The Story of Taz leaving ECW and debuting at the Royal Rumble

 

“It was the worst kept secret in the business.” Michael Cole recently said that of Penta’s Raw debut, but it could also be said of another debut that took place twenty five years ago this month. At the 2000 Royal Rumble from Madison Square Garden, Chad Ga- I mean Kurt Angle, stood in the ring waiting for his opponent. The sound of flatlining was heard playing throughout the world's most famous arena, and the fans quickly knew who was coming. The man who had wrecked his way through ECW, a part of one of the most famous visuals from that company’s history. A former ECW World, Tag and Television champion. This would be the debut of Taz. In this video we’ll look back though the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and a bit of the PW Torch, to see what was public knowledge and when. We’ll look at the timeline from him leaving ECW, to his arrival at the Royal Rumble.


In truth, Taz had been on his way out of ECW since August, but his departure had actually been a while coming. Taz as well as a few other wrestlers had become essential to the daily running of ECW. As described in WWE's Rise and Fall of ECW documentary in 2004, Tommy Dreamer, Bubba Ray Dudley and others would run the office and send out merchandise orders. Taz designed the t-shirts and ran the House of Hardcore training school. Stevie Richards also talked about he and Gape Sapolsky selling tickets and answering the phones. Pretty soon Dreamer would be left all alone in that office, as Stevie was already in WWE by mid-99, and the Dudley boys were on their way out as well. The July 26th ‘99 Wrestling Observer outlines how some talents had employees contracts quote, “as opposed to the independent contractors which gives full medical benefits to the employee and their families.” Taz is named as having one of these deals. This shows just how essential Paul Heyman’s main eventers had become, that he had to sign them to stronger contracts than his top stars previously had, the likes of Raven and Sandman who had previously left for WCW. Taz was also at the time the current ECW World Champion, and his most protected talent, someone Heyman clearly felt that he couldn’t afford to lose.


In the August 16th Wrestling Observer, it was mentioned for the first time that “Taz was negotiating with the WWF over the past week but by the end of the week was said to be leaning toward staying put.” No more information is provided here, but one week later a lot more was reported. The August 23rd edition tells us that at one point the previous creative plans were for Jerry Lynn to defeat Rob Van Dam for the Television championship, ending what would become a twenty three month reign early by nearly a year, so that Van Dam could win the World title from Taz. RVD’s television championship reign was one of the top selling points of ECW at the time, and Taz’s run as World champion had been long built to as well. A main event level match between the two would surely be a huge deal when it eventually happened. Dave would then go into more detail about Taz’s negotiations. “Brad Small, who said he was representing Taz, had called both WWF and WCW. He asked for $450,000 per year and a maximum number of dates. WCW never even responded. WWF responded with a no thanks, but eventually did counter with a low-ball $200,000 down side guarantee offer and that was where it ended.” Dave references an article in Daily Variety that had claimed that Taz had a “seven figure three year contract” offer from TNN to stay with ECW, but denies this. He notes that “Top money in ECW is $3,000 per week. Taz was earning in that range, and may have gotten a raise out of this but the idea there was an aggressive bidding war for his services is pure fantasy.”

The next week Dave corrects some of the things written about Taz’s contractual status. He notes that “Taz was given offers from WCW, although didn’t strongly pursue him. He was basically left with the impression that they’d sign him to keep him from going to WWF, but it wasn’t a priority to sign people from ECW.” Around this time Raven had just quit the company, Mikey Whipwreck had just had a very brief run, and Sandman was soon to be released. The idea of going to WCW probably wasn’t as appealing, but him talking to them may have gotten him more interest from WWE. Dave also adds a comment from Paul Heyman, saying that “the seven-figure pub in Daily Variety was totally inaccurate but made for good ink for the company”.


On August 26th ‘99, ECW taped episodes two and three of their new show ECW on TNN. On the following day episode one airs, which serves as an introduction to the product using mostly pre-aired footage and video packages. After Joey Styles introduces a list of former ECW World champions such as Raven, the Sandman and Sabu, we see a World title match that originally aired on the June 26th ‘99 episode of Hardcore TV, where Taz would face a man that Joey Styles would refer to as the rookie monster of Steve Corino. That rookie monster was Rhino, who Taz would beat in just a couple of minutes. Knowing the absolute killer Rhino would become in ECW, it’s crazy to see him as essentially enhancement talent in this match with Taz, his first on ECW television.


TNN episode one closes with a promo from Taz, who says that above all the violence that ECW is known for, he stands as the World champion. They show footage of him choking out Chris Jericho who had just debuted with WWE, and Shane Douglas who was rumoured to be WCW bound after quitting ECW in May. On Episode two which airs on September third, Taz has another ECW World title defence, this time a match from the recent Heat Wave pay per view against Yoshihiro Tajiri. While the two had a ten minute match on pay per view, this one lasts nearly five, as Taz wins with the Tazmission cleanly. The next time Taz would wrestle on television would be the Anarchy Rulz pay per view. His last time as ECW World Champion. In the Rise and Fall of ECW, Taz said that once he had been World champion for a while, and had main evented multiple pay per views defending the title, he started to want new challenges. While money was obviously a motivating factor, it sounds like there was also a part of Taz that knew he had done everything there was to do in ECW, and sought greener pastures and new opportunities. Before he could do that though, he had to drop the world title on the way out.


On September 19th at Anarchy Rulz, Taz would be set to defend his ECW World title against Masato Tanaka. Right before that match however, Tanaka would begin shouting at someone in the crowd, who turns out to be his rival Mike Awesome and Mike’s manager Judge Jeff Jones. After a back and forth between the two, Taz gets on the microphone and demands that Awesome be added to the match, and Paul Heyman comes out to make it official. Within a couple of minutes Taz, who was booed on his entrance and met with “you sold out” chants, is pinned, leaving Tanaka and Awesome to battle over the World title. Word had gotten out, possibly from the Observer reporting it, but they managed to turn the crowd with what happened after the match. The ECW locker room would empty onto the ramp, as Taz would kiss the World title belt, then hand it to the new champion Awesome. Before he could leave, Axl Rotton led the crowd in thanking Taz for his efforts. As Wade Keller described it in the Pro Wrestling Torch, “Despite the controversy behind the scenes between Taz and Paul Heyman in recent weeks, his departure was handled with class.” Taz has in the past had a reputation for being over-protective of his character, but it seems like him letting go of this a bit led to him and Paul Heyman getting past issues they had recently had leading up to this night. “Taz and Heyman got along well at the PPV, although friends say there is an underlying tension over circumstances that led to Taz’s WWF agreement. Taz was said to be leary that Heyman might book the match to make him look bad, but once he heard the plans, he agreed to do anything he could to get the ECW Title over.” Going back to that reputation, in Taz’s own words speaking on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast in 2018, he described ECW as the best time in his career, but also the hardest, and he attributes this to being why he was so protective of his persona. “I was getting a really strong push, and it took me a lot of years to get that push. And once I got it I didn’t want to lose it, and I got very at times immature ‘cos I didn’t know how to handle the push. So I kind of pushed everyone out of my world in that locker room for the most part.”


That tension was clarified more by a summary of all of the events leading to Taz leaving in the September 20th Wrestling Observer, as Dave Meltzer notes that “Apparently, after a preliminary discussion where Small had contacted the WWF once again, Taz himself apparently had a discussion with Russo on 8/31 which led to a secret meeting the next day with Vince McMahon. It is believed Paul Heyman found out about the meeting from Taz the next day, which led to a blow up and Heyman pulling his contract offer.” Dave also writes that “After a lengthy discussion with McMahon, who was insistent that it was Taz who came to them and not the other way around, McMahon agreed to not start Taz until the new year.” Taz explained more about this to Sam Roberts in 2018. “The long and short of it is Paul thought that we had an agreement and then I kind of was reneging on the deal, the verbal. But I really felt like, knowing some stuff that was going on felt like at that time he was not going to be able to do right on that Financial end of the agreement.” When asked by Roberts if Paul ever owed him money, Taz said he didn’t, but there were times that Paul would ask him to wait until a certain day to cash his cheque to make sure the money was there.


Before we move on with the timeline, it’s worth addressing the crowd chanting “you sold out” at Taz. In the Rise and Fall of ECW documentary Taz pointed out that wrestlers would move on for many reasons, among them to provide for their families. In June ‘99, the Observer made note that “Taz, who has only worked a few dates in recent weeks since his wife just gave birth, is expected to be back full-time from this point forward”, and so you could say that he had more of a reason to think about his family than he had before. In the November 15th Observer writing about Taz’s last ECW match, Dave would write that “there were a lot of “You sold out” chants at Taz during the match. He should take solace in knowing that those same people chanting obscenities will be the loudest ones to chant “welcome back” if for some reason he doesn’t make it in the big leagues.” Nobody really expected this to be put to the test, but it’s safe to say that when Taz returned for a couple of dates to help clear up the mess made by Mike Awesome leaving for WCW as ECW World champion, the fans were indeed happy to see him back, even just for a couple of shows.


On September 30th, the Observer gives a little more detail about the future plans for Taz before he leaves. “Even though the PPV would make for a fitting exit for Taz, the plan is still for him to wrestle here until the end of the year, although WWF will start pushing him on television before that time and probably use ECW footage to do so, which, if so, indicates a continuation of the cooperation between the two companies.” Remember that reputation I mentioned that Taz had to protecting his character? Well according to reporting “Heyman said he wanted Taz to cry on camera to get the belt over but Taz was afraid it might hurt his image.”


So Taz was due to stay for a little while longer, and would wrestle three final televised matches before he left. On the October 29th episode of ECW on TNN from Poughkeepsie New York, he would lose to one of his fiercest rivals, Sabu. On commentary Joel Gertner in a rare moment of seriousness, points out that Taz and Sabu debuted in ECW on the same night, October 1st 1993, and wrestled on that night against each other, which Sabu won at an event called NWA Bloodfest. Sabu would again defeat Taz with a leg drop through a table, but he wouldn’t be able to celebrate as he would be jumped from behind by the Impact Players. Taz would quietly skulk into the corner of the ring, so as not to be just another victim. See what I did there because his WWE theme was called- never mind. Rob Van Dam would make the save for Sabu, but would find himself in the Tazmission, leading to a match between the two on Taz’s final night in the company.


Meanwhile in the Observer, On October 11th a passing note was made that “WWF officials told Taz they want him to do and play the same character he played in ECW.” That’s lucky really, because he’s one of those wrestlers who I can’t imagine in any other gimmick than the one he got famous with. Can you imagine him being anything else? No, me neither. Old one gimmick Jones over here. On October 18th plans for the teasing of his debut are revealed, as well as another interesting note. “It’s expected that WWF will start airing Taz vignettes in November to build up for his January arrival. His biggest supporter in the company was Russo, as there were those who thought in the WWF, his height would be an issue especially since he doesn’t sell well and his gimmick is being almost a bully tough guy.” What’s most interesting about this, is that Vince Russo and his writing partner Ed Ferrara signed with WCW on October 3rd ‘99, meaning that Taz’s greatest champion creatively had already left the company months before he would even debut in a WWE ring.


Now we get to November 7th 1999, the November to Remember pay per view, and Taz’s last official night in ECW. I say that because his actual last match was taped before this and aired afterwards, so I’ll cover that on the date it aired. The pay per view took place in Buffalo New York, not far from Taz’s hometown of Brooklyn. Ah, well never mind. The ppv would open with Joey Styles and Cyrus the Virus, before his days as the evil network consultant for the dastardly TNN. Cyrus notes that if he worked in Buffalo, he would live in Toronto over the border and drive in. Ah, better. Welcome to yet another Geography channel. Styles and Cyrus who were interrupted by Joel Gertner, were about to wrap up the intro to the event, when Taz’s music hit. He is greeted by “you sold out” chants from the crowd, much like he was at Anarchy Rulz. It turns out that Taz is there because he didn’t like how Joey described he applying the tazmission to Rob Van Dam on TNN, and thought Styles made it sound like a cowardly act. He bully’s and threatens Styles into leaving. Joel Gertner however is not so lucky, as Taz allows him to leave, and applies the Tazmission when Joel turns his back. Taz then shakes Cyrus’ hand and leaves and the ECW intro video airs. All of this appeared to be to make Taz a heel before his match later, just in case anybody had the idea of cheering him before his match with the most popular man in the company, Mr. pay per view.


The match would take place in the semi-main event slot, and there was a big fight feel to it. Taz had been the ECW World champion for nine months of that year, and had run over a lot of opponents in his eight televised defences. Rob Van Dam was nineteen months into what would become a twenty three month reign as Television champion, and this match would be his thirty-second televised defence. Though this was the most high profile, it was actually the fourth time RVD and Taz had wrestled in a singles match. The first time aired on the December 3rd ‘96 Hardcore TV, where there would be no clear winner as Taz would apply the Tazzmission, but refuse to let go after a rope break until an army of officials came in to seperate the two. In their second match which took place on the December 17th ‘96 episode, Taz would win with his hold by choking Van Dam out. Match number three would take place nearly later in October ‘97, and would officially be a non contest, after the Pitbulls entered to pick a fight with Taz. Rob Van Dam had never gotten a victory over Taz, but he would on Taz’s final night. This match was nothing like a demolition derby like other RVD TV title defences the match played out a bit slower, and more to Taz’s pace. The Pro Wrestling Torch called it an “intriguing” match but said the styles of the two very different wrestlers didn’t mix, and the Observer said “the two didn’t work well together”, with neither rating more than three stars. Regardless of this, the match achieved it’s goal, as Van Dam got his victory over Taz, who would have one more person to lose to on the way out of ECW.


On November 12th ‘99 Taz’s final match on ECW Hardcore TV would air, though it was actually taped on October 30th in Dayton Ohio. It would also be his final shot at the World title, or so we thought. Taz Would challenge Mike Awesome, and the two would brawl all over the Hara Arena, and after a powerbomb through a table, Awesome would hit a splash from the top rope and pin the departing Taz. The last we would see of Taz on ECW television was him rolling out of the camera shot, while his successor held the World title up. That until a year later but nobody knew that at this time. With Taz out of ECW, the build up to his WWE debut could truly begin.


Teases for Taz’s debut would begin in December with strange imagery on the titantron. For example, on the December 27th episode of Raw while Al Snow was making his entrance, the lights in the arena would turn orange, and a number thirteen would show on the titantron, along with a beeping sound. Thirteen apparently being chosen because it was how many years it took Tazz to get to WWE. Over the following several weeks of Raw and Smackdown’s, this would happen seemingly at random, as Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross on commentary would question what was going on. The December 12th Observer would confirm that these happenings were to signify the arrival of Taz, and later in the month, Dave would note that his name would be spelled “Tazz with two Z’s moving forward, “apparently because Time Warner owns the name Taz”.


In another update from the January 17th Observer that you could possibly call a red flag, it seemed that in mid-January, a little under two weeks before his debut, it wasn’t clear yet what plans were in place for Tazz. Dave writes that “the Royal Rumble may not be the opportune place to debut him. The problem with Tazz in the Rumble is that Battle Royals due to visualization, fans are naturally drawn to the taller guys and Tazz would have a difficult time making a big impact unless he just throws a million people out.” What’s more worrying is that in the January 24th issue, which would have been published just days before the Rumble on the 23rd, Dave’s only note was that “Tazz’s debut is expected to be right after the Rumble.” As we know, this would not be the case. Perhaps this changed with the idea that Tazz didn’t have to debut in the actual Royal Rumble match, or maybe the idea that Kurt Angle needed something to do also brought the idea about?


On January 23rd 2000, Tazz would finally debut in the opening match at the Royal Rumble. Kurt Angle, only two months into this WWE tenure himself would come to the ring without a clear opponent. He would bash the New York Nicks, and proclaim himself New York’s champion. As Kurt begins to name his mystery opponent, chants can be heard in the crowd of “we want Tazz”. As the lights go down and Tazz’s music hits, there is a huge crowd reaction inside Madison Square Garden. The match itself is very short at just over three minutes, but both fans who had seem him before and not all knew that Tazz was not to be messed with, as he choked out your Olympic hero. Wade Keller of PW Torch wrote of the match that :”Tazz's debut was great. His entrance is right up there with Chris Jericho's. It's WWF moments like Tazz's debut that shine a spotlight on the separation between the WWF and WCW”, and Dave Meltzer bemoaned how short the segment was, saying “It was disappointing in that Tazz vs. Kurt Angle was on the verge of being really good, but was terribly rushed.” Reactions to Tazz’s debut though were overall very positive.


Tazz’s WWE career seemed to get off to a good start. After the Royal Rumble he found himself defeating the entire Mean Street Posse in one match. From there he finds himself in a triple threat match with Kurt Angle and the Rock. There is one problem though, one that isn’t directly linked to Tazz’s push dying, but it’s a big factor. On the January 31st 2000 Raw, just eight days after Tazz’s debut, four massive defections from WCW would happen, as the Radicalz would debut on Raw. That’s four top spots immediately given to even shinier new acquisitions. By Wrestlemania, Taz would be competing for the hardcore championship, which he would win three times, with two of those being within the same match at Wrestlemania 2000. It was a rather weird time. Tazz would then go on a long streak of either losing matches or winning by DQ. From the February 17th 2000 Smackdown where he defeated Gangrel, with the exception of Jakked which not everybody had access to, Tazz’s next televised victory would come at the Fully Loaded pay per view in July. That's five months. He would then win a few matches on his way to feuding with and losing to Jerry Lawler at Summerslam. Always a sign you’re doing well when you’re losing to the commentary team.


Another thing that seemed to dampen Tazz’s WWE career was his in ring style. While the Observer had reported in October that WWE had wanted Taz to play his ECW character, it turned out that this didn’t translate well to his matches. Speaking to Sam Robers in 2018, Taz said “when I first went to WWF at the time in early 2000, I started out for a couple of matches doing my same style I did in ECW. Suplexes, submissions, joint locks and rapidly I had to chill out because what I was told in a nice way was you're not going to have anybody who wants to work with you.” He goes on to explain that his size played a part in that too, to which he responded that “Mike Tyson’s not six feet and he’s knocking motherfuckers out left and right, so what does that matter?” He then went on to explain that nobody in the locker room said this to him, but it was a worry of management.


From 1987 to 2002, Taz’s in ring career wasn’t the longest, nor his in ring WWE tenure. He’s a very good example of Paul Heyman’s strategy for ECW, to accentuate the positives and hide the negatives of everyone on his roster, and that not really carrying on past ECW. There’s certainly nothing embarrassing or shameful about Taz’s career, nor the way he transitioned into staying relevant outside the ring, by becoming commentary Jones over here.


Sources:

Sam Robert Wrestling Podcast 123, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6syGcCvwCI

Wrestling Observer July 26th - employee contracts https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/july-26-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-governor-jesse-ventura/

Wrestling Observer August 16th - First sign of leaving https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/august-16-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-jim-ross-jushin-liger/

Wrestling Observer August 23rd - No bidding war https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/august-23-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-wcw-road-wild-review-njpw/

Wrestling Observer August 30th - Correction from prev week https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/august-30-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-wwf-summerslam-review/

Pro Wrestling Torch September 25th - Anarchy Rulz report https://vip.pwtorch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/PWTorchNewsletter567PDF.pdf

Wrestling Observer September 20th Taz and Heyman fall out https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/september-20-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-eric-bischoff-fired/

Wrestling Observer September 30th Taz leaving plans https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/september-30-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-wcw-facing-uphill/

Wrestling Observer October 11th Gimmick note https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/october-11-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-vince-russo-leaves-wwf/

Wrestling Observer October 18th Vignette teasers and Russo note https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/october-18-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-death-gorilla-monsoon/

Pro Wrestling Torch November 13th N2R review https://vip.pwtorch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/PWTorchNewsletter575PDF.pdf

Wrestling Observer November 15th - You Sold Out chants at N2R https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/november-15-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-ecw-november-remember/

Wrestling Observer December 12th - vignettes quote https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/december-12-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-wwf-slightly-tones-down/

Wrestling Observer December 27th - two z’s https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/december-27-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-wcw-starrcade-review/

Wrestling Observer January 17th - Royal Rumble plans https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/january-17-2000-wrestling-observer-newsletter-death-gary-albright/

Wrestling Observer June 14th 1999 - Taz Newborn https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/june-14-1999-wrestling-observer-newsletter-sable-sues-wwf-140000000/

Pro Wrestling Torch January 29th - Rumble review https://members.pwtorch.com/artman/publish/article_9499.shtml


Wrestling Observer Jan 31st Royal Rumble review http://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/january-31-2000-wrestling-observer-newsletter-wcw-departures-wwf-royal/

The Timeline of Vader's Royal Rumble Debut

 

Well it’s January again, that means it’s nearly time for the Royal Rumble. For over thirty-five years the Rumble has guaranteed massive surprises and epic letdowns. Sometimes new faces make their debut for the company. As what usually happens when I write a video for this channel, what started as me looking at debuts of big stars ended as a deep dive into why Vader left WCW in the first place, and the timeline leading up to his arrival at the Rumble. We’ll get there, but it’ll be a while off.


It's not often that a main event level star just leaves a major company for another, especially having enjoyed the success that he had, especially as well get into, with the deal Vader had. By this point Vader was a three time IWGP champion, and three time WCW World champion, but it would all start to fall apart when would be suspended following a backstage fight with Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff that happened around early September, and as a result, he just barely missed out on being involved in the first episode of Nitro. While he could be seen in the opening video of the first show, he wouldn’t actually appear. According to the Pro Wrestling Torch at the time, Vader had been scheduled to face Hulk Hogan for the WCW World title on the second episode, but would be replaced on that night, and in his storyline leading to a War Games match by the returning Lex Luger. The Wrestling Observer would also note that Vader’s next pay per view opponent at Halloween Havoc was slated to be Meng. I can only imagine what a hoss fight that would have been. In the following weeks Observer there was even talk of Vader beating Hogan for the World title. This would be a way of making Nitro seem like a can’t miss show where big title changes could happen any week. Vader's last ever match in WCW would air on the September 9th episode of Saturday night, where he would destroy two enhancement talents, Bobby Starr and Scott D’Amore for future TNA fame in under two minutes.


In the September 11th ‘95 Observer, Dave Meltzer notes that Vader had been apologetic over what happened with Orndorff, and Paul also wasn’t against Vader coming back. It is also here where Dave first brings up the idea of Vader going to WWE, saying “If he were to go to WWF, which would be the almost certain end result if WCW wouldn’t take him back, he’d be working four times as much for a lot less money. He’d be far more recognized in airports and would almost surely get a lengthy run as the top heel in the company, but at 39 with a history of back and knee problems, I’m not sure that takes precedence over a guaranteed contract. Not to mention that at his weight and with the bumps he takes and type of matches he works on the big shows, he’s been very injury prone and has missed numerous house shows even on the relatively easier WCW road schedule.” In the following week's issue Dave goes further into Vader contractual status with WCW. “Vader has a contract through the end of March in 1999 at approximately $750,000 per year and obviously doesn’t want to blow the deal and has apologized to everyone involved. WCW has sent a cease and desist letter to WWF claiming Vader is under contract and that any contact with him they would consider tampering.” A bit rich from them given how they had only just brought Luger back one day after his final WWE appearance at a house show by the way.


Though it was thought that Vader had been fired, the October 9th Observer notes that this might not be the case. “Vegas indie promoter T.C. Martin was interested in using Vader and was told he’d have to go through WCW to get the date cleared, which means that he hasn’t been fired despite rumors going around to the contrary. He is suspended and he’s not being paid, but a final decision hasn’t been made. There is really no consensus right now one way or the other about what the ultimate decision will be but he clearly has his enemies.” In the same edition of the Observer though, Dave notes that “Tatsumi Fujinami is going to try and contact Big Van Vader for his first show on 10/29.” Fujinami having worked for WCW before might well have better connections, and so this might not be the contradiction it looks like.


In the October 30th issue, Vader’s release would be reported. “The official reason for the firing was that his 90-day review window had passed and that since he was medically unable to wrestle because of a shoulder injury, they were cancelling the contract on that basis, so officially the incident with Paul Orndorff was never specified probably for legal reasons since Orndorff, according to reports, egged on rather than quelled a messy situation.” Dave also notes though that every promotion is going to want to bring Vader in, but he will likely take time off to deal with the shoulder injury. According to the Observer the injury occurred in a cage match with Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach. In a somewhat bizarre part, Dave notes that Vader had wanted to try a shooting star press, a relatively new move at the time. Given how wooden and unpolished Vader’s moonsault looked, the idea of him trying an inverse flip off the top is a terrifying prospect. If you’re wondering as to how he was injured but still wrestling, the Observer notes that “He continued to work on heavy medication for the next two months until the Orndorff incident, at which point WCW suspended him without pay.”


The next time Vader would step in a ring would be on January 4th ‘96 for New Japan in the Tokyo Dome, pre the days of Wrestle Kingdom. Vader would wrestle one of his most famous opponents for the final time, Antonio Inoki. Years earlier on the same date, Inoki had made a star out of Vader by taking a beating from him, but this time Vader would do the honours, tapping out to an armbar from Inoki. In the January 15th ‘96 Observer it would be reported that “Inoki, who turns 53 later this month, allowed himself to absorb a Cactus Jack-like beating from Vader in order to get the match over as a classic. It was reported to us that this was the single greatest performance of Vader’s career, and if you factor in his age, probably of Inoki’s as well.” Later in the same issue Dave would report that Vader had been paid forty thousand dollars for the one match, surely making up for WCW not paying him since September. Vader’s next match would be the 1996 Royal Rumble match, but how would he get there?


In the January 2nd ‘96 edition of the Observer, it's first reported that WWE was looking to boost the buy rate for that year's Royal Rumble, by inviting some surprise entrants to appear. “The Vader name is the most intriguing. With the WWF short on heels, and he is a proven PPV draw, the two potentially could fit like a glove. However, Vader is used to big money, has the avenue of getting big money in Japan, is coming off a serious injury and hasn’t wrestled a schedule as grueling as the Titan schedule in years.” When Vader was announced for the Inoki match at a press conference in early December, it was made public that he had agreed to two appearances, the January 4th match and another in March. Vader did have other options on the table, but as Dave noted, Vader had other options. According to the Observer other names that had come up were the Ultimate Warrior, who would eventually return at Wrestlemania 12 later that year, Jake Roberts who would return in the Rumble match, Rick Martel whose last WWE match had been the ‘95 Royal Rumble, and former UFC champion Dan Severn, who would join WWE in 1998.


On the January 1st ‘96 episode of Raw, Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler run down the participants for the Rumble match, and they officially announce Vader. We then see a training montage that they would use in the weeks leading up to the event. In the following Observer it is noted that “The two sides haven’t signed a contract or even agreed to all details although they’ve come to an agreement that Vader will start at the Rumble and be in as a regular. He’ll continue to work major Japan shows.” This wouldn’t last long, as Vader wouldn’t make it to Japan for the March appearance he had agreed to. He would however wrestle a match in April for USWA, where he would team up with Brian Christopher to face Jeff Jarrett and Sir Mo in Troy Tennessee. There would be no further mention of Vader in the Observer and no public appearances until his debut in the Rumble.


On January 21st 1996, Vader would enter at number thirteen in the Royal Rumble, with the ring already full of bodies. Quite an interesting mix of names, like Hunter Hearst Helmsley, the returning Jake Roberts, Sparky Plug Bob Holly, Savio Vega and the 123 Kid from the active roster. Legend Dory Funk Junior was also in there, but most interestingly though, the very large Yokozuna was also in the ring. Having just thrown out Mabel by himself, what would happen when he and Vader would clash? We wouldn’t have long to find out, or would we, as Vader arrived with Jim Cornette behind him, who was also managing Yoko. Vader goes right after Bob Holly, which is funny when you think about both men’s reputations for stiffing people. He then dumps Savio back into the ring from the apron when he could have eliminated him, showing a slight misunderstanding of the rules, but not quite a Mil Mascaras level. Vader slowly plods around the ring for a while longer, until finally meeting Yoko. The two have a brief shoving match, before Vader turns his attention to Jake Roberts, eliminating him with a single clubbing blow. We then get two more debut in the Rumble, as Headhunter A and B of the Squat team would enter, and thankfully not last long, as one of them is thrown out quickly by Vader. As the other enters, both the legal headhunter and illegal one get in the ring, they are both pummeled by Vader and Yoko before being thrown out, in perhaps the most interesting thing Vader has done yet. He and Yoko start working together to beat on poor Savio, and the two clients of Jim Cornette are finally getting along.


When we get to number eighteen, out comes the eventual winner of the match, Shawn Michaels, and the crowd wakes up. Shawn goes right after Helmsley and 123 Kid, proving that it’s every kliq member for themself. Seemingly out of the blue, Vader and Yoko stop getting along, and start brawling in the middle of the ring, while Vince McMahon on commentary tries to get the Mastodon nickname over. As the two fight near the ropes, and Jim Cornette begs them not to, Shawn Michaels with a herculean feat of strength, dumps both out over the ropes. After being eliminated, Vader clocks Yoko outside the ring, and heads back in. He launches Shawn Michaels over the top, which Vince is quick to tell us doesn’t count as Vader is out. Wasn’t a problem in other years though. Vader then clears the ring including fellow Camp Cornette mate Owen Hart, with energy he frankly should have been using when he was part of the match, and then takes his leave. It takes WWE President Gorilla Monsoon and a flock of zebras to convince Vader to leave, and the match resumes. What started as a fairly unimpressive debut, got very heated towards the end, and foreshadowed his ill fated feud with Shawn Michaels later in the year.


On Raw the next night, Vader really gets to make an impression. He defeats Savio Vega in a short match where he lays waste to him. Savio gets very little in, and Vader ends with an impressive looking Vader bomb. What happens after the match though is more memorable. Vader continues the attack on Savio, hitting another Vader Bomb. He then attacks two officials and pushes Cornette, who doesn’t seem to be able to control him. This brings out President Gorilla Monsoon, and Vader goes way too far. Vader attacks Monsoon, hitting him with a splash in the corner and a Vader Bomb, which brings out Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon to stop him. Backstage Vader goes off on a rant after the ad break, threatening every wrestler and official, quote “including you Mr. McMahon and… AAAHHH”. I think Vader might have spotted his mistake there by nearly outing McMahon, who in storyline wasn’t the boss just yet.


Vader went from a pretty dominant debut and memorable night after, to calling himself a quote “fat piece of shit” following a pay per view loss in 1998. His record in broadcast matches over his run was 65 wins out of 110 matches, slightly more than half. He would win no titles in the company, with his next major achievement being the Triple Crown in All Japan in ‘99. Vader would have a pretty long career after leaving WWE, and after WCW closed. He would join Noah in 2000, working a pretty full on schedule for the promotion. He also managed to keep himself relevant, making WWE appearances when needed, and even wrestling Will Ospreay, one of the current top names in wrestling, back when he was cutting his teeth. Vader’s WWE career remains one of the ones that could have been more, but for lots of reasons wasn’t. It also remains one what excelled everywhere else. It’s always Vader time somewhere.



Sources:

1996 Royal Rumble Match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBpcLSDJUBY

WCW Saturday Night September 9th 1995 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoPTPJN6FEQ

Pro Wrestling Torch, September 9th 1995 - Vader’s WCW firing: https://members.pwtorch.com/artman/publish/1995PWTorchNewsletters/article_89764.shtml

Wrestling Observer, September 4th 1995: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/sept-4-1995-wrestling-observer-newsletter-downfall-uwfi-and-working/

Wrestling Observer, September 11th 1995: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/sept-11-1995-wrestling-observer-newsletter-nitro-debuts-luger-jumps/

Wrestling Observer September 18th 1995 Contractual Status https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/sept-18-1995-wrestling-observer-newsletter-monday-night-wars-day-one/

Wrestling Observer October 9th 1995 Vader still signed: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/oct-9-1995-wrestling-observer-newsletter-bill-watts-wwe-moment-more/

Wrestling Observer October 30th 1995 Vader official release https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/oct-30-1995-wrestling-observer-newsletter-promotional-war-mexico/

Wrestling Observer January 2nd 1996 Vader invited to Royal Rumble https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/jan-2-1996-observer-newsletter-wwe-bringing-surprises-royal-rumble/

Wrestling Observer January 6th 1996 Vader joins WWE https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/jan-6-1996-wrestling-observer-newsletter-guess-who-won-nwa-title-again/

Wrestling Observer January 15th 1996 Comment on Inoki match, https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/jan-15-1996-wrestling-observer-newsletter-world-championship-wrestling/

The Story of CM Punk Fighting in a Strip Club

Over the years there have been some pretty wild wrestling matches that spilled out of arenas. Generally these involve some kind of battered looking hardcore title, but what it a World title was on the line, featuring one of the future most famous stars in wrestling? In this video we’ll look at one such match that took place in of all places, Tampa Florida in 2004, for the prestigious Full Impact Pro World championship.


FIP, or Full Impact Pro was started in August 2003 and still runs today. It has always been based in Florida, running shows all over the state. It’s owner Sal Hamaoui has ties to former Ring of Honor booker at the time Gabe Sapolsky, and FIP served as a sort of sister promotion to ROH in the early years of both companies. From the start of FIP until around 2009, every FIP World champion was a current ROH roster member, with the title being defended frequently on ROH shows, even changing hands in Ring of Honor twice. FIP’s relationship with ROH fell apart around the time Gabe left the company, and when Gabe began working with Japanese promotion Dragon Gate, even booking their US expansion, one of their wrestlers Masaaki Mochizuki, would become the first non-ROH wrestler to be FIP World champion.


The match we’re talking about today was actually a rematch from a couple of months earlier. At FIP’s Emergence part 2 event on September 25th, Homicide defeated CM Punk in the finals of a tournament to crown the first ever FIP World Champion. By late 2004, CM Punk’s name was already well known in indie wrestling. He’s had a fourteen month run in TNA, most notably teaming with and later turning on and feuding with Raven as a member of the Gathering. He had also been with Ring of Honor since near the beginning, making his debut in November 2002. In 2003 he started wrestling internationally, working in Zero-One in Japan, and in 04 he would begin to work in Europe, for FWA in England and WXW in Germany. He had also already had a couple of WWE tryout matches for WWE, which I talked about in detail in an earlier video on this channel.


Punk’s opponent in the match is known as the “notorious 187”. Homicide is perhaps best known for his time in TNA, as one of the original members of the Latin American Xchange with Hernandez and Konnan. He joined TNA in January 2006, and by the end of that year he would also become the eighth Ring of Honor World Champion, defeating Bryan Danielson for the title at Final Battle 2006. The list of promotions Homicide has worked for over his over thirty year career just reads like a list of all the promotions there is, though never WWE. In a May 2024 interview with Piers Austin, Homicide tells of an opportunity he had in 2005 through Mick Foley, who he met while Mick was appearing for ROH in that year. He said that Mick gave him John Laurinitis’ phone number around the same time that Konnan pitched him the LAX idea, and ultimately he chose to work with Konnan in TNA. He also notes that part of why he never even received a tryout was likely to do with his name, but that he was always open to changing it, much like how in TNA he stopped calling his finisher the ‘cop killa’, renaming it the ‘gringo killer’.


The rematch between CM Punk and Homicide would take place at a venue called the Party Zone, in Tampa Florida, and multiple websites list the attendance for the show at just 20 fans, having drawn 30 the night before at the same venue. When FIP would return to the Party Zone in the following June the attendance would be listed as 100. For what it’s worth I actually tried to count the fans in view and I saw more than twenty for sure, and I actually find the hundred for the later show harder to believe.


On his way to the ring, CM Punk grabs the microphone and promises to take the fight out into the streets of Florida. Homicide comes out and says something something streets as well. The two start going at it with punches right away, and very quickly Azrieal, Punk’s stooge interferes to help him and the match quickly becomes a mugging. A wrestler known as Rainman who had defeated Azrieal in the previous match comes out to save Homicide. Also on this card by the way was a wrestler named Antonio Banks, that’s MVP in a past life. Punk and Homicide battle through the last people still watching NXT Level Up, showing off just how small the room is. They then make their way through a door and into the car park. They fight onto a truck that was backed up to the door which presumably the ring was transported in, and quite hilariously we hear random banging as the camera can’t see what’s going on up there. Once they get off the truck, the two walk and brawl around the side of the gentleman's establishment that this whole video is sort of about, and with a few awkward editing cuts, we then see Punk and Homicide fighting in the strip club.


The fight makes it’s way to the performance area, yeah, let's call it that, and Punk hits a rather impressive kick using the pole to his advantage. The two ladies on stage look none too pleased, and try to continue while Punk gets distracted from his match. He takes a moment to yell something pretty abusive at them, before he and Homicide make their way back out of the building. Homicide then hits Punk with a piledriver on the street, and pins him to win the match and retain his FIP world championship. Instead of caring for him, a few fans lean in to take a picture with Punk’s prone body, and we close with a shot of Homicide back in the strip club enjoying what he sees. The whole thing is unique to say the least, and it’s perhaps the most bizarre World title match I’ve ever seen.


For what it’s worth regarding the comment Punk makes at the performers, in a 2023 interview with Rewind Recap Relive, Homicide notes that they were very upset about this and demanded an apology from Punk. Looks like we can add them to the list of people waiting for that then. He also noted that as of ‘23 he and CM Punk have remained friends, so thats a cool thing to note also.


Following the match, Homicide would defend the title fourteen times throughout 2005, losing it to Bryan Danielson in an ROH ring in January ‘06. Six months after the falls count anywhere match he would again defend the title against CM Punk, this time in an anything goes match at an event called ‘Violence is the Answer’ on April 23rd 2005. The match was hardly the brutal affair you’d expect from a show called that, or a stipulation like anything goes, as there were too many kids in the crowd that night, but Homicide still won again to end their feud.


Let’s get into why this match might have taken the bizarre turn that it did. Before every promotion under the sun relied on a streaming service or their own online presence, and even before the beginnings of internet pay per view events which took a while to catch on, the major indies relied on DVD sales as their main source of income. Ring of Honor in particular stayed afloat through fans waiting a month or so after the events, and buying the DVD’s when they became available. This meant that there was a fair amount of time for word of mouth to build up following the latest shows, especially through discussion of them in places such as the ROH message board, and FIP definitely would have taken advantage of that in the time leading up to the event being available on DVD. This match occurred just a couple of weeks after the CM Punk versus Samoa Joe sixty minute draw for the ROH world championship, the second match in their famous trilogy, and so a lot of people would have been talking about him at this time. It was smart then for FIP to put on a match that CM Punk fans would want to seek out, if only for it’s novelty.


The other, less refined theory, is that Punk and Homicide saw that they were wrestling in front of a tiny crowd and thought fuck it! Let’s take em all to the strip club! Less refined, yet somehow plausible.


Sources:

Match - FIP Fallout Night 2 November 13th 2004: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mlj9vUEZhE

Show: https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=533

Homicide interview (May 2024) https://www.postwrestling.com/2024/05/14/homicide-i-might-have-a-bruise-on-my-brain-that-affects-my-speech/#:~:text=I%20was%20just%20happy%2C%20and,do%20it%20one%20more%20time%E2%80%A6

https://youtu.be/aH3Psq29smA?si=22UnwStpwPuvbqDc

2023 interview about match: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAB_xucb2vIReview of third match: https://411mania.com/wrestling/bg-says-fip-violence-is-the-answer/