Originally from the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, NY, Pete Senerca originally entered ECW as the Tazmaniac, with a costume somewhat resembling a loincloth, and a huge afro. After being teamed for a while with Sabu, he turned heel, cut his hair, and shortened his name to just Taz. He also changed from the wildman character and started to go with what he knew.
Drawing from his background in judo and jiu-jitsu, he switch to a style of grappling, suplexes and submission moves, as well as a new bad ass attitude, and it went over very well with the fans. He became known as the Human Wrecking Machine and the Path of Rage, as he went on a very long undefeated streak, often defeating opponents in less than 2 minutes. This is the point in time when he coined his catch phrase, "Beat me if you can, survive if I let you." While he was best known for his finisher, the "Tazmission", a modified form of the Kata Ha Jime, he became well known for his ability to toss pretty much anyone around in a very well developed repetiore of suplexes. He was so well recognized for his ability with suplexes that the ECW announcer, Joey Styles, started to call it a "Tazplex" when executed by Taz.
After several years in ECW, he signed on with the much larger, and surely more lucrative WWF, where the tradition of calling a suplex executed by Taz a "Tazplex" continues, though in a much more limited manner. Since moving to the WWF, Taz has been dropped to mid-card status for the most part, a move considered unfortunate by his fans who recognize his wealth of talent. This is more than likely a result of the fact that Taz is on the short side for a wrestler, and the WWF does not like to script wins for someone who is so much smaller in stature than their much larger core talent pool. |
