Taz Reveals Why He Really Left TNA – Pay Issues, Matthews, & More

In the latest episode of his podcast, the “Human Podcast Machine”, Taz opened up about about his release from TNA. Taz left the company last week. While there have been many rumors, he said he was not fired. Here are highlights:

On getting his TNA release: “I asked for my release and was granted my release. We parted ways mutually, the right way, professionally. I wish them nothing but success. My contract was ending in the summer of this year. I was looking to do other things and move on. I felt like I accomplished a lot in TNA, and TNA accomplished a lot with me. In defense to them, they wanted me to stay.”

On the rumor he didn’t make good money: “I was very happy with the money I was making. I have no complaint with the money I was making. I would not have stayed in TNA for as long as I did if they weren’t taking care of me. Did I feel like I could have been making more money? Absolutely. We all feel like that. Everybody wants a raise, all the time. That’s not why I left. Financially I was very happy there.”

On the rumor of Taz leaving TNA because of Josh Matthews: “Me leaving TNA had absolutely nothing to do with my relationship with Josh Matthews. It’s not true. I’ve worked with Josh for a long time. Did we have a fallout? Yes we had a fallout. Did it have anything to do with me leaving TNA? No. Why can’t two guys have an argument, or disagree, or end a friendship and people gotta speculate that’s why they left? I’ve wrestled guys that hated me, personally. And I’ve hated some of them. And we went out and had magic, and wrestled and drew money, and busted our ass and took care of each other. I’ve wrestled many guys that didn’t like me. It’s called business. While I was working with Josh I had zero problems with him.”

On the rumor of his TNA finances, late payment and not appearing at the Nashville voice-over taping: “My check was late, and I had to do what I had to do. The company was understanding in that. They understood my position. They were very professional, very kind, very understanding – business is business. This is how I pay my bills and I feed my family, for over 20 years. It’s well documentary – and it seems like they’re fixing that now – that my funds were not arriving to the house, and were very late. I did a service, I wasn’t paid for that service. I gave them a notice – they knew ahead of time that I wasn’t going to come, and they were awesome about it. They were apologetic about it.”

He said he’s since been paid by the company. He added he doesn’t know about his future, which would include re-signing with WWE and other projects, he’s just trying to focus on quality podcasts. He said he has meetings coming up in New York and will have news soon.