Taz Calls This Week’s Raw One of Its Worst Shows Ever, Blames Poor WWE Product on the Bosses, Explains Problems With Baron Corbin

– Former WWE Superstar Taz slammed this week’s edition of Raw being one of the worst editions of the show ever during his weekly podcast. He slammed the bosses in charge, Triple H, Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Kevin Dunn, as the source of the problems. Below are some highlights (transcript via Michael McClead and Wrestlezone.com).

Taz on how bad Raw was this week: “RAW was really bad, ok? [It was] maybe the worst RAW ever and that sounds like an overstatement, but it’s not an overstatement. It was very bad, very bad.”

Taz on the Brawn Strowman hospital segment: “I do have a problem with the way the scene at the quasi-hospital was shot, or the pre-op room or wherever the frig they said Braun Strowman was supposed to be at. It looked fake. It looked contrived. It looked campy. It came off campy. Braun, in his performance, and it wasn’t great – it really wasn’t, it seemed like he was trying to act and he’s not an actor. They’re trying to make this guy so human. They’re well past the point in making him this monster because he just does what everybody else does, so he isn’t really feared in being this monster, in character I’m speaking of, obviously. I did not like how it was shot at all. I thought it looked exactly like the f*cking thing they did with Dean Ambrose….It looks worked. It looks contrived and so insulting to people’s intelligence and that’s how it came off. It just came off weak and Braun had some meat to what he said in his backstage bit…you felt like he was gonna destroy Baron Corbin when he heals up, so Braun did a good job with that. I just feel like you’ve got to put the talent, no matter which wrestling company you’re talking about, no matter which wrestler you’re talking about, male of female, you always always have to put the talent in a position to succeed. These f*cking bits backstage that they do, they don’t help you succeed.”

Taz on the problems with Baron Corbin: “What they’re doing for Baron Corbin and I’m happy for Baron for getting a push because he is getting a f*cking big push; the way they’re pushing him, how they’re over exposing him and that he’s not ready…He’s not ready, Baron Corbin, for this because it’s like when you build a house and the foundation. Before you frame the home, you need a f*cking foundation. The foundation’s made of concrete, so when you pour the frigging concrete, the concrete has to dry. Once the concrete dries then it’s stable. Baron Corbin, he’s poured concrete that’s halfway dry. He’s not ready to have a house framed on him yet and I’m not saying it’s his ability because it’s not his ability. His ability is fine. It’s how he’s been built to this point. He’s still wet cement. I don’t care what anybody says.”

Taz on WWE hurting the talent: “You’re not putting talent in a position to succeed when you shoot something the way it’s shot, like Dean Ambrose in the doctor’s office and the way it looks, like it’s f*cking 1989 or 1992 or 1994, with the way RAW is WAR would shoot sh*t backstage. It just looks campy and outdated. It doesn’t look realistic. It’s insulting to people’s intelligence. It’s f*cking annoying. It just looks fake and to top it all off, WWE will take clips of this sh*t and they are taking clips of this stuff and putting it on their Twitter that has like 10 million followers and they’re tweeting out these clips and people are quoting these clips ripping the sh*t out of what they did on RAW and ripping the creative team and ripping everybody. WWE don’t care. I mean, they care, but they don’t care. They think it’s funny. They wouldn’t be putting it in our f*cking face like this and anybody that thinks I’m going to the Hall of Fame in Brooklyn, at WrestleMania in 2019, you’re out your f*cking mind.”

Taz on WWE lacking in star power: “There is definitely for a lot of years a lot more room for Vince [McMahon] to say, ‘Ah, we swung and we missed at this one, no big deal. Alright, we swung and we missed at that, no big deal. We got a base single here. We got a double here. Woah, look at that, we got three home runs in a row. That’s not bad. We just missed again. We missed that ball again. We struck out again, no big deal.’ He can afford to do that because his brand is bigger than his talent, for the most part, unless you watched Monday night on RAW because no dis to any of the talent, but it just didn’t feel like there was star power in this thing. It just didn’t feel it. We’ve heard the narrative for so long about a man named Roman Reigns, who God willing is fighting right now and getting healthy and doing what he has to do in dealing with what he is dealing with, as all of you guys know. When I mention Roman Reigns, I’m talking about him now as the professional wrestler, as the WWE talent. You kind of miss that star power right now. You do.”

His thoughts on the Dean Ambrose segment: “Dean Ambrose is getting a bunch of injections; you heard me right. So, they had Dean Ambrose getting a bunch of injections by a doctor (who was an actor). Typical sh*t. It just looked like fake insulting – you can’t have two doctor/hospital scenes in one show. I’m meaning two different angles, it sucks. You did the Braun thing earlier about to have surgery on the elbow, pre-op. Now you’re gonna fu*king do Dean Ambrose getting injections all over his body; for the shoulder, for Measles, for fu*king grasshoppers. He’s getting gonorrhea shots. He’s getting rabies shots with this giant syringe that looked like a cannon: stupid. The whole thing was ridiculous. It was just dumb. He’s trying to get heat and he’s ripping the people of Milwaukee, ‘I’m not gonna come out there and let you people touch me with your dirty hands, your dirty fat fingers and all that.’ Like he’s paranoid to get sick and all that sh*t, ok fine. I have no problem with that kind of heat, but to do this stuff, the backstage stuff with the doctor, oh my God, it’s so 1996 WWF and it’s just bad.”

Taz on who he blames for the product: “You can’t blame the talent. You can’t blame the writers. You gotta blame the bosses. It’s that simple and when I’m talking about the buck stops at Vince, at Stephanie [McMahon], at Triple H, at Kevin Dunn. You can have all the writers you want. I’ve lived this. I know the drill. I’ve seen it. I know it. These guys and girls can write whatever the fu*k they want; the buck stops with the boss. It’s that simple and the boss is not just Vince anymore, so that’s where the onus falls and I’ve got news for you, looking at WWE social media, they don’t care. I don’t know if they’re laughing or what, but they know you’re not going nowhere and if you leave, there’s a whole cycle of fans right behind you.”