"He's dangerous" - Reason why Vince McMahon stopped pushing former WWE Superstar
Jim Ross has revealed that complaints from other WWE Superstars ultimately caused Vince McMahon to stop pushing Tazz in the early 2000s.
The two-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion made an instant impact in WWE by defeating Kurt Angle at the 2000 Royal Rumble. One year later, he lasted just 10 seconds in the 2001 Royal Rumble match before being eliminated by Kane.
This week’s Grilling JR podcast focused on the 2001 Royal Rumble pay-per-view. While discussing the 10-second elimination, Ross recalled that several Superstars complained to Vince McMahon about Tazz’s recklessness as an in-ring competitor.
“People thought his suplexes were dangerous, all this other stuff. A lot of the talents get back to Vince and say, ‘You know, I don’t really want to work with this guy. He’s dangerous.’ So they’d tell me that, but they’d tell Vince that. He [Vince McMahon] heard it enough and he saw that a lot of top talents were uncomfortable in stepping in the ring with Tazz. He finally took it to heart.”
Ross added that Tazz was worried about potentially receiving his release due to an injury that he sustained after the Royal Rumble. The three-time Hardcore Champion was surprised when Ross informed him that he would receive the same payment whether he worked or not.
Vince McMahon’s next role for Tazz
With the exception of a one-off match against Jerry Lawler at ECW One Night Stand 2006, Tazz’s in-ring career ended in 2002. His final televised WWE match came in a defeat against The Godfather at a WWE Jakked taping in April of that year.
Tazz continued to work for Vince McMahon’s company as a commentator until 2009. Nowadays, he is an on-screen character in AEW.
Please credit Grilling JR and give a H/T to SK Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.