RAY TRAYLOR

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

Contents

Wrestling career

Early career

World Wrestling Federation (1988-1993)

World Championship Wrestling (1993-1998)

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1998-2003)

Death

Wrestling facts

Championships and accomplishments

Wrestling career

Early career

A prison guard that moonlighted as a wrestler, Traylor first debuted for the AWA and then for the National Wrestling Alliance's Jim Crockett Promotions in 1986 under his given name as a jobber. After wrestling a handful of matches, booker 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 silent bodyguard of manager Jim Cornette. 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 UWF Heavyweight Title from his future tag team partner One Man Gang in 1987.

World Wrestling Federation (1988-1993)

By 1988, Traylor had joined the World Wrestling Federation as 'The Big Bossman', 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. As a heel, he challenged for Hulk Hogan's WWF World Championship and also teamed with Akeem to form the Twin Towers. On an edition of Saturday Night's Main Event in 1989, he and Hogan faced each other in a memorable steel cage match for the WWF Title in which Hogan superplexed the near 400 pound Traylor off the top of the cage. He later became a face, befriending Hogan and opposing Bobby Heenan's stable of wrestlers, the Heenan Family. This included a memorable encounter with Mr. Perfect at WrestleMania VII in 1991. Boss Man would go on to beat wrestlers such as Ted DiBiase, Dino Bravo, Rick Rude, and The Mountie. He also feuded with former tag team partner Akeem, defeating him in less than two minutes at WrestleMania VI. After losing a match to Bam Bam Bigelow at the Royal Rumble 1993, Traylor left the WWF for WCW.

World Championship Wrestling (1993-1998)

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'. He feuded with Big Van Vader for most of 1994. Soon, Traylor returned to his original Big Bubba character. Big Bubba defeated Sting at Uncensored in March 1995.
Big Bubba joined 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. He frequently worked with the Steiner Brothers during this time period. He began feuding with the nWo, defeating several nWo members such as Scott Hall, Curt Hennig, and Vincent.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (1998-2003)

Eventually, Traylor would return to the WWF on the October 12, 1998 episode of RAW is War, once again under his Big Bossman 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 Stone Cold Steve Austin as well as the infamous D-Generation X, as The Corporation's "personal security". The Boss Man would have several matches with Austin. He won the WWF Tag Team Titles with Ken Shamrock and beat Al Snow for the WWF Hardcore Title, a feud which included the infamous storyline involving Al's dog Pepper, leading eventually to the much-maligned ''Kennel From Hell'' match at Unforgiven 1999. 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 feuded with the Undertaker and his newly formed "Ministry of Darkness", despite both being heel factions). 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 a ''"hanging"'' of Bossman by the Undertaker himself, which left him suspended about 15 feet in the air, motionless.
After his return, he would eventually go on to feud with The Big Show over the WWF Championship. This feud is infamous for a skit where Boss Man showed up at Big Show's (kayfabe) deceased father's funeral and proceeded to steal Show's father's casket by rigging it to the back of his car (the Bluesmobile from the Blues Brothers, complete with the large public announcement horn) and driving off. In a desperate 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. Also during the angle, the Bossman uttered the popular, yet often misquoted line, "Ya hear that Paul Wight, you're a nasty bastard and your momma said so!" Bossman beat The Rock to become the #1 contender for the WWF Championship on the November 15, 1999 Raw. This feud ended with Boss Man being crushed by Big Show at the Armaggedon pay-per-view.
On the March 19th, 2000 edition of Sunday Night Heat, Boss Man introduced Protégé Bull Buchanan, a wrestler who dressed similar to The Boss Man, to the WWF. They formed a tag team which lasted until the end of the year when Bull joined the Right to Censor. Big Bossman and Bull Buchanan defeated The Godfather and D'Lo Brown at WrestleMania 2000, and beat the APA the following month at Backlash. The team split on the June 5th, 2000 edition of Raw Is War, After They lost to the Hardy Boyz, Buchanan and Boss Man began to argue which lead to shoving and eventually Boss Man knocking out Buchanan with his Night Stick when Buchanan's back was turned.
When Traylor returned from an injury in late 2001, he was given a role as the tag team partner of Booker T, as simply 'The Boss Man'. Boss Man served as an enforcer again, only this time for Booker T as well as helping Vince McMahon. The team quietly split in late January 2002, and from there on Boss Man served mostly as a jobber. In April 2002 he was drafted to the RAW brand, forming a short lived tag team with Mr. Perfect. In June 2002, 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 it all the way to the finals before being defeated by old rival Jim Duggan.

Death

Traylor died in his home from a heart attack in Paulding County, Georgia on September 22, 2004. He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Wrestling facts

★ 'Finishing and signature moves'
:
★ '''Boss Man Slam''' / ''Scrapbuster Slam'' / ''Traylor Spike'' (Spinning side slam)
:
★ Corner avalanche
:
★ Bear hug
:
★ Eye rake
:
★ Bolo punch
:
★ Powerbomb
:
★ Backbreaker

★ 'Signature illegal weapons'
:
★ Nightstick
:
★ Handcuffs
:
★ Ball and Chain
:
★ Flack Jacket

★ 'Managers'
:
★ Skandor Akbar
:
★ Baby Doll
:
★ Jim Cornette
:
★ Ted DiBiase
:
★ Jimmy Hart
:
★ Slick

★ 'Quotes'
:"You're gonna serve nothing but hard time!"
:"Now you better get out of here before I shove this big black nightstick up your ass!"
:"Big Bubba No Trouble!"
:"You Hear That Paul Wight? You're A Nasty Bastard And Your Mama Says So!"
:"Dusty Rhodes, you're not a common man, you're a common theif!"

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'
:
★ UWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

★ 'World Wrestling Federation'
:
★ WWF Hardcore Championship (4 times)
:
★ WWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ken Shamrock

★ 'Wrestling Observer Newsletter'
:
★ 1987 Most Improved Wrestler