Taz has opened up about his release from TNA Wrestling on the latest edition of his “Human Podcast Machine”, answering all the questions that have been thrown his way since the announcement came last week.
“I asked for my release and was granted my release. We parted ways mutually, the right way, professionally. I wish them nothing but success.”
“My contract was ending in the summer of this year. I was looking to do other things and move on. I felt like I accomplished a lot in TNA, and TNA accomplished a lot with me. In defense to them, they wanted me to stay.”
There has been a mountain of speculation as to why the two sides parted ways last week, with everything from Josh Matthews to missing a voice-over session in Nashville, to some claiming he was fired from the promotion. Taz very plainly states that he was not fired from TNA.
On the rumor of Taz not making good money with TNA:
“I was very happy with the money I was making. I have no complaint with the money I was making. I would not have stayed in TNA for as long as I did if they weren’t taking care of me. Did I feel like I could have been making more money? Absolutely. We all feel like that. Everybody wants a raise, all the time. That’s not why I left. Financially I was very happy there.”
On the rumor of Taz leaving TNA because of Josh Matthews:
“Me leaving TNA had absolutely nothing to do with my relationship with Josh Matthews. It’s not true. I’ve worked with Josh for a long time.”
“Did we have a fallout? Yes we had a fallout. Did it have anything to do with me leaving TNA? No. Why can’t two guys have an argument, or disagree, or end a friendship and people gotta speculate that’s why they left?”
“I’ve wrestled guys that hated me, personally. And I’ve hated some of them. And we went out and had magic, and wrestled and drew money, and busted our ass and took care of each other. I’ve wrestled many guys that didn’t like me. It’s called business. While I was working with Josh I had zero problems with him.”
On the rumor of TNA finances, late payment and not appearing at the Nashville voice-over taping:
“My check was late, and I had to do what I had to do. The company was understanding in that. They understood my position. They were very professional, very kind, very understanding – business is business. This is how I pay my bills and I feed my family, for over 20 years.”
“It’s well documentary – and it seems like they’re fixing that now – that my funds were not arriving to the house, and were very late. I did a service, I wasn’t paid for that service. I gave them a notice – they knew ahead of time that I wasn’t going to come, and they were awesome about it. They were apologetic about it.”
Taz clarified that he has since been paid by the company. In regards to potentially re-signing with WWE, and doing various other projects, he noted that he doesn’t know exactly what his future holds, and that he’s trying to focus on doing quality podcasts at the moment. He also teased that he has meetings coming up in New York, and that he will having news coming soon.
