On a recent episode of The Taz Show, a fan called in and stated that he had a fantasy match of Taz vs. Brock Lesnar, stemming from both competitors being known for their signature suplexes. Taz went on to say that the idea was actually a real thing, and Vince McMahon approached him with it while he was commentating on SmackDown.
“Vince McMahon approached me about working with Brock at Madison Square Garden while I was a commentator there… I’m over there doing the commentary for the WWE at the SmackDown table several years ago. And Brock was just cooking up before, and basically, they were really building Brock up as this killing heel machine. This was before this whole suplex city thing they have going on. And I was, I don’t know what year this was, could have been 2006 or something like that. Somewhere in that world, 2007, something like that. Maybe 2005; I’m horrible with years.
“So, it was earlier in the day, it was probably around 3pm, and we’re at the arena. I’m sitting at the announce desk, and some guys are in the ring just working out, loosening up, stretching out, who’s doing this, who’s doing that. I’m doing some prep work, like I always do. Michael Cole is over there twiddling his thumbs, doing nothing. And I’m doing all the prep work (God, I wish he could hear this. He might listen to the show. I should text him, because he would flag on me, because everything I just said was a little bit of a lie [laughs]).
“So, I’m sitting there with Cole, and he’s writing stuff up, and Vince walks by, he’s just watching and checking on some of the people who are working out. He was talking to some of the agents, they were doing a rehearsal or something. So Vince slips over to my area, at the announce desk, and he’s like, ‘Hey, uh, can we talk for a minute?’ [And I thought I was going to be fired]. So I walk over there in the corner with Vince, and he goes, ‘Listen. This is big. You ready?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah. I’m ready. What’s up?’
“He goes, ‘You and Lesnar do something at the [Madison Square] Garden. I’d be great. You would come back, do a match at the Garden, we’ll plug it, push it.’ I go, ‘Vince. No thank you. I love Brock, I love you, and I love the company, but I can’t do it. I’m banged up, I got a lot of numbers to my body. I’m just, physically, I’d be too risky for me to do.’ He goes, ‘No, I know that. We’ll work around it, we’ll do business.’ [I told him], ‘Vince. I’m not what I was. I can’t go be what I was, and I don’t want to put myself at risk.’
“And he was cool, [then] he goes, ‘I understand, but, you know what? I never knew you were this terrible as a businessman. Just horrible. What is wrong with you?’ He just started ripping me. ‘You don’t even know how much I was willing to pay you!’
He went on to tell Vince that it wasn’t about the money, but he just couldn’t get back to who he used to be. He added that Vince gets very mad when people “don’t do good business.” He also stated that he was not worried about fighting Lesnar, he was just more concerned with his health than anything else.
You can hear the full interview here.
If this transcription is used, please credit The Taz Show via WrestleZone.
