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AEW veteran Taz recently addressed some surfaced footage of him facing two multi-time WWE Champions in dark matches before they made their TV debuts. This would be Brock Lesnar and Batista.
The Human Suplex Machine was an icon in the 1990s and the early 2000s. He was known for his time in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), as he would become one of the most well-known and decorated stars. After making several appearances in AEW in 2019, Taz officially signed a deal with the company in 2020. He started as a manager but now usually works as a color commentator.
On X/Twitter, a fan posted footage of a dark match in February 2002 featuring Taz and Spike Dudley in a match against Brock Lesnar and Batista. Neither of them had made their TV debuts at the time.
The veteran replied and mentioned how it was a weekly tradition, as many of the younger talent got a chance to compete in the ring. He then talked about how he was impressed by Brock Lesnar and Batista becoming one of the major stars of the next decade.
The dark match's footage can be found here.
"This basically used to happen every week many years ago… there’s lots of matches you guys don’t know about, lol! Talent that was on TV regularly that had lots of experience, would go against younger newer talent in dark matches. It was a normal thing. Obviously, those two big dudes became gigantic stars… I’ve always liked both of them a lot, i’m very happy for both of their successes," the veteran posted.
Taz got physical for the first time in a while during AEW All In
Although he has often been on the commentary desk, Taz has never gotten physical with any member of the locker room, no matter how heated he has gotten. However, at All In pay-per-view, he had to step in during one of the matches. This was during his son HOOK's match against Chris Jericho.
This match was for the FTW Championship, so everything was legal. This also meant that The Cold-Hearted, Handsome Devil became clearly outnumbered by The Learning Tree and his branches.
At a certain juncture in the match, Taz got up and locked in his Tazmission submission hold on Bryan Keith, which allowed his son to lock in Redrum without any interference, helping him take the win. All of this was legal due to the match stipulation.
The 56-year-old has been with the company for more than five years now, and continues to play a big role as the color commentator for every week's episode of AEW Dynamite.
It doesn't seem that this will change anytime soon, so fans will still get to see the veteran do one of the things he does best.
