in october 1993, he and joe chetti (brother of chris chetti) debuted in the philadelphia-based eastern championship wrestling (ecw), prior to its name change to extreme championship wrestling, as the tag team the tazmaniacs. when that team broke up, he was put into another team with kevin sullivan, with whom he won the tag team championship twice. during his second reign as tag team champion with sullivan, the tazmaniac became a double champion when he also won the television championship for one night in march 1994. for most of the rest of the year he floated around the tag ranks, teaming with different partners. he held the title once more, this time with sabu, until sabu was legitimately fired by ecw owner paul heyman for no-showing an event in favor of touring japan for new japan pro wrestling. in august 1994, the tazmaniac competed in a one-night eight-man tournament for the vacant nwa world heavyweight championship, losing to shane douglas in the quarter-finals.