10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (18 Oct)

2. Why JR Was P*ssed When WWE Signed Taz

Despite making his debut months later at the 2000 Royal Rumble, ECW's Taz agreed to a WWF jump in late-1999. Talks were seemingly ongoing when Vince Russo was still part of the creative structure in the company (prior to his own leap to WCW), and that's where this story gets muddy.

Bruce Prichard said on his 'Something To Wrestle With' pod that Jim Ross, then the head of Talent Relations, was seriously peeved about the Taz situation. There was a simple reason for his anger: Russo, according to Prichard, had decided to tentatively broker a deal with Taz in private without Jim's knowledge.

This was problematic when the WWF held discussions.

Russo had already talked about certain things with the wrestler that the WWF weren't keen on offering. That wasn't the main thing irking Ross however. He was more p*ssed that Russo was stepping on his toes and, accidentally or not, assuming a role he was hired to do.