martial artist? Absolutely not. In marrying a lie to the truth, ECW created a unique alternative universe for pro wrestling that has been oftentimes approached again, but not quite reached in the same manner as during Taz's legendary run.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
