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| Taz
AKA The Human Suplex Machine
Real Name: Pete Senerchia Height: 5’8" Weight: 248 lbs. Finisher: Tazmission ECW
Title History:
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| Bio:
Taz is just in his starting days as a Superstar for the the World Wrestling
Federation. He's left the comfort of his old turf, Extreme Championship
Wrestling. Before either called Tazz a member of their roster, Taz called
another area home.
Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York. One of New York's most dangerous neigherhoods. As a child, Taz soon found athletics being his out from the tough neighborhood, trying to keep himself right when so many of his friends went otherwise. In High school Taz excelled in Football and Wrestling, He played football from his freshman year to his senior year. He used to play at the linebacker position and he played at Guard for a while, he wrestled a lot in his last two years in high school, Taz had 9 years of Judo experience. Standing at 5'9" Taz found that his height was both a problem and a blessing. He learned the hard way to face his problems head-on and not to skirt around the issues at hand. The martial arts and the athletics of his youth proved to be two of many defining factors in Tazz's life. Another of those were the upbringing his parents gave him. As Tazz got older, he tried college, but it just wasn't for him. College was a rough time for Taz, he had a lot of personal problems at that time, he was at the age where he didn't know what he wanted to do. Taz moved on, until a chance comment by his Judo Sensei sent Tazz's life into a whole different direction. Although signing years later with the World Wrestling Federation would provide incredible fanfare, the young man from Red Hook's first encounter in the wrestling industry would be as cold and hard as the Red Hook backstreets. |
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| When
one hears of Taz, the phrase "Paying your dues," comes to mind. Tazz started
and never stopped. With tuition money lent to him by his future wife, Tazz
went to Johnny Rodz' dojo to start training for his wrestling career. Where
he trained was like hell, the ring had two ropes and he couldn't stand
on the top rope without having his head touching the ceiling. Big Dick
Dudley also trained at Johnny Rodz' dojo. The first day of training was
hardly glorious. In fact, it wasn't very impressive at all as far as Tazz
was concerned.
Taz ended up getting kicked out of Johnny's school, because Taz had a real bad attitude, He didn't believe in putting people over. He was making between 50-100$ wrestling at that time so he was pissed at the world. Taz did return to the dojo however, and ended up meeting the man who would go on to become the best man in his wedding, Tommy Dreamer. When Taz returned to the Dojo he saw a lot of newcomers including a young man by the name of Tommy Dreamer who ended up being the best man in Taz's wedding and Taz's ticket to fame. Taz and Tommy were starting to get popular by this time, a lot of promoters were trying to sign them to fight each other, they had many classic encounters. Taz started doin a lot of work with the Salvodi's who had a good promotion goin on, Another person Tazz would soon meet working for the Savoldi's IWCCW, was the man who would go on to be credited with Extreme Championship Wrestling's concept's, Paul Heyman. Taz met Heyman a second time when he was working for |
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| Salvodi's,
Paul was the booker but always got along with Taz, when Heyman left to
WCW he stayed in contact with
taz. Heyman tried hard to get Taz in WCW. Even as his friendships with the men who would become synonymous with Extreme Championship Wrestling grew, so did Taz's skills in the ring, his character. Looking back now over the evolution of his in-ring persona, Taz has come a long way. First he wrestled as the Tasmanian Devil, before that he was Kid Crush. Then someone said, it might not be a good idea because of Warner Bros. Than he went to the Tasmaniac and it stuck for a while. Then in ECW, Taz said to Paul ‘Let me become just a wrestler, Hw wanted to drop this goofy gimmick and wrestle' so, He became Taz and that was it." Taz was getting work on the independent circuits of the Northeast. He had try outs with the WWF and WCW. He traveled to Japan. Through it all, he was paying his dues and doing his best to support himself. In the meanwhile he was living home, working for a railroad company and bouncing at bars and clubs. He was working hard to earn his money, every little while he would want to quit but he always found a way to step up more. Taz worked for a short time for Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and worked for New Japan Pro Wrestling in the Orient. Before working for New Japan he worked for W*ING. Kevin Sullivan booked him there as The Tasmaniac. He toured twice with W*ING. Around 91-92 he got a deal with New Japan for a couple of tours. One of the highlights of Taz's career was that he wrestled Jushin Liger in his hometown the day of his birthday in the main event. |
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| ECW
History: Then, the phenomenon that would soon be known as Extreme Championship
Wrestling began to build it's roots. A man by the name of Tod Gordon had
formed it. An old friend by the name of Paul Heyman was booking. At the
suggestion of a friend, Taz made a fateful phone call, one that would eventually
bring him to superstardom.
Taz gave Paul Heyman a call, and he called him back. Heyman quickly aked Taz if he would wrestle Sabu, Taz accepted but he had to put Sabu over. When Taz joined ECW he noticed that it was either young talent or old talent like Jimmy Snuka, Kevin Sullivan, Abdullah the Butcher and Terry Funk. Even in his new home, Taz didn't stop paying his dues. It was very hard for him to get over with the fans. The ECW fans weren't typical fans they always wanted more. He debuted in October 1993. He lost to Sabu. The feud would go on to become the most storied in Extreme Championship Wrestling history. Although an injury would shadow his career, Taz was still at the point where he was paying his dues in ECW, something most forget because of his current persona. Taz finally won an ECW title, the TV belt from Sabu, but he lost it to JT Smith in the same day.Taz would become Sabu's tag team partner. They feuded with Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko. Taz would continue paying dues. He also would be instrumental in helping ECW. Sabu soon left Extreme Championship Wrestling for a tour in Japan, missing an important event, and Taz was on his own again. |
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| Taz
knew it was time to become what he had set out to be from day one. A pure
wrestler. He lost the curly stringy locks of hair, he lost the facepaint.
The caveman-esque ring outfit was replaced by a straight wrestling outfit.
He was Taz, Three Letters, One Man, and a Dangerous New Attitude.
That Attitude and his newfound marriage, however, was soon cut short by a tragic injury. Taz was in a match with Guerrero versus Malenko and Scorpio, that night Scorpio pile drived Taz from the second turnbuckle, Taz landed the wrong way, he lost any kind of feeling for 40 seconds, Taz was out for 9 months after this injury. For a man who lives and thrives on physical competition, it was the worst time of Taz's life, worse than his days in the old Brooklyn neighborhood. The first time Taz got back in the ring, it was in a tiny wrestling school in a rural Pennsylvania town named Reading. The school no longer exists. In fact, the building no longer exists. It's long since been torn down. Perhaps that's fitting, since in that building, Taz tried to leave the pain and the humility of the injury behind him. At the same time, Taz was putting his creative mind forward, one that still moves forward today with the advent of tazmission.com and FTW Gear.Taz designed every t-shirt this company has ever, ever sold on his computer. All the banners too, the Pay-Per-View banners, whole deal. ECW needed a new ring, because guys kept getting hurt in the ring they had, So Taz designed the specs. While assisting ECW in creative areas, Taz soon returned to the ring. Sabu returned to Extreme Championship Wrestling. When Sabu received a standing ovation, from a crowd he had walked out on, while Taz, who paid his dues and didn't miss a show, didn't receive one card or letter of support when injured, Taz's rage onerwhelmed him. It was promoted as his Path of Rage, and he immediately turned on the ECW fans and called Sabu out, being linked with Bill Alfonso. |
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| This
feud led to Extreme Championship Wrestling's first pay-per-view event,
"Barely Legal." The night is infamous in wrestling. The upstart wrestling
promotion that built itself out of the sports bars of South Philadelphia
to a national sports force. Taz was one half of the main event of a Pay-Per-View
being run from a converted Bingo Hall on the corner of Swanson and Rittner
Streets. Taz won the match that night. The man from Brooklyn had gone on
to conquer Pay-Per-View.
In the years that followed, Taz would become the ECW World Television champion and then the ECW World Heavyweight champion. He would become an unstoppable monster, forcing men to tap out and his own FTW Attitude to grow. Looking back, he sees the criticism he gets for being Taz as incorrect. Taz would go on to drop the ECW World Heavyweight championship to Mike Awesome. In a statement fitting of a man with the pride and honor he has, he announced that he was proud to have lost the belt. It wasn't about going over, it was about getting over, and no one could dispute that Taz had come so far in the last thirteen years. Taz would later come back and defeat Awesome for that ECW world title when Awesome decided to leave the company and join WCW. |
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| Where
He Is Now: Taz has since moved on from the comfort of a promotion he was
the cornerstone of, ECW and moved to the World Wrestling Federation, the
home of huge ratings, glitzy Pay-Per-Views, Steve Austin, the Rock and
Triple H.
Since debuting to a sellout crowd giving him a standing ovation in his hometown of New York City as he choked Kurt Angle out at the Royal Rumble, Taz began the process of building himself from ground level up, scoring three WWF Hardcore championships and an increasing fan base along the way. After a feud with Jerry Lawler, Taz is now the announcer on Smackdown and HEAT. But Taz will always be remembered as one of the most dominant wrestlers ever in the world. Memorable matches: Taz
vs Sabu Barely Legal
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