Kurt Angle has discussed the perception of Taz being a dangerous wrestler after his WWE debut against Angle at Royal Rumble 2000.
Rumours from the time suggested that Taz had been spoken to by management following the match for being dangerous in the ring. During the match, Taz would suplex Angle with the Olympic gold-medallist almost landing on his head.
Speaking on The Kurt Angle Show about his rookie year in WWE. Angle was asked by co-host Conrad Thompson his thoughts on working with the ‘Human Suplex Machine.’
Angle commented:
“Taz was not dangerous. That was my idea. I told Taz to give me a German suplex and throw me really high in the air, I would flip over to my stomach. I wanted to do a moonsault German suplex where I landed on my stomach, I thought it’d look really vicious and brutal. So that was all my call. I’m not sure why Taz didn’t then tell the office that I’m the one that chose the move.”
“Taz was never dangerous with his suplexes. He was relatively safe, I never had a problem with him.”
Taz was a mystery opponent for Angle at the 2000 Royal Rumble event held in Madison Square Garden. The former ECW Champion would choke Angle out with the Tazmission to give Angle his first loss in the company.
Head of WWE talent relations in 2000, Jim Ross also discussed the perception that Taz was dangerous, saying:
“People thought his suplexes were dangerous and all this other stuff. So a lot of the talents went back to Vince [McMahon] and said they don’t want to work this guy because he’s dangerous. They wouldn’t tell me that, but they would tell Vince that. He heard it enough that a lot of the top talents were uncomfortable stepping into the ring with Taz that he finally took it to heart.”
So for me, aren't many more credible in the history of the biz than Kurt. For anyone who thought/think I was "dangerous" the man with the brightest GOLD has spoken. I appreciate you explaining this @RealKurtAngle 💪🇺🇸 https://t.co/vOwNkkumRj
— taz (@OfficialTAZ) March 13, 2021
Taz would also respond to the comments from Kurt Angle.
“So for me, aren’t many more credible in the history of the biz than Kurt. For anyone who thought/think I was “dangerous” the man with the brightest GOLD has spoken. I appreciate you explaining this @RealKurtAngle”
Taz currently appears in All Elite Wrestling where he combines commentating with managing Team Taz. Two members of that team, Brian Cage and Ricky Starks were defeated by Sting and Darby Allin at AEW Revolution.