During a recent episode of Grilling JR, Jim Ross spoke on the WWE signing Taz. Here’s what he had to say:
When I first hired Tazz…….he wanted to leave ECW like all those guys. Those guys were the easiest guys to sign because the ECW guys knew if we got them a fair number and they got over, they were gonna make a lot more money, and they did. The fact that they didn’t have the drama of getting paid – think about that. So, I brought Tazz in. I thought he was an attraction kind of guy. I thought he would do us a good job if he was booked in the same basic mold that he was booked in ECW.
The one thing about Paul Heyman, who is brilliant, is that he had the great ability to accentuate a talent’s positives and disguise their negatives. Paul made Tazz so strong that you forgot that he was 5-8. He was not what the business was getting a regular diet of. He was thick, he was athletic, and he was a strong guy, but he was short. I battled that whole thing many times with other talents – Jericho, Benoit, Malenko, Eddie. I saw how the audience believed in Tazz. If you put Tazz in the offense and the system was conducive to his skills, he’ll help you win games. That’s what I thought about Taz, but I was definitely in the minority.
You can listen HERE.
Credit: Grilling JR. H/T ht411Mania.