Just heard this on an XM Radio News channel. Sad. Not really followed wrestling much since the Bret Hart screwjob, but Ill always remember Big Bubba Rogers/The Big Bossman wrestling back in the 80s. RIP BTW ...his real name was apparently, Ray Traylor (never knew that)
I just hope the Big Show doesn't crash his funeral, chain his coffin to his truck and drag it off like the Bossman did to Show's father. I hope Nailz is at least being questioned about this.
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2004/09/23/639653.html Ray Traylor, best known for his run in the WWF as The Big Boss Man, passed away September 22, according to Dave Meltzer at the Wrestling Observer. According to the site, Traylor, 42, had not been complaining of any pain recently other then a bad knee. His wife found him not breathing at their home in Marietta, Georgia, and paramedics could not revive him. Traylor began his career in 1986 as Jim Cornette's bodyguard Big Bubba Rogers. His career saw him perform in WWE, WCW and All Japan Wrestling, and he has competed as The Big Boss Man, The Boss, The Guardian Angel, War Machine, and under his real name and he teamed with Akeem in the late '80s as 'The Twin Towers.' At 6-foot-6, 330 pounds, he was a legitimate Twin Tower. He had high profile feuds with Hulk Hogan, Ted Dibiase, Nailz, The Heenan Family, Vader, Al Snow, and many others. His last major run was with the WWF in 1998-99 as a part of the Corporation. Bossman's feud with "The Mountie" Jacques Rougeau culminated in the Canadian spending a night in jail after a loss. Rougeau remembers the time fondly. "It was one of the greatest moments of my career. No matter how bad the situation looked like when I was put in jail with that big 400-pound, 7-foot guy, the Mountie always gets his man!" said Rougeau. Traylor was indeed a prison guard in Cobb County, Georgia before turning to wrestling. SLAM! Wrestling will have more on this story in the upcoming days.
I haven't watched wrestling in about 7 years, but I still have fond memories of wrestlers finishing moves. Bossman Slam was pretty decent.
I totally forgot about OMG. From Halstad Street in Chicago. He use to wreslte for Mid-South/UWF back in the 80s, who always had weekend shows at the Old Sam Houston Colesium here in Houston. In fact, one of the shows I went to, I remember that Hacksaw Jim Duggan was supposed to wrestle OMG for the heavyweight title, but had to forfeit because he suffered a bad neck injury. I remember OMG jumping up and down in the ring, and it seemed like the floor shook (dude was like 500 pounds). Later, WWF ruined OMG with the Akeem image. Overall, The One Man Gang was one of the best wrestler names of all time IMO.
You have to believe that anyone who thought up the gimmick "Akeem the African Dream" had to have seen a couple Rockets games.
Does anyone remember some of the names of the Mid-South/World Class scrubs from back in the early 80s? Not the Terry Taylors, Brickhouse Browns, Buddy Landells, Von Erichs, Fantastics, etc, but the scrubs that used to lose to all those guys every week. Seems like it was always the same ones. For some reason I just thought of that.
One of my best friends ran into Kamala at a gas station in Mississippi about 10 years ago. He was going to physical therapy school at the University of Tennessee in Memphis and drove down to Mississippi for some reason (I think he went to Tunica). Anyway, he stopped at this little old gas station and there was this huge black man working on a truck. As he was paying for his gas, the cashier told him, "You do know that is Kamala out there working on his truck!" My friend said that he did not know that. As he walked back to his car, he went by Kamala and said, "How's it going, Kamala?" The man turned and looked at him and said, "Pretty good, guy!"
Awesome story. I would've said... c'mon bro slap the belly for me! They had him on the WWE acting like a dunce during their "Diva search" (in other words, the T&A session where they try to keep the mentally helpless captivated). The WWE has wrecked many a villainous career. They're working on Kane right now.
I think he was too young to be in Mid-South back then. The Fantastics used to be scrubs before they started their blood bash fueld with the Sheep Herders (i.e. the Bushwackers). They used to have barbed wire matches here in Houston that were a hoot to watch.
