Wrestling is a business unlike any other. Individuals with very little talent for actual wrestling can become huge superstars. Others with all the talent in the world can have very little success. Sometimes they don’t have the charisma necessary to match their athletic abilities. Other times they don’t have the drive and motivation to make the kind of intense commitment a professional wrestler needs to succeed. And occasionally, one bad booking decision can cripple a promising career forever. This was the case with a man known as Terry Taylor. Today, most people remember him as The Red Rooster.
In the early to mid 80s, Terry Taylor looked like a sure fire future star. He had everything a promoter looks for in a star: good technical ability in the ring, charisma, athleticism, above average mic skills, and good looks. With all these attributes, Taylor was a fan favorite with a growing following. He had early successes in the southern territories, including the Mid-South and Mid-Atlantic regions.
Before long, Taylor was a contender for championship gold. He feuded with Nikolai Volkoff and Krusher Krushchev, gaining more fans against the hated Russians. Eventually, Taylor would make it all the way to the finals of a tournament to crown the first Mid-South TV champion in a match against Krushchev. Taylor would lose that match, but it was clear to everyone that championship belts would not elude him for long.
Taylor’s second try at a championship also came up short, as he was unable to defeat “Nature Boy” Buddy Landel for the NWA National heavyweight Championship. However, the third time was the charm for Taylor, as he was the one to dethrone Buddy Roberts of the Fabulous Freebirds for the Mid-South Television Championship.
Taylor had grown so popular with the fans, that he was promoted up the ranks without ever losing his TV title. Instead of being defeated for the belt, Taylor vacated it when he defeated Ted Dibiase for the North American heavyweight title, which was the top title in that promotion.
It was far from the only gold the young star would hold, as he seemed to rack up title after title during his rise up the ranks. He held more TV titles, as well as tag team championships with multiple partners, among them Chris Adams and Iceman King Parsons. With his ability to work quality matches, his connection with the fans, and his ability to be a dependable champion, it was only a matter of time before the WWF came calling.
Taylor, the ultimate baby face wrestler up to that point, debuted in the WWF as “Scary” Terry Taylor, teaming with Sam Houston against The Conquistadors. The enhancement talent team of the Conquistadors scored a rare win against the new team, pinning Houston. After the match, Taylor insulted Houston, blaming him for the loss and beating him down, turning heel.
Taylor had the potential to be a great heel. But it was not to be. Paired with Bobby Heenan as his manager, Taylor was given the ridiculous gimmick of “The Red Rooster.” Despite his past success and great deal of in-ring ability, Taylor was portrayed as a green rookie wrestler, who needed constant coaching from Heenan to get through a match.
It was a humiliating gimmick, one that the fans hated. However, things began to look up as The Red Rooster turned on Heenan, squashing him in a match at Wrestlemania V. Taylor, after being embarrassed and downgraded for so long, would have been cheered if he had returned to his former ways. Instead, Taylor went even deeper into the Red Rooster gimmick, squawking, combing his hair into a cock’s comb, and referring to his fans as “Rooster Boosters.” It wasn’t long before taylor, once a champion with a bright future, was used primarily as enhancement talent on WWF programs.
Several attempts were made later on to push taylor, but the damage had already been done. In WCW, Terry Taylor became Terrence Taylor, leader of the York Foundation. It wasn’t the best gimmick in the world, but it was light years ahead of the Red Rooster, and Taylor played the role perfectly. However, fans never forgot his time as the Red Rooster and none of his future pushes or incarnations would catch on. Despite Taylor’s obvious talents, The Red Rooster always hung over him, holding him back and not allowing him to be taken seriously as an in-ring competitor.
Luckily for Taylor, the same stigma didn’t effect him once he moved to back stage jobs within the wrestling promotion. As the head booker for WCW following Kevin Sullivan’s controversial tenure, Taylor brought WCW to new heights of popularity. He eliminated a lot of the ridiculous gimmicks Sullivan had introduced, many of them as part of Sullivan’s own “Dungeon of Doom” stable. Maybe Terry had a special empathy with good wrestlers stuck with bad gimmicks, but under his time running the show, silly gimmicks went away and quality in-ring performances were the order of the day. Taylor was even supposedly a big part of the most successful story line WCW ever had, the New World Order.
Looking back at Taylor’s career as a professional wrestler, one is left with many thoughts of great matches fans were deprived of seeing because of one horrendous booking decision. There was certainly no lack of great opponents for Taylor to face in the WWF during his time there. Terry Taylor, the man who won championships and the support of the fans in the early years of his career, could have squared off with wrestlers such as Curt Hennig, Tito Santana, Bret Hart, Rick Rude, Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage. Instead, one of the most talented in-ring performers on the roster, who could have had several memorable feuds and possibly a successful Intercontinental Title reign, was made to dress like a Rooster and lose short, meaningless matches on Saturday morning TV.
Terry Taylor was a great talent who was wasted by bad decisions and lack of vision. Luckily, Taylor learned from the mistakes and others and has had a successful career behind the scenes in WCW as head booker and now as Director of talent relations for TNA. If only those in charge of the show when Taylor was a competitor were as good at their jobs as Taylor would be, maybe we could have seen some classic feuds and matches that would be talked about for years to come. As it is, we are only left to ponder what might have been.
I wil always remember Terry Taylor as a great wrestler. I can remember watching him on Saturday mornings as a little girl. I only think good of him.