The following is the latest Question & Answer bit from the official Facebook page of former WWE announcer and soon-to-be TNA Wrestling star Taz.
Top 7….
1–Ryan Dinella (Tampa Bay, FL)
They say every man has their price, is there an offer you cant refuse to wrestle one more match? Like if TNA just offered you a crazy one match deal, would you risk it?
**NO..I will say it again and again and again…I am D O N E.
2–Benjamin Jacobsen (Seattle, WA)
Taz, Being the master of the suplex… who do you think throws the sickest suplexes now?
**Good question. I feel outta touch with some of the newer talent in Japen but I know for many years there were some awesome throws being done in that awesome country! By greats like the late Misawa, Masa Saito, Hiro Hase, Tiger Mask & Thunder Liger! So now in the states its like the "art" of the suplex is just thrown (pun intended) away…not special! A lot has to do with TV time restrictions on most TV matches. So will name the U.S. workers that I feel have excellence technique behind their throws
–Kurt Angle
–Scott Steiner
–Samoa Joe
–Shelton Benjamin
–William Regal
3–Dustin Cyle Rider (Salisbury, MD)
What are your thoughts on the whole steroids scandal in baseball and players like A-Rod and Manny?
What was your favorite promotion EVER to work for?
**I will answer your 2nd question 1st- ECW (WWE a close 2nd). As far as the Steroid nonsense MLB…I think its just that NONSENSE! Pro Sports has had Performance Enhancement Drugs in it for years!! Where there is $$ with you have Elite Athletes when you have Elite Athletes and HUGE $$$ than you have something called competition!! Competition brings out the dark side at times in many of us. Bottemline in my opinion is, these are GROWN men that are Pro Athletes leave them be and let them do there thing….its been this way for YEARS.
4–Zachery McClean (Queen’s College)
Hey Taz. I know a lot of "Internet fans" have got a problem with Batista. But what’re your thoughts on him as a wrestler?
**Well more importantly I feel is my thoughts on him as a person….good dude from were I sit. Always been super cool with me…I like Dave a lot. As a wrestler i feel he has come a LOOONG way from 3 or 4 years ago and has worked his ass off and it shows in my opinion!! The man is a Superstar…looks it…acts it…believes it which is WHY he is a BIG STAR!! Perception is reality in this biz.
5–Ezra Kazee (Winona)
OK Taz, have to take you back to one of my favorite reality shows, Tough Enough. Having been a trainer for season one of the show, do you have any special memories from the show and from the contestants?
**My first thoughts on TE 1 were that these frigging kids were lucky as shit to get a chance to slide into the WWE without breaking a finger nail and there is a gigantic list of guys like me who busted their ass and neck (literally in my case) to get into the WWE!! So that pissed me off that they had it so easy and WWE knew that I was bitter and exploited that which makes for good TV! Al Snow was good cop and I was bad cop…wasn’t an act at all. What didn’t air was all the butting of heads that Al and I did which also wasn’t an act. It drove me nuts that Al could be so lax with these kids because he (Al Snow) came up the hard way and earned his stripes and was patience with them and I was a maniac! But Ive always respected Al and still do. Also, from TE 1 I have me some friends that I consider life long friends like WWE Producer John "Big" Gaburick and ECW Announcer Josh Matthews.
6–Steven Kuchera (Philadelphia, PA)
Taz, Towards the end of your time with WWE, you made the jump from the ECW commentator’s table to the seat right next to JR on SmackDown!. Why did that happen? Also, who was your favorite person to call a match with?
**it happen because I was in a very tough spot on ECW, calling 1 match on PPV’s and stuck in quicksand with Adamle and VKM & K Dunn knew I wanted to get back where I belonged on one of the bigger brands! So when the opportunity popped up Kevin Dunn did what he said he would do and he moved me back up. See, the plan for the re-birth of ECW and for the ECW brand was for it to be on par with Raw & SD….but it just didn’t have a chance because half the people in creative wanted the brand to represent what the brand use to be and the other half of the Powers That Be wanted it to be Raw or SD "LIGHT"…so it became the red headed step child in my opinion (no offense to any actual red headed step children). I wanted off the show….i wasn’t challenged anymore on that show.
Up to this point in my announcing career..Cole is my favorite partner to work with…I love JR trust me but Cole and I have a lot of history.
7– Troy S Kenneson (Saint John, NB)
Taz I got a big question for ya. How does it feel to be asked so many questions? That right there may be the most important question of all questions.
**It feels good! i feel like people care about my POV on things in and out of the wrestling business and I’m truly flattered by that.
TAZ
FTW
BTW- freedom.
Speaking of Taz, his no-compete clause with WWE officially expired today.
Check out Taz’s Facebook page at this link.
