Exactly How Good Was Taz?
From Human Suplex Machine to Human Meme Machine, the Red Hook native's done it all in wrestling.
All Elite Wrestling have established an audience that have remained incredibly plugged into the product since its 2019 launch.
It's a dream situation for an organisation that realistically shouldn't have existed had WWE not blown their near-two decade monopoly. A stabilised total viewership finds Dynamite most Wednesdays, enough of that makes an appointment with Collision and Rampage, and similar numbers can be found across the likes of Twitter, YouTube and Reddit engaging with the action in their own time.
This is even true of commercial breaks, thanks to the company's coverage on Triller (formerly Fite), where literally every second of Dynamite is available to view should the TBS commercials feel as though they're an imposition on the match in question.
Especially if Taz is in the mood to be his best self.
An unexpected and undisputed highlight of the shows on commentary (as he was as the top boss of Team Taz between 2020-2022), the 'Human Suplex Machine' regularly has his best moments ripped and shared online, forcing repeat viewings and inadvertently generating interest in whatever he's particularly enjoying. It's earnest, uninhibited, and typically p*ss funny. This has extended to his excellent and fearless social media game as well as the joyous deification of his son Hook from that same deeply entrenched audience.
"[CM] Punk Fears Hook" was a meme so successful that AEW cameras used to zoom in on signs that fronted it in the building. Not to say Taz is a meme. He'd rip your head off for inferring it and break your arms and legs for thinking it. But he fits into 2024 wrestling in much the same way, because he's yet again found a way to remain relevant.
That's been an unexpected and unlikely pattern in his remarkable career...
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