Ray Traylor

Raymond ("Ray") Traylor (May 2, 1962 – September 22, 2004) was an American professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Big Boss Man.

Career

A prison guard that moonlighted as a wrestler, Traylor first debuted for the National Wrestling Alliance's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1986 under his given name as a jobber. After wrestling a handful of matches, Dusty Rhodes saw potential in him and took him off TV for a few months to be repackaged. He would re-emerge under the name Big Bubba Rogers, serving as the bodyguard of manager Jim Cornette. His first appearance saw him straightening his tie in response to a chair shot by Rhodes. This would lead to them feuding across the country in a precursor to "Hardcore" Battle Royales called The Bunkhouse Stampede, in which the winner of the most Battle Royales would win a $100,000 USD (kayfabe) cash prize. Bubba and Rhodes ended up tied in the number of wins at the end of the Bunkhouse Stampede Tour, leading to a 1 on 1 match to decide who got the prize. Rhodes came away victorious. He also wrestled in the Universal Wrestling Federation, where he won the title in 1987. He became well known as a big man who could move very quickly and perform many moves usually reserved for wrestlers 80-100 pounds lighter. By 1988, Traylor had joined the World Wrestling Federation as the Big Boss Man, a character who was formerly a prison guard in Cobb County, Georgia (Traylor had actually been a jail guard for a time in that area, a fact the WWF exploited to bring in the character Nailz, a former convict who believed Traylor had wronged him). Traylor enjoyed a good deal of success in the company, first as a heel, challenging for Hulk Hogan's WWF World Championship also teaming with Akeem in the Twin Towers, and later as a face, befriending Hogan and facing Bobby Heenan's stable of wrestlers, the Heenan Family. Nonetheless, the Boss Man did not win any championships during his initial run with the WWF.

After leaving the WWF in 1993, Traylor had a brief stint in All Japan Pro Wrestling before returning to the United States to work for World Championship Wrestling. Traylor was originally known as The Boss, but the WWF legal department determined the character to be too similar to the one that Traylor had portrayed in the WWF and forced WCW to change it. As a result, Traylor became the Guardian Angel, a character based on the real-life Guardian Angels group. Once again, the character did not last long before Traylor returned to his original Big Bubba character.

Big Bubba was a solid mid-card heel, joining the Dungeon of Doom faction before eventually defecting to the nWo. Eventually, a loophole in Bubba's contract forced him out of the nWo (according to storylines). As a result of this, Bubba became a face once again and began competing under his real name - Ray Traylor. This was not the most successful period of Traylor's career, as he rarely rose above the mid-card.

Eventually, Traylor would return to the WWF, once again under his Big Boss Man persona, but wearing a SWAT-style uniform instead of his old police uniform. This was the most successful portion of Traylor's career, where he was remade from a "hick cop" into a bully-type personal security officer, or bodyguard-type character, willing to do anything for a price. He was immediately established as a top of the mid-card character, quite a departure from the lower-mid-card status he had in WCW just weeks previously. He was introduced as a member of The Corporation, a group of wrestlers controlled by WWF owner Vince McMahon to combat rival Stone Cold Steve Austin, as The Corporation's "personal security". The Boss Man would have several matches with Austin, as well as winning the WWF Tag Team Titles with Ken Shamrock and the WWF Hardcore Title. While still a member of the Corporation, Bossman competed at WrestleMania XV. In fact, he was feuding with the Undertaker (as the Corporation at the time had no love for the Undertaker or his newly formed "Ministry"). This led to what seemed like the nadir of the Hell in a Cell tradition, as Taker beat Bossman inside the Cell at WrestleMania XV, including an unconvincing "hanging" of Bossman by Edge, Gangrel and Christian at the end of the match.

After his return, he would eventually go on to feud with The Big Show over the WWE Championship. This feud is infamous for a skit where Boss Man showed up at Big Show's deceased father's funeral and proceeded to steal Show's father's casket by rigging it to the back of his car and driving off. In a desparate attempt to stop the theft, The Big Show jumped onto the coffin as it was being towed away, riding atop the coffin for a few yards until he lost his grip and tumbled off. The feud also featured a classic line uttered by Traylor, "The Big Show is a dirty bastard, and his Momma said so!," a reference to a forced teary admission via satellite by Show's mother that his deceased "father" wasn't really his biological father. This feud ended with Boss Man being crushed by Big Show at a pay per view. (Ironically, during the Boss Man's first WWF run in the early 1990s, he had a feud with Ravishing Rick Rude over disparaging remarks Rude and Bobby "the Brain" Heenan had made about the Boss Man's mother).

Boss Man would continue to compete primarily in the hardcore division until suffering a knee injury. When Traylor returned from that injury, he was given a role as the bodyguard of Booker T, but the new gimmick was ultimately not successful. After forming a short lived tag team with Mr. Perfect, Traylor was then assigned to train new wrestlers in Ohio Valley Wrestling before ultimately being released from WWE in 2003. His last high-profile series of matches was in a tournament for the vacant International Wrestling Association of Japan heavyweight title. He made all the way to the finals before being defeated by old rival Jim Duggan.

Traylor died in his home from a "massive" heart attack in Paulding County, Georgia on September 22, 2004 at the age of 42.

Wrestling facts

Finishing and signature moves

Boss Man Slam / Scrapbuster / Traylor Trash (Spinning side slam)
Avalanche
Bear hug
Eye poke

Signature illegal weapons

Managers

Championships and accomplishments

Pro Wrestling Illustrated

PWI ranked him # 138 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI Years in 2003.
- Universal Wrestling Federation

1-time UWF Heavyweight Champion
- World Wrestling Federation

4-time WWF Hardcore Champion
1-time WWF World Tag Team Champion (with Ken Shamrock)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter

1987 Most Improved Wrestler