If a full-fledged ECW invasion of WWE took place in 1997 and was booked by Paul Heyman, then Tazz would probably be choking out Shawn Michaels with the Tazmission to close out Raw. Unfortunately for Tazz, the Invasion took place in 2001 and was booked by the McMahons. The upshot was that that the Human Suplex Machine was treated like a joke. After a promising start in WWE, Tazz's career very quickly fizzled out. Some of it was to do with Tazz's own injuries and some of it was to do with WWE's perception of him. They certainly didn't try to preserve the aura he had from ECW. By the time the Invasion rolled around, Tazz's in-ring career was winding down and he was looking to transition to the commentary desk. His last run on the roster was as the tag partner of Spike Dudley in early 2002. After that, he became the permanent colour commentator on Smackdown. His partnership with Michael Cole developed into the best in the company, but he was released in 2009 and moved to TNA. Tazz spent six years in TNA, leaving earlier this year. These days, Tazz hosts his own podcast.
