"Pal, Paul Heyman's in trouble and we've gotta help him...see you on Raw on Monday!"
These were the hassled words delivered to Tazz by his new boss Vince McMahon as 'The Human Suplex Machine' enjoyed a day off with his family. The short story long was that ECW Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome had signed with WCW, and Heyman and McMahon had devised a scenario that saw the newly-minted WWE Superstar defeat a WCW talent in an ECW ring.
Tazz dominated Awesome in a short squash then did the honours for Tommy Dreamer nine days later. He only had to look strong and "help" Paul Heyman's ailing brand for nine days. The company even had a SmackDown booked in hardcore home base Philadelphia inbetween the title trades. Several stars had aligned for Tazz to have one night as a top star again on the blue brand.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
