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I know that Taz is busy with his new morning show, but I was wondering if you think he'll ever be part of WWE again? How about the Hall of Fame?
Taz is signed to a deal with CBS Sports Radio and that's really been his passion the last several years. It's been a big goal for him, for over a decade, to build his name in the radio industry. He didn't want to be seen as a wrestler trying to fill a spot, but as a legitimate radio broadcaster. I think he's more than fulfilling that goal. it means a lot to him that not only is he doing sports nationally on CBS Sports Radio's Taz and The Moose but that he's still keeping The Taz Show going as well. He could have easily opted out of the latter and it would probably have been easier for him to do so, but he pushed to keep it going.
As far as a full-time WWE return, obviously money talks, but I don't see him going back on the road full-time as an announcer for the company ever. If WWE wanted Taz to come in to do voice-overs or host on camera segments for the WWE Network or a DVD and they could work around his CBS responsibilities, I could see it happening. He lives in New York and could easily drive to Stamford for that. Full-time, however, he's finally got what he wanted and that's to be doing radio.
As far as the WWE Hall of Fame, I'd be shocked if it didn't happen at some point in the near future. Taz has downplayed the idea when I've been on The Taz Show with him, but I think he's insane for doing so. If you look at the scope of his career - He had an incredible run in the original ECW, brought a lot of MMA elements to pro wrestling, was a great talker, headlined the first ECW PPV (and other PPVs after that), had an iconic feud with Sabu, had an extremely memorable moment when he and Bam Bam Bigelow crashed through the ring (which had never been done before in wrestling), was part of WWE during a major money period for the company and held a few titles during his run, was a GREAT announcer for the Smackdown brand and has had continued success beyond professional wrestling in another genre - am that's what I am remembering off the top of my head.
In my mind, it's a matter of when, not if. Certainly Taz has the resume for it and when it happens, it'll be a hell of a speech...and hey, the WWE Hall of Fame next year IS in Brooklyn!
I was wondering if you had to put a list of your favorite referees together, who would they be?
If we are talking referees from the past, it would be Tommy Young (who I think is the best referee of all time) and then in no particular order, Earl Hebner, Tiger Hatori, Dick Woerhle, Mike Kehner and John Finnegan. There have been lots of other awesome referees, but those are the ones that come off the top of my head. It's a hard job to judge since a major factor is that they don't want you to notice them, so just based on that along, there are so many who get overlooked, because they do their job so great. Of the referees today that work for major companies, WWE's Shawn Bennett does a phenomenal job, as do ROH's Paul Turner and Todd Sinclair. I'd also be remiss to not mention WWE referee Jon Cone.
I was also wondering who you think were the best announcers that never worked for WWE?
That is easy. Lance Russell, Bill Mercer and Bob Caudle were all awesome on their own way, but never worked for WWE. If I had to pick three announcers that I would want for a promotion, those are the ones. Bob Caudle would be my first hire, even today.
Is the Bob Ryder currently employed by TNA the same guy that was affiliated with 1Wrestling.com?
Yes. I believe Bob still owns that website.
Whatever happened to the tiered-system version of the WWE Network?
WWE has yet to officially go forward with the system.
With Johnny Gargano losing his championship match on NXT and "leaving" the company, do you think this is the time, being so over with the crowd to bring him to the main roster after Wrestlemania?
Based on the way NXT's storylines look to be going, I don't believe that is the goal here. If and when Gargano moves to the main roster, he's going to be an incredible asset.
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