during sabu's match, where he teamed with rob van dam to face the eliminators and the gangstas in a three-way dance, taz attempted to attack his former partner, but van dam saved sabu and was choked out in the aisle. this distraction caused sabu to get hit with "total elimination" and his team lost. taz also began a mini-feud with rob van dam, dominating him in every match and was also out for a short time to get surgery on his injured shoulder. as 1996 ended and 1997 began, taz and sabu continued to try getting at one another, with no actual contact.