At 57, Taz can look back on an accomplished wrestling career with pride – and it’s still going.
Perhaps most remembered for his time in ECW, the powerfully built grappler dominated many an opponent greater in size.
Taz – or Tazz in WWE – enjoyed one of the most epic debuts in the company’s historyWWEThe 5ft 9in Brooklyn native may have been smaller in stature than many of his in-ring foes – wrestling predominantly being the land of the giants – but that rarely stopped the fearsome performer in his tracks.
He accomplished virtually all that was possible in ECW in the 1990s and, at the turn of the millennium, was a major signing for WWE.
With multiple world title reigns already behind him, Vince McMahon’s company made a big fuss of his arrival as he made his debut, as Tazz, at Madison Square Garden during the 2000 Royal Rumble, defeating Kurt Angle first time out.
After falling short in his quest to snare the Intercontinental title he was, by the end of the year, locked in a bitter feud with legendary wrestler turned commentator Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler.
The duo even faced off at SummerSlam as Lawler downed Taz to defend not only his honour but that of iconic fellow broadcaster Jim Ross, whom Taz had also turned his bitterness towards.
During the following month, Lawler and Taz met again in the ring on Raw as part of a tag team match that pitted the Memphis icon with the unlikely partner of Chris Jericho, and the hardcore star with an unnamed mystery opponent.
Striding to the ring that night, Taz walked through the ropes only for his entrance music to be cut off at the expense of that of Hulk Hogan – the Hulkster’s iconic ‘Real American’ theme blaring across the area.
Hogan, at that time, hadn’t been seen in WWE for seven years, so the idea the multi-time world champ would show up to partner Taz was enough to bamboozle everybody.
The distraction was, the story goes, enough to throw the wrestler off his game completely; he went from confused to bewildered when, rather than Hogan, ‘Naked’ Mideon waltzed to the ring instead.
Thrusting his hips and gyrating as he entered the ring, the former tag team wrestler – who had, when clothed, won championships in WWE as one of the Godwins – even struck a trademark Hogan pose as he made his way to Taz who, wisely, backed away.
Tazz was utterly perplexed when Hulk Hogan’s music sounded and Mideon appearedWWE The confusion caused all the distraction necessary for Lawler and Jericho to winWWE Lawler netted the pin in just 1.8 secondsWWEIt all played perfectly into the on-screen hands of Lawler, who promptly rolled his enemy up from behind in a pin as the bell sounded, the referee making an instant three-count to declare Jericho and The King the victors.
Given a referee’s count is supposed to be three seconds in length, many have the match as lasting in three seconds in length but, timed bell to bell, its duration is a ridiculous 1.8 seconds.
That time would make the shortest in WWE history, and hardly something for Taz to shout about.
In the long run, it hasn’t harmed the legacy of the former champion too much. He swapped wrestling for commentating in 2002 and, at a revived ECW’s One Night Stand in 2006, he gained a measure of revenge by toppling Lawler by submission in just 35 seconds.
Understandably, Taz remembered the highs more than the lows from his in-ring days with WWE, which never quite match the phenomenal highs of his ECW run.
“The way I debuted in the [WWE] was the single greatest moment of my professional career,” he recalled, years later, of his first outing for the company.
Long after the prime of his WWE years, Hogan was often imitated and mocked by WWE before his eventual returnWWE Hogan is back in the wrestling business in 2025 having launched Real American freestyleGetty“I went to Madison Square Garden, a place I always wanted to wrestle, if only just once.
“I debuted against an undefeated Olympic gold medalist — who happens to be a very good friend of mine (who I have great respect for, and I defeated him.
“I was so happy to come into the [WWE] the way I did.”
His active in-ring days long behind him, Taz retains an involvement in the industry.
Since 2019 he’s been part of All Elite Wrestling, serving Tony Khan’s company as a manager and commentator.
Hogan, of course, was back in WWE by 2002 and battled against The Rock, Triple H and other huge stars of the time.
A ‘Hulk-off‘ between the megastar and Mideon, however, never came to pass…
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