101 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened
28. Tazz Running Down ‘Stone Cold’
Top writer Brian Gewirtz had a cunning plan in mind for Taz/Tazz's WWF debut. Management had agreed terms with the original ECW 'Human Suplex Machine' to join the roster, so attention turned towards what would be the best way to debut him. Gewirtz thought Survivor Series 1999 was the right time and place, and it gets better.
Tazz was going to be revealed as the evil-doer who mowed mega-star Steve Austin down in a car before speeding away. Not Rikishi doing it for The Rock and definitely not Triple H being outed as the true mastermind behind 'Stone Cold' nearly snuffing it live on pay-per-view. Nope, it would've been one of Paul Heyman's brightest lights.
Someone (presumably Vince, Austin or Hunter) behind the curtain wasn't sold on the thought of Tazz coming for Steve, so Brian's storyboard was reshuffled to include Rikishi then Trips. Meanwhile, Tazz debuted in Madison Square Garden with a win over Kurt Angle at the 2000 Royal Rumble show.
It was a memorable introduction, but Tazz famously reasoned that he was screwed once the loyal audience inside MSG went bananas for him - he wasn't sure that'd go down well backstage, somewhat strangely. Tazz also hit a few dangerous-looking suplexes during the glorified squash bout, and those counted as black marks against him internally.
Would Tazz have worked as Austin's antagonist? Nobody will ever know, but it would've been some way to take your bow in the biggest company. Going after its biggest star could've launched Tazz into the stratosphere ASAP. Instead, he fell down the pecking order shortly after beating Angle.