Tazz is out... who's in?

A shocking bit of news that I heard today and confirmed when I checked Meltzer's site. When Tazz takes the broadcast booth tonight for the Smackdown taping, it will be his last broadcast as a member of the WWE. His contract expired and he reached an agreement to work up to this last taping.

In my opinion, while Tazz is a great color commentator who had a lot of chemistry with Michael Cole and worked okay with JR when given the opportunity, I don't think this is as big a loss for the WWE as you might think. Remember, back when Tazz and Joey Styles were calling matches for ECW, JBL filled in ably alongside Cole on Smackdown. Rowdy Roddy Piper used to be a damn fine color commentator, and while the style of announcing has changed from when Piper was in the booth, I think he could fill in temporarily. This would be a perfect time for Randy Savage to come back to the fold as well, seeing as he was a better color man than Piper in those days, and since he's got a DVD coming out.

However, the best option to replace Tazz could very well be employed by the 'E as a commentator already. Matt Striker has been a revelation as ECW's color commentator, even alongside the bland but tolerable Todd Grisham. Imagine how much energy he could pump into a broadcast calling a match with JR? And since he's got experience carrying a broadcast team with Grisham, perhaps he could fill in for the King with Cole and reunite the best announce team the WWE has ever had... yes, I went there. JR and the King are the best, even with the number of great announce teams they've had over the years.

What about Tazz though? Where will he go from here? I don't have any inside information about why he chose to let his contract expire, so I can't say what's going on, whether he's become disinterested in the company, he's become disinterested with wrestling, or whether this was just a cost-cutting move by the WWE and Tazz had no say in whether he wanted his contract renewed or not. Either way, he'd be a boon for TNA or ROH to pick up as a commentator.

What about as a wrestler? Tazz has fallen a bit out of shape and would have to work hard to get into ring readiness. Plus his neck is still an issue.

Either way, this is a very surprising move to be pulling off on the eve of WrestleMania. It sucks, but I don't think things will be all that much different in the 'E.