Big Boss Man

Ray Traylor
Born	May 2, 1962 Marietta, Georgia
Died	September 22, 2004 Paulding County, Georgia
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Big Bubba Rogers Big Boss Man The Boss The Guardian Angel Ray Traylor The War Machine The Bossman Big Boo-ba(ビッグブーバー)
Billed height	6 ft 7 in (201 cm)
Billed weight	312 lb (142 kg)
Billed from	The Correctional Facility in Cobb County
Trained by	Mickey Henry
Debut	1985

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 Entertainment 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, 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. 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.

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), 1988 - 1993

By 1988, Traylor had joined the World Wrestling Entertainment 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 WWE 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 WWE World Championship also teaming with Akeem in the Twin Towers, and later as a face, befriending Hogan and opposing Bobby Heenan's stable of wrestlers, the Heenan Family, including 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, and The Mountie.

World Championship Wrestling (WCW), 1993 - 1998

After leaving the WWE 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 WWE 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. He frequently worked with the Steiner Brothers during this time period. This was not the most successful period of Traylor's career, as he rarely rose above the mid-card.

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), 1998 - 2003

Eventually, Traylor would return to the WWE on the October 19, 1998 episode of RAW is War, 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 WWE 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, as well as winning the WWE 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 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 an unconvincing "hanging" of Bossman by the Brood (Gangrel, Edge 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 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. The feud also featured a classic line uttered by Traylor, "Ya hear that Paul Wight!, you're a nasty bastard and your 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 the 1999 Armaggedon pay-per-view.

Boss Man would continue to compete primarily in the hardcore division until suffering a knee injury. Traylor admittedly did not enjoy the hardcore style, and liked it even less when, during a match with Bob Holly, a glass pitcher of water was smashed into his face. Despite the glass being stunt glass, a piece nevertheless lodged just below Traylor's eye, swelling it significantly. 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.

Japan

When wrestling in Japan under the "Big Bubba" moniker, his name was changed to "Big Boo-ba" (ビッグブーバー) because if his name were converted to the Japanese syllabary pronunciation of "Bubba", it would come out "Ba-Ba", which sounds too close to the name of All-Japan Pro Wrestling legend, Giant Baba. Big Bubba also competed in some local sumo wrestling deuts where he faired to keep his own with a record of 11-13

Death

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

Hall of Fame Inductee

When Hulk Hogan served as a guest on Bubba The Love Sponge show on Sirius Radio, he had talked to WWE secretary Ann Russo about the 2007 Hall of Fame inductions and placed her on speaker phone as she discussed the possible inductees. Boss Man was mentioned in the long list of possible inductees. (Source: http://rajah.com/base/node/7101)

Wrestling facts

• Finishing and signature moves

• Boss Man Slam / Scrapbuster Slam (Spinning side slam)
• Corner avalanche
• Bear hug
• Eye rake
• Bolo punch
• Powerbomb
• Backbreaker

• Signature illegal weapons

• Nightstick
• Handcuffs

• 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!"

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 Entertainment

• WWE Hardcore Championship (4 times)
• WWE World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ken Shamrock

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter

• 1987 Most Improved Wrestler

See also

• Early Deaths in Professional Wrestling