Ray Washington Traylor Jr. (May 2, 1963 – September 22, 2004) was an American professional wrestler best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name (The) Big Boss Man, as well as for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as the Boss, the Man, the Guardian Angel, and Big Bubba Rogers. During his appearances with the WWF, Big Boss Man held the WWF World Tag Team Championship once and the WWF Hardcore Championship four times. Traylor was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2016.
Early life Ray Washington Traylor Jr. was born on May 2, 1963, in Marietta, Georgia. He attended Paulding County High School where he graduated in 1982. Later, Traylor then worked as a corrections officer from the Department of Corrections in Cobb County, Georgia. Traylor would later use his corrections background to create his character of The Big Boss Man.
Professional wrestling career Early career (1984–1988) After his career as a correctional officer, Traylor then transitioned into professional wrestling where he debuted in 1984 then began working as a jobber for Jim Crockett Promotions. Head booker Dusty Rhodes took notice of Traylor's potential (particularly after seeing him take Tully Blanchard's slingshot suplex finisher despite being 6'6 and over 350 lbs) and took him off television for three months before repackaging him as Big Bubba Rogers. He received a push as the silent heel bodyguard for Jim Cornette, who, along with The Midnight Express, was feuding with the James Boys (Rhodes and Magnum T. A., under masks). Rogers feuded with Rhodes (the top face at the time) in a series of Bunkhouse Stampede matches in 1986. He and Rhodes were tied for wins in this series, leading to a tiebreaking cage match, which Rhodes won on February 27.
In 1987, Traylor joined the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) after it was purchased by Jim Crockett. On April 19, Traylor won the UWF Heavyweight Championship from One Man Gang, who was leaving the UWF for the World Wrestling Federation. Following his title win, he aligned himself with General Skandor Akbar and his Devastation Inc. stable. Traylor lost the title to "Dr. Death" Steve Williams on July 11 during the Great American Bash tour. In the second WarGames match on July 30, Traylor, as War Machine, teamed with The Four Horsemen (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger and Tully Blanchard) in a loss to The Road Warriors (Hawk and Animal), Nikita Koloff, Dusty Rhodes and Paul Ellering, when Animal forced the War Machine to submit by gouging his eyes with a spiked armband.
Traylor made his first tour to Japan in March to April 1988, wrestling for All Japan Pro Wrestling as "Big Bubba" as part of its Champion Carnival series. During the tour, he primarily teamed with Bruiser Brody, marking some of Brody's final matches before his sudden death in July 1988. His matches during the tour included defeating Shunji Takano in Tokyo's Nippon Budokan, wrestling John Tenta to a double count out in the Okayama Budokan in Okayama, and teaming with George Skaaland in a loss to The Great Kabuki and Shunji Takano in Tokyo's Korakuen Hall.
World Wrestling Federation (1988–1993) Twin Towers (1988–1990)
In May 1988, Traylor joined the WWF as Big Boss Man, a heel character inspired by his previous career as a corrections officer. Managed by Slick, Boss Man's post-match routine often included handcuffing his defeated opponents to the ring ropes and beating them with a nightstick or ball and chain. On August 29, he defeated Koko B. Ware at the inaugural SummerSlam.
Big Boss Man began his first major WWF angle by attacking Hulk Hogan (who he was specifically brought in to the WWF to be an opponent for) in an October edition of "The Brother Love Show". He also formed a tag team with Akeem (formerly billed as One Man Gang) known as The Twin Towers. At Survivor Series on November 24, they teamed with Ted DiBiase, King Haku and The Red Rooster in a 5-on-5 Survivor Series match, but lost to The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and WWF Champion Randy Savage), Hercules, B. Ware and Hillbilly Jim. The Twin Towers were a key part in the top storyline of Savage turning on Hogan, leading to the WrestleMania V main event; in the later part of a tag match between the four on February 3, 1989, at The Main Event II, Hogan abandoned Savage to attend to the hurt Miss Elizabeth and went backstage. After being double-teamed for a while, Savage eventually rallied until Hogan returned to the match. After Savage tagged Hogan in, he slapped Hogan and left him to defeat The Twin Towers on his own, which led to The Mega Powers' demise as Savage beat Hulk in the backstage medical room where fellow wrestlers, managers and staff had to break them up.
At WrestleMania V on April 2, The Twin Towers defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty). Meanwhile, Boss Man continued his feud with Hogan in a series of steel cage matches; in their most notable encounter on May 27 at Saturday Night's Main Event XXI, he failed to win the WWF Championship from Hogan. During the match, Hogan superplexed Boss Man off the top of the cage. The Twin Towers were then involved in a feud with Demolition (Ax and Smash) over the WWF Tag Team Championship. At SummerSlam on August 28, they teamed with André the Giant and lost to Demolition and King Duggan in a six-man tag team match. Boss Man subsequently feuded with Dusty Rhodes and led a team on November 23 at Survivor Series including Bad News Brown, Rick Martel and The Honky Tonk Man, but they lost to Rhodes, Brutus Beefcake, Red Rooster and Tito Santana.
Face turn and various feuds (1990–1993)
Big Boss Man turned face on the February 24, 1990 episode of Superstars, when DiBiase had paid Slick to have Boss Man retrieve the Million Dollar Championship belt from Jake Roberts, who had stolen it. Boss Man retrieved a bag containing both the belt and Roberts' pet python, Damien. On The Brother Love Show, he refused to accept DiBiase's money for the bag, and returned it to Roberts. Boss Man then defeated his former partner Akeem in less than two minutes on April 1 at WrestleMania VI. Later that month at the WWF/AJPW/NJPW Wrestling Summit in the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, Boss Man lost to Jake "the Snake" Roberts.
At Survivor Series on November 22, he teamed with Hogan, Duggan and Tugboat to defeat Earthquake, Haku, Dino Bravo and The Barbarian. The entrance theme song "Hard Times" was performed by Survivor lead singer Jimi Jamison, written by Jimmy Hart, JJ Maguire, Mike Stock and Pete Waterman.
In the fall, Boss Man began feuding with Bobby Heenan and the Heenan Family after Heenan continually insulted Boss Man's mother. He defeated Heenan Family members The Barbarian on January 19, 1991, at Royal Rumble and Mr. Perfect on March 24 at WrestleMania VII in an Intercontinental Championship match via disqualification. Following this, he feuded with The Mountie to see who the real officer of the WWF was, culminating in a Jailhouse match at SummerSlam on August 26. Boss Man won the match, thus the Mountie had to spend a night in jail; this was the only such match ever held by the company. He also had an upset victory vs The Undertaker in November 16 via DQ.
In 1992, Boss Man had an 8-man tag team match at WrestleMania VIII teaming up with Virgil, Sgt. Slaughter, and Jim Duggan against the team of Brian Knobbs, Jerry Sags, Repo Man, and The Mountie which Boss Man won. He then began feuding with Nailz, an ex-convict character who, in a series of promos aired before his debut, claimed Boss Man had been his abusive officer in prison, and warned he was seeking revenge. On the May 30 episode of WWF Superstars, Nailz – clad in an orange prison jumpsuit – ran into the ring and attacked Boss Man, handcuffing him to the top rope and repeatedly choking and beating him with the nightstick. Boss Man took time off to sell his (kayfabe) injuries, eventually returning and having a series of matches with Nailz in the latter half of 1992. The feud culminated at Survivor Series on November 25, where Boss Man defeated Nailz in a Nightstick on a Pole match.
Boss Man's last major feud was against Bam Bam Bigelow, leading to a match at the Royal Rumble on January 24, 1993, which Boss Man lost. He left the WWF shortly after a house show in Gatineau, Quebec on March 14 defeating Doink the Clown and later made appearances in USWA, SMW, Australia and Japan. In December, he briefly returned to the WWF to serve as the special guest referee for three house show main events between Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (1993) In July 1993, Traylor (as "Big Bubba") returned to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) as part of its "Summer Action Series". During the tour, he primarily competed in the tag team division, facing team such as the Super Generation Army, the Youngbloods, and the Holy Demon Army. On July 23, he wrestled on a memorial show for Bruiser Brody (who had been killed in Puerto Rico five years earlier), teaming with Johnny Smith in a loss to Steve Williams and Terry Gordy. In his final match of the tour, he lost to Akira Taue in Tokyo's Nippon Budokan.
In September to October 1993, Big Bubba returned to AJPW as part of its "Giant Series". His matches included teaming with Steve Williams to defeat Danny Spivey and Johnny Ace in the Nippon Budokan and teaming with Stan Hansen to defeat the Super Generation Army in Tokyo's Korakuen Hall.
Big Bubba returned to AJPW for his third tour of the year in November to December 1993 as part of its World Tag League for the vacant World Tag Team Championship, entering the round-robin tournament with Steve Williams as his partner. Bubba and Williams placed fourth in the tournament with eight points. His matches during the tour included teaming with Williams in a loss to Giant Baba and Stan Hansen in the Nippon Budokan.
World Championship Wrestling (1993–1998)
The Boss / The Guardian Angel (1993–1995) Traylor made his debut for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as The Boss on the December 18, 1993 episode of WCW Saturday Night, pinning WCW International World Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude in a non-title match. He challenged for Rude's title at Starrcade '93: 10th Anniversary on December 27, but was unsuccessful.
In 1994, Traylor began a lengthy feud with Big Van Vader, losing to him on April 17 at Spring Stampede. In light of legal complaints from the WWF regarding the similarity of "The Boss" to "Big Boss Man", Traylor was renamed The Guardian Angel and sported similar attire to those in the organization he was named after. He subsequently lost to Vader at Bash at the Beach on July 17, Fall Brawl on September 18, and Halloween Havoc on October 23 to end their feud.
Various feuds (1995–1996) In early 1995, Traylor turned heel and again became known as Big Bubba Rogers, defeating Sting at Uncensored on March 19 but lost in a rematch at Slamboree '95: A Legends' Reunion on May 21. On September 4, Rogers challenged Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on the debut episode of WCW Monday Nitro, but failed to win the title.
Dungeon of Doom (1996)
In 1996, Rogers joined the Dungeon of Doom and feuded with former Dungeon of Doom member John Tenta, whom he lost to at The Great American Bash on June 16 and Bash at the Beach on July 7.
New World Order (1996–1997)
On the December 16, 1996 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, Rogers defected from the Dungeon of Doom to join the New World Order (nWo), attacking the Faces of Fear during a bout against the Outsiders. He subsequently began feuding with the Dungeon of Doom, facing Dungeon member Konnan in a series of matches including a strap match and a chain match. On January 25, 1997, at Souled Out, he defeated Dungeon member Hugh Morrus in a Mexican deathmatch by running Morrus over with a motorcycle at ringside.