taz returned to the ring on december 19, 1995 at holiday hell with a new look and wrestling style. the new character had him clad in a black/orange singlet and exhibiting a more physically intense in-ring style, focusing his offense on mat wrestling and suplexes (inspired by working with the steiner brothers), which announcer joey styles dubbed "taz-plexes", earning him the nickname "the human suplex machine". he also debuted his "tazmission"/katahajime finishing maneuver, causing opponents to tap out to signal their submission as in mixed martial arts instead of nodding their head or vocally saying "yes". this quirk was soon picked up by other companies throughout the country. heading into the summer, taz began feuding with tommy dreamer, joining up with brian lee to face dreamer and terry gordy and later dreamer and "dr. death" steve williams. taz also developed a friendship with the eliminators, based on mutual respect, and they occasionally involved themselves in his matches. perry saturn and taz were both trainers at ecw's house of hardcore wrestling school. for a while, some of the students, including mako and chris chetti, would accompany taz and alfonso to the ring as a faction known as team taz.