PWP Nation’s Zak Fellows examines the legacy of the Big Boss Man.
In a case of life influencing fiction, Ray Traylor Jr. was a Prison Guard in Cobb County Georgia before he trained under Ted Allen and began his wrestling career in 1985 with Jim Crockett Promotions. He would catch the attention of the ‘American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes as he took on the name of Big Bubba Rogers, becoming affiliated with well-regarded manager Jim Cornette before entering into a feud with Rhodes. On April 19, 1987 he would win the Universal Wrestling Federation Championship from the One Man Gang, but for as much as we remember Big Bubba Rogers, we knew Ray Traylor Jr. under one particular mantle.
Taking advantage of his real life profession, Traylor would join the WWE in the summer of 1988 as the Big Boss Man. Managed by Slick; he would join One Man Gang, now known as Akeem, to form the Twin Towers in a feud with the Mega Powers, of course comprising Hulk Hogan and then WWE Champion Randy Savage. The Twin Towers would to be a major influence on the storylines of WWE at the time being one of the instigators of the famous Savage/Hogan feud.
In 1990, Boss Man would split from Akeem defeating him at WrestleMania VI as he began to hone his skills and improve upon himself in the coming year, entering into a feud with Northern Law Enforcer the Mountie culminating in a Jailhouse match at SummerSlam 1991. Suffice to say, Boss Man became a fixture of the mid card of WWE during the legendary Hogan era however before his departure in early 1993 he would help the rise of future fixtures of the New Generation such as Razor Ramon and Yokozuna.
After a brief run in All Japan Pro Wrestling Traylor would return to the states and a new run in World Championship Wrestling. Under the mantle of the Guardian Angel, named after the New York based volunteer group of the same name, he would feud with Big Van Vader before returning to the name for which he originally became known: Big Bubba Rogers. With a name change arose a string of faction’s: He would join the Dungeon of Doom in 1996 before jumping ship to the insurgent New World Order but was forced out of the group by JJ Dillon.
In his final year with WCW between 1997 and 1998 he would be backed by former nWo member Ted DiBiase to go against his former comrades however, his last match would come in March of 1998, losing to the phoenix like ascent of Bill Goldberg.
In the midst of the Monday Night War and the Steve Austin/Mr. McMahon rivalry Big Boss Man would return to the WWE and align himself with McMahon and his new Corporation. Shedding his blue police outfit in favour of black SWAT attire, which would later become further popularized by the Shield 14 years later, Traylor would achieve his first championship success since his UWF Championship victory becoming the World Tag Team Champion with fellow Corporation member Ken Shamrock as well as winning the WWE Hardcore Championship four times.
Becoming one of the most hated characters in WWE during the Attitude Era his most infamous moment came from a feud with then WWE Champion the Big Show as he proceed to mock Show’s late deceased from long ago but not really father and even ruined his funeral culminating in a title match at the last WWE PPV of the 20th century Armageddon.
Boss Man would close out his WWE Career by forming tag alliances with Bull Buchanan and Mr. Perfect, being assigned as a trainer in Ohio Valley Wrestling before leaving the WWE in 2003. His final matches would take place with the International Wrestling Association of Japan where he would be defeated by Jim Duggan in a tournament for the IWA World Heavyweight Championship on August 31, 2004. Ray Traylor sadly passed away the next month from a heart attack in his home and on April 2, 2016 he will join the WWE Hall of Fame.
So, what is the Big Boss Man’s legacy?
Looking back on the work of Big Boss Man to me he shows signs of being an underrated all around wrestler. While he may not have been the greatest of all time, he showed complete competency in his ability and managed to have fun efforts and feuds against Mr. Perfect and the Mountie, may have been to do with his opponents being talented but it does take two to tango.
His ability to speak was also decent as he understood how to speak in a way that made him both beloved by fans who wanted to see him deliver ‘justice’ to the corrupt heel alignment and hated for being the authority of despised rule setting of the boss Mr. McMahon.
Which brings me to what I feel is the biggest part of Big Boss Man’s contributions to the industry and his lasting impression: Ability to play both babyface and heel. To some, this may not seem like a fairly extraordinary accomplishment: there have been many legends that are noted for being one of the greatest heroes and greatest villains of all time which may not make Boss Man seem like such a one of a kind talent. However, looking back at his two major runs split apart by half a decade one as the clean cut authority of the Hulk Hogan Era and the sadistic corruption of the Attitude Era you see two extremes both designed to elicit the appropriate reaction and nothing else.
Boss Man stepped up into whatever role was demanded of him to make a feud memorable and elicit an appropriate reaction. In the case of facing antagonists like the Mountie, fans wanted to see him overcome the corrupt law enforcer and, in the case of protagonists like the Big Show, fans wanted to see Boss Man pay for being a major jerk (and in the Attitude Era where some of the most popular faces you can easily read as being jerks).
In short, Big Boss Man managed to get people to either love him or love to hate him with no middle ground by either being overly good and overly evil. It makes him akin to a cartoon personality but it made his storyline and actions memorable because the investment was there. Hell, it’s that fan investment in his work that is going to reward the Big Boss Man with a deserving induction into the WWE Hall of Fame. All it took was cooking someone’s dog and interrupting a funeral.
[Zak Fellows has never cooked a dog contrary to popular belief.]
That is something a Cartoon villain would do isn’t it?
For more articles like this, follow us on Twitter @PWPNation.
