Recap by: Christopher Jay, rajah.com
Please send all feedback to: jspodcast2020@gmail.com or @wrestlingfancs
AEW UNRESTRICTED 04/09/20: TAZ
Taz on his character in ECW: "I've never played wrestler. I never played Taz. I did not play the human suplex machine. You know, born in raised in New York, if you couldn't tell. But when I left the house for the airport, I would get in the car and drive, I became Taz. And some guys, as you guys know, can turn it on and off right before they go through the curtain. That's not me, so when I was an in ring competitor, especially during those years in ECW, I couldn't turn it on and off. It was on all the time. I was not playing wrestler. I believed what I was saying. I believed what I was doing. I'm so proud of that opportunity because that ECW thing, we all knew at the time, believe it or not, that it was lightning in the bottle. We knew how special it was. It was so unique, and we had so many unique characters. There were no riders, there was one rider, it was Paul Heyman who ran the ship. We were a bunch of driven guys and girls that were told no, told you can't do it, told hey WWF is not high on you, hey the NWA is not high on you. That's how it was before it was WWE. We were a bunch of angry pissed off people. That was the mindset every night, whether there were 100 people in the crowd, or 10 people in the crowd or 3, 4, 5000 people in the crowd."
Taz on why there are no politics in AEW: "The front office here is very careful on who is brought into this company. No matter if you are a wrestler, broadcaster, referee, back stage coach, whoever you are, because there are a lot of piranhas and scumbags and shitheads in this business. Unfortunately, a lot of them are from my generation...I think here it's the right people. It should be fun, but there has to be accountability and I do think that happens here. It's gotta be fun but its work too. It's business. We have to make money."
Taz on his relationship with Paul Heyman and leaving ECW: "I have to be honest with you. He never owed me a dime. I never had a check bounce. It never happened to me and that's the gospel truth. He always treated me great. We had our ups and downs and when I gave notice I was leaving to go to WWE, that was rough. We had some downs. He thought we had an agreement for me to stay. We shook hands on the agreement. I never had a contract in all my years, I never had paper. I was a man of my word there. But my wife just gave birth to our son. He was an infant and the deal that Paul and I worked out verbally, was like, an amazing deal. Then I'm quickly like a week or two after we make this agreement, I'm starting to hear stuff about the TV deal. It is not what we think it is. All the shit they kayfabe and I'm realizing he's not going to be able to pay me what he said. I know he's not. In his heart, he feels he's going to be able to afford to pay me, but I'm starting a young family and we had just bought a home. Then, when I had the opportunity, and hearing from WWE at that time, it was probably September 1999 that we started talking. I signed with WWE November 1999, but I didn't debut until 2000. But I gave, like I said to Vince McMahon, I said I was ECW champion that it was a little dirty business, but I didn't bail with the belt. I did jobs on the way out for 2 months. I told Vince right before I signed the deal, you know Paul is going to have me put guys over left and right and I told him I have to do it. Vince said to me, you're damn right. Do it. He said that's your job, that's business, that's what you do. Leave the right way and leave the place in a good spot."
