WWE Here Comes The Pain (PS2) Unplayable Wrestlers (2/6): Tazz gameplay

Gameplay of the unplayable character/wrestler Tazz in Yuke’s/THQ’s WWE Here Comes The Pain. Obligatory video:    • ITS TAZZ   I apparently haven't done a video on Tazz already. That is really surprising to me, because I absolutely could've SWORN I did one on him. Maybe it's just because I've recorded so many in advance, I don't know. We'll get to see true unlockable versions of Tazz later down the line (most notably in SVR 2007 and SVR 2009), but we'll see plenty of unplayable appearances as well. This is fine, because Tazz absolutely rocks. If I had to sum up Tazz, he's a bit like a footballer who creates a lot of buzz at a mid-table or lower-tier table, gets a lot of support behind him, finally gets a move to a big club, and then promptly gets underutilised before suffering a career ending injury. That's not too far from the truth as an allusion, I suppose. Tazz started out in ECW, where he was one of the promotion's top guys, along with RVD, Sabu, Tommy Dreamer, Sandman, Mike Awesome and numerous others. He started out as the Tazmanian Devil (of all gimmicks), but very much developed into his own character as time went on. Tazz brought a surprisingly technical variant of wrestling to ECW, and was one of the few great performers who could both look and act the part. Of course, like with every good talent at ECDub, Tazz got pretty disillusioned with it after a while, and left to go to the then WWF. Tazz's debut for WWF is pretty legendary, having a proper build-up to it with various vignettes before finally debuting at Royal Rumble 2000 in a match against (then-undefeated) Kurt Angle. Tazz's move probably wasn't for the best however, because Vinnie Mac both 1) won't allow people to get over on their own and 2) won't allow shorter wrestlers to get over if he can help it. This even led to Tazz having to job to Triple H at one point, because of course he did, and in general he was pretty much completely wasted and underutilised in WWF, because Vince just has to make an example out of people. Suffering numerous injuries, Tazz eventually was forced to retire and took up being a color commentator instead, which he remains to this day, including commentating in the revived ECW (WWECW, as some call it), and now commentating in AEW. Probably the most noteworthy cross-promotion story with Tazz is when Mike Awesome signed for WCW (another wrestler who got royally screwed over, of course) while still having the ECW Championship. Heyman didn't want Awesome to leave with the belt, so a match was set up for an ECW event where WWF-wrester Tazz would face WCW-wrestler Awesome for the ECW belt. One of those delightfully surreal things which could have only happened then. There was only a bit of an invasion angle for ECW and WWF prior to the whole Alliance storyline, but I'll go a little more into that another time I suspect. I’ll probably have more to actually say about Tazz when I watch more ECW, but given that it’s on a lower-priority for me than WWF and WCW (it really always was the third-show, let’s face it) I’m not sure when that will be. Obviously, there were good performers in ECW and even some pretty great PPVs, but it sort of lacked a sleekness to it compared to the other two promotions. Of course, that’s the reason you either love it or don’t care for it; the fact that it was hardcore and pretty lo-fi compared to the (generally) safer antics of WWF and WCW. Tazz is still around nowadays, being a commentator and manager for AEW, and even being a part of storylines too. Speaking of AEW, I’d heard a bit of a hubbub about a guy called “Hook” who everyone was going on about for a bit, so imagine my surprise to learn that that he was actually Tazz’s son. There’s something a little surreal about being at the age where you’re starting to see Second Generation wrestlers, and knowing they’ll have the impact on newer fans that guys like The Rock, Bret Hart, Jake Roberts and many others did on past generations. As I said before, there are a decent number of unplayable appearances for Tazz (this being the first one), though there will be a couple more unlockable appearances later down the line too, with the most surreal of these being in SVR 2007 where we get to see him both in playable and unplayable versions. I've always been a bit of a mark for Tazz, but like a lot of other wrestlers he's one of those ones I like a lot without necessarily having seen a ton of what they've done, more so just enjoying what I have seen of their work. Up next, it’s the King again.