Tazz Gone From WWE

jeffk

http://www.wrestlingunlimited.com/news/240522471

Source: PWInsider.com

Former ECW World champion and long-time WWE announcer Tazz left World Wrestling Entertainment last night after calling the matches for this Friday's edition of Smackdown.

He is now officially done with the company as his WWE contract expires today.

More soon.

ShawnRaven

jeffk wrote: »

http://www.wrestlingunlimited.com/news/240522471

Source: PWInsider.com

Former ECW World champion and long-time WWE announcer Tazz left World Wrestling Entertainment last night after calling the matches for this Friday's edition of Smackdown.

He is now officially done with the company as his WWE contract expires today.

More soon.

He'll be back within six months. He'll probs do some independant appearances and signings. He's in crap shape to wrestle anyway and has been for years, but he'll be back with them.

jeffk

http://www.wrestlingunlimited.com/news/240524599


The only update I have on Tazz leaving WWE is that he asked for the release several weeks ago according to well placed sources. The reason being was that he 'wanted some time off to recharge his batteries'.

There are conflicting reports on when his contract was set to expire. Some sources were under the impression it was today while others are saying within the new few weeks/months. I'm being told that last night was his final date with the company although a return at some point is possible. He was saying his 'goodbyes' last night at the TV tapings.

More as we get it.

ShawnRaven

"well placed sources" = internet speculation.

jeffk

ShawnRaven wrote: »

He'll be back within six months. He'll probs do some independant appearances and signings. He's in crap shape to wrestle anyway and has been for years, but he'll be back with them.

Maybe outta the wrestling game or of to work for ROH as i heard the tv network wanted a different commentator?

chopperbyrne

Nothing on wwe.com and his profile is still on the Smackdown page.

jeffk

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Nothing on wwe.com and his profile is still on the Smackdown page.

yeh but hes a commentator did foely an admale or whatever his name get the we wish them well post?

d.harney

but strange wit wm around the corner. who's gonna to the commentry now? maybe jbl will go back to it? rey vs jbl first match? jbl wins, retires and then sits beside jr?

Bounty Hunter

When is the draft again? I can see a temp replacement for him till then, before JBL returns to the SD commentary booth alongside Micheal Cole who after being tested as part of the A commentary team will be replaced on Raw once more by good old JR until he is needed again.

Id imagine that the WWE wanted to keep him entirely of course and secondley wanted him to stay till the draft but were probably happy that Tazz atleast stayed on till Mania (which i wonder will he have any involvement in calling matches from his brand) after which things are usally a bit shaken up anyway and where its rumoured that

JBL may retire with the IC title, hense him becoming a commentator again.

Tazz will be back in the E before too long tho imo

Machismo Fan

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Nothing on wwe.com and his profile is still on the Smackdown page.

I doubt they are going to announce his departure until after this weeks Smackdown if they are going to be doing it at all. You'd think that they'd try to keep him until after WrestleMania, it's very messy changing a commentator on the night.

i didn't mind him when he was announcing with Michael Cole but I never liked him announcing with JR for some reason.

Hopefully they put JR back to raw and put JBL and Cole together on Smackdown.

Fozzy

Strange. F4wonline.com says that his contract was already up and they reached an agreement for him to do this week's Smackdown, so they could have got a new guy in to replace him before Wrestlemania if they'd wanted

Rehire Colt Cabana :pac:

Rjd2

Deleted User wrote: »

i didn't mind him when he was announcing with Michael Cole but I never liked him announcing with JR for some reason.

Hopefully they put JR back to raw and put JBL and Cole together on Smackdown.

JR is senile at this stage, and is very slow calling commentary. He was a mess at the rumble, he missed half the eliminations. Get the King on SDand stick him with JR, both of them are washed up and let JBL and Cole call Raw.

callaway92

Who will commentate instead of him at WM??

MIKE ADAMLE ftw

If not him..Try to get Mike Goldberg over from the UFC :P

Rjd2

Rjd2 wrote: »

JR is senile at this stage, and is very slow calling commentary. He was a mess at the rumble, he missed half the eliminations. Get the King on SDand stick him with JR, both of them are washed up and let JBL and Cole call Raw.

Its not like Cole has been setting the world alight on Raw. Sometimes I feel like putting my foot through the TV especially when he does that fake laugh when Lawler tells a joke.

Rjd2

Deleted User wrote: »

Its not like Cole has been setting the world alight on Raw. Sometimes I feel like putting my foot through the TV especially when he does that fake laugh when Lawler tells a joke.

You know what that is?

Vintage Michael Cole~

callaway92

dsmythy

callaway92 wrote: »

Who will commentate instead of him at WM??

MIKE ADAMLE ftw

If not him..Try to get Mike Goldberg over from the UFC :P

Either JBL or Matt Striker. I'll go with the latter. That's presuming Tazz isn't there on the night despite what is being said.

ShawnRaven

callaway92 wrote: »

If not him..Try to get Mike Goldberg over from the UFC :P

Oh please no, I love UFC but Goldberg is terrible.
Weren't there talks about bringing him in about five years ago or something?

jeffk

ShawnRaven wrote: »

Oh please no, I love UFC but Goldberg is terrible.
Weren't there talks about bringing him in about five years ago or something?

Yup and they couldn't so we got adamle

jeffk

http://www.sescoops.com/wwe/Update_On_Tazz_Sudden_WWE_Departure.shtml


The only update on Tazz leaving WWE right now is that he asked for the release several weeks ago according to well placed sources. His reason was that he 'wanted some time off to recharge his batteries'.

There are conflicting reports on when his contract was set to expire. Some sources were under the impression it was today while others are saying within the new few weeks to a month. I'm being told that last night was his final date with the company although a return at some point is possible.

He was saying his goodbyes last night at the TV tapings.

JP Liz

So who is taking over from him on SD?

Machismo Fan

JP Liz wrote: »

So who is taking over from him on SD?

I'd say JBL would be a good guess, has anybody ever wrestled and commentated on the same WrestleMania, that might be JBL's big thing.

callaway92

TAZZ is leaving??!!



NO, NOT THIS WAY, NOT THIS WAY DAMMIT!!

Tricity Bendix

Deleted User wrote: »

Its not like Cole has been setting the world alight on Raw. Sometimes I feel like putting my foot through the TV especially when he does that fake laugh when Lawler tells a joke.

Well, you can hardly expect him to convincingly laugh at one of Lawlors jokes. I'm all for demoting the over-the-hill duo to Smackdown, but I can't see who'd replace the King on RAW. Lord knows JBL isn't ready for a job like that.

DM_7

No more captain obvious jokes in my video games? Come back tazz.

ShawnRaven

DM-ICE wrote: »

No more captain obvious jokes in my video games? Come back tazz.

To be fair, they gave all his lines to JBL in SVR 08.

D.Q

I would take JR back on Raw any day. I agree its almost time for them to move them on, but for god's sake, I DESPISE Cole so much. Im hoping and hoping good ol JR is drafted to RAW. Jesus he annoys me so much.

He is the pure evil, walking, talking embodiment of the PG era WWE.

DM_7

ShawnRaven wrote: »

To be fair, they gave all his lines to JBL in SVR 08.

Tazz lines are tazz lines. They just don't sound the same from anyone else. Good luck to him anyway.

ShawnRaven

If i've said this before over the years, i'll say it a hundred times and continue to do so.

But Tazz's best commentary was done with Cole. A one person announcer doesn't cut it in my honest opinion. I hated it when Monsoon used to do it on Challenge when Heenan would head off to do managerial duties, and i despised Joey Styles. A good commentator needs that certain someone to work well with, and I honestly don't believe Tazz had it with anyone else other than Cole. Love or hate Mitchell Cole, he brought out the best in Tazz's commentary style.

And if you don't believe me, dig out WWE's Global Warning Tour from Melbourne in 2002. Hilarious stuff.

chopperbyrne

ShawnRaven wrote: »

If i've said this before over the years, i'll say it a hundred times and continue to do so.

But Tazz's best commentary was done with Cole. A one person announcer doesn't cut it in my honest opinion. I hated it when Monsoon used to do it on Challenge when Heenan would head off to do managerial duties, and i despised Joey Styles. A good commentator needs that certain someone to work well with, and I honestly don't believe Tazz had it with anyone else other than Cole. Love or hate Mitchell Cole, he brought out the best in Tazz's commentary style.

And if you don't believe me, dig out WWE's Global Warning Tour from Melbourne in 2002. Hilarious stuff.

Either the first or second year after the brand split, they had all four calling either the Rumble match or RAW vs SD match at Survivor Series and Cole and Tazz demolished King and JR, absolutely demolished them.

I thought it was pretty good a while ago on RAW when they had Lawler, Ross and Coach calling the action at the same time. It was just pretty well done in my opinion. I miss Coach.


Anyway, I reckon Tazz will stay on for 'Mania and he'll be on the Draft show (where he'll most likely get drafted and get angry, resulting in being 'fired' or something like that to give him the time off).

They should do an angle with it anyway. Having him just disappear isn't a good idea.

CMpunked

Deleted User wrote: »

Anyway, I reckon Tazz will stay on for 'Mania and he'll be on the Draft show (where he'll most likely get drafted and get angry, resulting in being 'fired' or something like that to give him the time off).

They should do an angle with it anyway. Having him just disappear isn't a good idea.

Where as i agree, unfortunately it wont happen. If his contract is up today/yesterday whenever, it means he wont get paid for Mania or Raw, so i dunno if anyone would do it for free.

ShawnRaven

Comic-Book-Guy wrote: »

Where as i agree, unfortunately it wont happen. If his contract is up today/yesterday whenever, it means he wont get paid for Mania or Raw, so i dunno if anyone would do it for free.

They can pay him per appearance though. They've done it with others in the past.

CMpunked

ShawnRaven wrote: »

They can pay him per appearance though. They've done it with others in the past.

Really? I did not know that could happen.

ShawnRaven

Comic-Book-Guy wrote: »

Really? I did not know that could happen.

Jeff Jarrett was on a pay per appearance for No Mercy 99, i think. The only difference there was it was Jarrett who set the rate. He held Vince up for a substantial amount to appear on the PPV to drop the belt to Chyna because his contract had expired something like 72 hours before the PPV.

Depending on how you look at that, Jarrett was either very prickish, or very smart. Was it unprofessional to hold a belt out of your contract to a company who took you back in after walking out three years earlier to jump to the opposition. I would say so personally.

However, was he within his legal limit? Absolutely. He wasn't under contract to the company anymore, and if it was an oversight on Vince's part, that's hardly Jarrett's fault.

Of course, he'll never get a job with WWE ever again, so what do you do? You start your own promotion.

Sorry, went off on a tangent there. But i'm sure there are several other examples. I believe Terry Funk was also on pay per appearance in 2006 before they relaunched the ECW brandname.

CMpunked

Ah, so would it be like them getting Hogan back for a one time deal?

Or when they have a jobber in to do a dark match?

Bubs101

ShawnRaven wrote: »

Jeff Jarrett was on a pay per appearance for No Mercy 99, i think. The only difference there was it was Jarrett who set the rate. He held Vince up for a substantial amount to appear on the PPV to drop the belt to Chyna because his contract had expired something like 72 hours before the PPV.

Depending on how you look at that, Jarrett was either very prickish, or very smart. Was it unprofessional to hold a belt out of your contract to a company who took you back in after walking out three years earlier to jump to the opposition. I would say so personally.

However, was he within his legal limit? Absolutely. He wasn't under contract to the company anymore, and if it was an oversight on Vince's part, that's hardly Jarrett's fault.

Of course, he'll never get a job with WWE ever again, so what do you do? You start your own promotion.

.

JJ made the right decision. His problem was not dropping the title it was dropping the title to a woman which is fair enough considering it would have hurt his image and it definitely was Vince's fault, not Jarret's. I'd be fair confident if they asked him to drop to X-pac or somebody else it would have been fine

Fozzy

Jim Duggan gets paid per appearance. It means that he can take indy bookings without consulting WWE

I haven't read any suggestions that Tazz will be working Wrestlemania. He already did Smackdown as a favour it seems, as his contract was already up

I wonder if they'd already come up with their announce team for Superstars. Whoever they'd picked for that might be getting pushed up

Degag

ShawnRaven wrote: »

Jeff Jarrett was on a pay per appearance for No Mercy 99, i think. The only difference there was it was Jarrett who set the rate. He held Vince up for a substantial amount to appear on the PPV to drop the belt to Chyna because his contract had expired something like 72 hours before the PPV.

Depending on how you look at that, Jarrett was either very prickish, or very smart. Was it unprofessional to hold a belt out of your contract to a company who took you back in after walking out three years earlier to jump to the opposition. I would say so personally.

However, was he within his legal limit? Absolutely. He wasn't under contract to the company anymore, and if it was an oversight on Vince's part, that's hardly Jarrett's fault.

Of course, he'll never get a job with WWE ever again, so what do you do? You start your own promotion.



Sorry, went off on a tangent there. But i'm sure there are several other examples. I believe Terry Funk was also on pay per appearance in 2006 before they relaunched the ECW brandname.

Really? Is he so deep in vince's bad books that if TNA folded in the morning that he wouldn't be touched? Don't think there is many wrestlers around that vince wouldn't at least try and work with.

ShawnRaven

Degag wrote: »

Really? Is he so deep in vince's bad books that if TNA folded in the morning that he wouldn't be touched? Don't think there is many wrestlers around that vince wouldn't at least try and work with.

There are a few actually, and he publicly humiliated them on the simulcast of RAW in March 2001.

Lex Luger - Vince Never forgave him for walking off to WCW during contract negotiations. Eventhough it was Vince who screwed up for letting him work without a contract for so long.
Jeff Jarrett - for reasons already mentioned, although i'm with Bubs on that. Vince screwed that one up too.
Shane Douglas - Shane felt he was completely mistreated during his second WWE stint in 1995 and left abruptly. While others have said he's just an utter c*nt to work with. He was supposed to jump with Saturn, Guerrero, Benoit and Malenko in 2000, but Douglas bottled out and neither he or Vince have contacted each other since.

I'm pretty sure there are more too.

Bubs101

He said he'd never touch Warrior again and still did and what he did was much much much worse. If Vince thought he could make money out of JJ he'd bring him back

DM_7

Bubs101 wrote: »

JJ made the right decision. His problem was not dropping the title it was dropping the title to a woman which is fair enough considering it would have hurt his image and it definitely was Vince's fault, not Jarret's. I'd be fair confident if they asked him to drop to X-pac or somebody else it would have been fine

Did he not get 'awarded' the title owen was supposed to win. Maybe my time line is off.

ShawnRaven

Bubs101 wrote: »

He said he'd never touch Warrior again and still did and what he did was much much much worse. If Vince thought he could make money out of JJ he'd bring him back

Major difference though there Bubs, WWE weren't in the best of finances in 1992 and 1996 both times he brought back Warrior. As opposed to 2001 when he'd bought out all his competition and WWE was trading on the NYSE. Vince can be and has to be more careful with who he hires and fires now.

ShawnRaven

DM-ICE wrote: »

Did he not get 'awarded' the title owen was supposed to win. Maybe my time line is off.

Your timeline is off by about 5 months.

Rjd2

Maybe this did not help:D

om F4WOnline.com


AN OPEN LETTER TO PETE SENERCIA

It was brought to my attention that Tazz had some unkind words to say about me on this months WWE 24/7. This is the second time I have been made aware of this, as Tazz supposedly had some unkind words to say about me this past summer as well, also on an episode of WWE 24/7. – So I checked it out myself.

At first I decided not to respond, after all they do say that the best revenge is living well which I am. I have a great profession, business, family life etc… Since Fatty decided to go to the well another time, I am going to take an opportunity to respond.

SO HERE’S MY QUESTION…

Why would Tazz bring ME up of all people? In my opinion it’s because I am out of the loop, and have been for a long time. I’ve moved on to other things and I won’t be showing up again.

To make it simple – I’m a SAFE target for Tazz as is Perry Saturn (who Tazz also took liberties of crapping on). For Tazz, it would not be “SAFE” to bring up a talent that may come back to WWE again in the future. – then he would be forced to go to work with and face that person and hope that they don’t get enough “stroke” to make life miserable for him.

Let’s discuss what Tazz has a problem with….

Tazz alleges that I showed up to the ECW Arena late on the night that I was scheduled to debut.

I didn’t get called to be booked for the show until 2:30 in the afternoon – THAT DAY. I live in Northern New Jersey about 2 hours away – not in nearby South Jersey as Tazz claimed. I had also undergone arthroscopic knee surgery 4 days prior. My knee was still extremely swollen, but I did not want to miss an opportunity to perform for ECW as I had always dreamed of working for the company. I contacted a physician friend of mine, drove to his home 45 minutes (in the opposite direction of Phily) and had my knee drained so that I would be able to perform.

Tazz alleges that I did not shake anyone hands upon entering the arena, acting like “king excretory matter”.

By the time I arrived at the arena, the show had just started. I was rushed into building and told to get with Tazz immediately, and get in gear as we scheduled to go on next. I had no time to shake hands or introduce myself upon arrival. When I returned to the locker room I made my way around and introduced myself to the other locker room members. We did go over a match Pete, for a good 15 minutes, you never gave the ominous “OK see you out there line”, you never “snapped” on me – watch the match and stop being a mark for yourself.

As an aside….Tazz would frequently crap on me studying and bringing my school work into the locker room – this was just another thing Tazz “had a problem with”.

- I guess the only experience you have with books is the phone book you carry around for a booster seat or stand on for “on cameras”

- Turns out the studying was a pretty good idea Fatty, read on.

Joey Styles calms Tazz down by saying “well you’re here (Tazz) and he’s not”. – and Tazz smiles

Boy, I began salivating when I heard this one.

Yeah Tazz let’s compare. You’re THERE, the almighty WWE.

Let’s look at a day of “work” for Pete Senercia.

Tazz walks into TV or Titan Tower, as soon as the day starts he’s walking on egg-shells. He gets a bunch of hand-shakes and well-wish greetings from the boys, office people, and other dignitaries. Tazz then has to analyze if each one of those greeting were genuine or if the person has an alternate agenda to bury him, steal his job or just break his grapefruits.

Tazz may then see Vince, Shane or John Laurenitis. Figuratively speaking, if any one of these individuals requests that Tazz join the “kiss my ass club” for real, or asks Tazz if they can deposit their testicles in his mouth, Tazz has to say, “Yes sir”, and then ask, “How long would you like me to hold my mouth here?”.

If he’s at TV just as Tazz would crap on and laugh at me having my books in the locker room, Tazz’s peers chuckle at the enormous amount of food piled on his plate in catering, wondering how large he’s going to let himself become.
The day ends for Tazz, and wherever he is he goes to sleep wondering if the company thinks he’s doing a good job and wonders what he’ll do when the company finally wishes him “best of luck in his future endevours”.

Let’s look at a day of work for Chris Ford.

I walk in to the Rehab facility (did I mention that it’s my facility?), I greet and am greeted by people that I have chosen to employ - friends who I enjoy working along side of and they enjoy working with me. Our greeting and hand shakes are genuine, we legitimately care about each other in and out of work. At the end of the day I drive home, five minutes from work, and spend time with my wife and son. I then fall asleep in my own bed and wake up to do it again. I wrestle locally; when I want to and for who I want to, out of a true love for the business and performing.

So You’re THERE and I’m not Tazz:

I wouldn’t trade places with your miserable existence for anything. I have a great life and an incredible family and a lucrative career that Mr. McMahon couldn’t pay me enough money to leave – and that is a shoot!

I’d wager you would take my existence over yours any day you paranoid, miserable, fat, little man.

Going to ECW was probably one of the most exciting times of my career. Paul Heyman gave me a great opportunity to wrestle in front of the hands down best audience I’ve ever performed in front of. I learned a lot about the dirty miserable side of the business in ECW, mostly from Tazz who used his political stoke to make sure I didn’t go past opening card in ECW.

In spite of Tazz’s attempts to completely bury me, Paul Heyman kept me on the roster, providing me with a regular pay check that helped get me through school and to this day I still thank him for that.

In spite of Tazz’s efforts, I went on to what I consider a successful run in WCW, and finally wrestle against Sabu on two pay-per-view events. I then went on to transition to a happy life after wrestling and I am “all pins and needles about it”

As I said before, I am a very happy and satisfied person. I, for the most part, have moved on from wrestling. I am in the best shape of my life, wrestle a few times a month out of enjoyment of it - and I don’t have to wear a 8 XL jersey when I do wrestle to look half-way decent.

.
You threw the first rock….I didn’t respond;
You threw the second rock…..and I felt inclined to answer - don’t blame me for the response you received.

I’m not really hot over this – (this IS just wacky wrestling nonsense) - BUT I am in a position NOT to just let this go. In the past you’ve used your political stoke to treat many of the boys like complete crap, (which is extremely hypocritical from one preaching respect) without retaliation out of fear of losing a spot – but I guess that’s what happens when someone really BELIEVES they are the human suplex machine and hasn’t figured out that it’s a work.

Unlike in ECW you don’t possess any political “pull” or “stroke” that can adversely affect me, my job, or my life, Pete. – you don’t have any pull with WWE and even if you did, I’m not looking for work with the WWE.

Thank you so much for all of the free publicity and until next time - Step lightly tubby, you don’t want to crack any of those eggshells!

Christopher Ford, PT
A.K.A Devon Storm, Crowbar

D.Q

wow, some letter.. very harsh words there.

JR wrote this on his blog regarding Wrestlemania suggesting a 3 man announce team.

Jim Ross has posted another blog entry, which can be read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Some highlights:

The WrestleMania Announce Team: "I am looking forward to manning the ringside broadcast table with the King and Michael Cole on Sunday as all three of us no doubt feel honored to be a part of this historic event. To those of us who earn a living in the business this obviously isn't just another day at the office. It's getting near kickoff time folks and I can't wait."

Rjd2

Deleted User wrote: »

JR wrote this on his blog regarding Wrestlemania suggesting a 3 man announce team.

Jim Ross has posted another blog entry, which can be read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Some highlights:

The WrestleMania Announce Team: "I am looking forward to manning the ringside broadcast table with the King and Michael Cole on Sunday as all three of us no doubt feel honored to be a part of this historic event. To those of us who earn a living in the business this obviously isn't just another day at the office. It's getting near kickoff time folks and I can't wait."

No Striker:(

savemejebus

ShawnRaven wrote: »

Jeff Jarrett... although i'm with Bubs on that. Vince screwed that one up too.

Was it not JR that messed that one up and got punished for it too?

ShawnRaven

savemejebus wrote: »

Was it not JR that messed that one up and got punished for it too?

Not entirely sure, but If Vince has no knowledge or control of his own staff (as you're implying, JR at the time was still Senior VP of talent relations then), then it's still his f*ckup.