Terry Taylor (born
Paul W.
Taylor III on August 12,
1955), is an American
retired
professional wrestler best
known for his time in the National Wrestling Alliance,
World Championship
Wrestling, and the World Wrestling
Federation. Taylor is currently the Director of Talent
Relations in
Total
Nonstop Action Wrestling.
Career
Early career
Terry Taylor was a popular
fan favorite for much of his
early career in the
Mid-South region and other
Southern professional
wrestling territories in the 1980s. Taylor was originally selected
to be part of
The Fabulous Ones
tag team with
Stan Lane. Taylor was then
bypassed by Florida wrestler,
Steve
Keirn, for the position. Taylor then formed a tag team with
Bobby Fulton called the Fantastic Ones before he and Fulton split
up and Fulton teamed up with Tommy Rodgers to form the
Fantastics.
Taylor made his way to the Mid-South territory in January 1984 and
feuded with the team of Nikolai Volkoff and Krusher Darsow. Darsow
would change his name to Krusher Khrushchev and he and Taylor would
meet in the finals of a tournament to crown the first ever
Mid-South T.V. champion, a match that Khrushchev would win.
National Wrestling Alliance
He made his way to the
NWA in 1985 and feuded with
"Nature Boy" Buddy Landel over the
NWA National
Heavyweight Championship. Moving on to the Mid South Region in
1986, Taylor became one of that league's biggest stars and
eventually defeated Freebird
Buddy
Roberts for the Mid South Television Championship in September.
This title was represented by a gold medal hung around the neck. It
was later replaced by a conventional championship belt after the
medal was thrown into a river. Later that year, he defeated
Ted DiBiase for the North American
Heavyweight Championship, the Mid South region's top title at the
time. He vacated the Television Title upon winning the NAHC. He
also won the
UWF Tag Team
Championship with "Gentleman"
Chris Adams in early 1987 before
breaking up their "Dream Team" to begin a heated rivalry. After
Jim Crockett Promotions took
over the
Universal Wrestling
Federation (née
Mid-South
Wrestling) later that year, Taylor (then the UWF Television
Champion) initiated a dispute with
Nikita
Koloff over the
NWA World Television
Championship by stealing Koloff's belt, which led to a
unification match of the two titles at
Starrcade 1987 which Taylor would lose
before abruptly leaving the promotion.
World Class Championship Wrestling
In early-1988, Taylor debuted in
World Class Championship
Wrestling, where he and Adams continued their feud, which
lasted until early-June. Taylor did win the Texas heavyweight
championship from
Matt Borne and
defended the belt against Adams,
Kevin
Von Erich, and others. Terry also held the tag team titles with
Iceman King Parsons for a short time.
Taylor eventually departed WCCW when his feud with Von Erich was
about to kick into high gear.
World Wrestling Federation
In 1988, Taylor signed with the
World Wrestling Federation.
Debuting as babyface Scary Terry Taylor, he tag teamed with Sam
Houston against The Conquistadors in his television debut. The
Conquistadors pinned Sam Houston in the match and afterwards Taylor
got on the mic and berated Houston for losing the match, beating
him down turning heel. Taylor got Bobby Heenan as his manager and
Heenan renamed him "the Red Rooster", a
gimmick which saw him
don red tights and ring coat, and, later, style his hair like a
rooster's
comb
after turning babyface. Early in his Red Rooster stint, the
heel Taylor was
portrayed as a
novice wrestler who could not
navigate his way through matches without constant instructions from
Bobby Heenan. Eventually, Taylor (who was actually a very talented
wrestler) grew tired of Heenan's constant coaching and
turned against him,
defeating Heenan in a thirty second
squash match at
WrestleMania V. Taylor became a
face as a result, though he
retained the Red Rooster gimmick, and even began referring to his
fans as "Rooster Boosters." He remained in the WWF until mid-1990.
Warren Mickle did a gimmick in the independent PHWF, just going by
Rooster, donning sunglasses and a red rooster bodysuit.
World Championship Wrestling
Taylor received a lesser
push in
World Championship Wrestling in
late 1990. He first debuted as Terry Taylor and unsuccessfully
challenged
Arn Anderson for the
WCW World Television
Championship on several occasions. Taylor then began a short
feud with
Michael Wallstreet, which
ended abruptly after Wallstreet jumped to the WWF. So Taylor took
Wallstreet's place in the
The York
Foundation and changed his name to
Terrence
Taylor. He
feuded with
Tom Zenk,
Dustin
Rhodes and
Bobby Eaton, and won the
WCW World
Six-Man Tag Team Championships with
Richard Morton and
Thomas
Rich. Taylor was the senior member of the York Foundation
throughout its existence. For a time in late 1991-early 1992,
Taylor had teased a face turn by arguing with York and the rest of
the group. After the York Foundation disbanded, Taylor (now known
as 'The Taylor Made Man') remained heel and formed a
tag team with
Greg
Valentine in 1992 and held the
WCW United States Tag
Team Championship for three months.
World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling:
Second stints
In September 1992, Taylor returned to the WWF as "Terrific Terry
Taylor." He continued wrestling as a heel. The "Red Rooster"
gimmick was not referred to and Taylor, a perennial solid hand in
the ring, was used primarily as an enhancement talent. He later did
interviews before leaving in August 1993. Taylor turned up in WCW
again soon after, wrestling as a face. He was featured in mid-card
feuds for about a year.
American Wrestling Federation
He left the business for a while before becoming an announcer for
the
American Wrestling
Federation (AWF) in 1994. A fan of wrestling announcer
Gordon Solie, Taylor would often use Solie's
famous phrases, pronouncing a suplex as a
soo-play and a
clothesline as a
lariat.
World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling:
Third stints
Taylor spent several years in WCW working as a road agent and
writer backstage. He worked closely with Annette Yother, Craig
Leathers, Eric Bischoff, and Kevin Sullivan to write content for
Nitro and WCW PPVs.
Taylor returned to the WWF in 1998, doing interviews backstage. He
lasted in this capacity for about a year, before leaving for WCW
yet again.
World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling:
Fourth stints
During this stint in WCW, Taylor co-hosted
WCW Saturday Night with
Larry Zbyszko. He remained with the company
until WWF bought it out in 2001, and left the business again for
about a year.
Taylor later became a
road agent for
World Wrestling
Entertainment after his wrestling career was cut short by
injury. Before his injury, he was often a regional title holder and
became a major contender for the
NWA World Heavyweight
Championship before leaving for WWE.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Taylor began working for
Total Nonstop Action
Wrestling in 2003. He is the current head of talent relations,
and has worked as a road agent, trainer, and interviewer.
Personal life
On April 12, 2004, Taylor had three
vertebrae in his neck fused together. Two years
later, on April 3, 2006, Taylor underwent a three hour
cervical fusion surgery in which his sixth and
seventh vertebrae were joined. Following the second operation,
Taylor announced his retirement from the ring.
Terry is a
born-again
Christian and has appeared on some of the wrestling and
religion shows that
Ted DiBiase
produces.
In wrestling
- Nicknames
- "Scary"
- "Terrible"
- "Terrific" Terry Taylor
- "The Mecca of Manhood"
- "The Taylor Made Man"
- "The Computerized Man of the 1990s"
Championships and accomplishments
1The Mid-Atlantic promotion in which Taylor and
Steiner won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship is not the
same promotion that was once owned by Jim Crcckett, Jr. and sold to
Ted Turner in 1988. That promotion went on to be
renamed World Championship
Wrestling and was sold to World Wrestling Entertainment
in 2001. This current promotion, however, operates
within the same region as the original and uses some of the same
regional championships, primarily the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight
and Tag Team Championships.
References
External links