Kurt Angle On If Taz’s Suplexes Were Dangerous, Taz Responds
Back at the 2000 Royal Rumble, Taz made his big debut by submitting Kurt Angle in a relatively quick match. Towards the end of the bout, Taz pulled off a few of his signature suplexes on Angle, one of which Angle flipped over in midair and landed on his stomach. According to Jim Ross — who brought in the ECW star — Taz's suplexes were considered dangerous by some people backstage.
"Nobody could've had a better debut in Madison Square Garden than Taz got and he beat Kurt Angle by submission," Ross said on an episode of Grilling JR earlier this year. "People thought his suplexes were dangerous, a lot of the talents got back to Vince and said, 'I don't really want to work with this guy.' Enough of the top talents convinced McMahon that Taz was not a good hire, he was limited on what he could do, his suplexes were dangerous, so he fell out of favor."
On The Kurt Angle Show, Angle wanted to make it clear Taz was not a dangerous wrestler, and it was in fact his idea to pull off that particular suplex during the match in 2000. (h/t Inside the Ropes for the transcription):
"Taz was not dangerous," Angle stated. "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."
You can see the suplex Angle referred to in the video below at the 5:50 mark.
Taz has since responded to Angle and appreciated the WWE Hall of Famer clearing things up.
"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."
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