Interesting Facts about Big Boss Man

Interesting Facts about Big Boss Man

May 5, 2023

By Ryan Porzl

Ray Traylor was one of the entertaining and underrated wrestlers of his time. Best known under his most famous gimmick of "The Big Boss Man" as well as "Big Bubba Rogers", he entertained fans from the late 1980s to early 2000s. Despite his early passing in 2004 at the age of 41, he's still remembered fondly today for his personality and for being one of wrestling's all time great big men. This May 2nd would've been his 60th birthday so we'll take a look back at some interesting facts you may have known or maybe not known of his career and life.

Note: I don't own the photos as I found them on Google

Was an actual Correctional Officer before getting into wrestling- They always say in wrestling that the best characters are who the actual wrestlers are cranked to eleven. So I guess it's no surprise that before achieving fame as a wrestler posing as a law enforcement officer from Cobb County, Georgia that he was the real deal. Prior to his 1985 debut, Boss Man actual spent time as a correctional officer in Georgia. From what information I've seen, he apparently did it before his wrestling career and early into it due to the security it could offer in the event his wrestling career didn't pan out. According to WhatCulture, he apparently gave it up when giving the ultimatum of it or his wrestling career by his boss and his chose wrestling.

Boss Man (right) with Skandor Akbar

Was a former World Champion- During his two decade career, the Big Boss Man enjoyed his share of success taking part in big shows and had big rivalries. While championship did come his way, they were few and far between as he never had the biggest trophy case. However, early on in his career, he would do a rarity and win a world title as his first title win. After Jim Crockett Promotions purchased Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation in April 1987, Boss Man (under his Big Bubba Rogers name) began competing for the UWF where he was managed by General Skandor Akbar. On April 19, 1987, Boss Man would go on to defeat his future partner The One Man Gang for the UWF Heavyweight Championship as Gang was departing for the WWF. In the end, Boss Man would reign for 83 days, fending off challenges from Barry Windham, Michael Hayes, and Jimmy Garvin before dropping it to "Dr. Death" Steve Williams during the 1987 Great American Bash tour on July 11th. At 83 days, Boss Man is the shortest UWF Heavyweight Champion in history.

Was the longest reigning WWF/WWE Hardcore Champion in history- The Hardcore Championship is a fascinating championship that fit during the late 90s/early 00s and the Attitude Era. The belt wasn't known for being defended in scientific matches and it later became a joke belt with the 24/7 rules but it made it's mark and offered something for many competitors to compete for and Boss Man was one of them. From 1998-2000, Boss Man was the most dominant champion in the belt's history as he captured it on four occasions which was impressive for pre-24/7 rules. During his fourth and final reign, Boss Man would officially make his mark on the championship when he earned the longevity record as he won the championship from Al Snow in a triple threat match (also involving Big Show) on a Smackdown TV Taping on October 12, 1999 (shown October 14th) and lost it to Test on January 24, 2000 during a RAW Is WAR, ending his reign at 97 days. While 97 days is hardly a huge run, it's certainly better than every other reign. Especially during the 24/7 rule when title reigns barely went 97 seconds let alone 97 days. It also says a lot given legends like Mankind, Rob Van Dam, and The Undertaker had runs with the championship.

Competed in the first Hell in a Cell match in Wrestlemania history- Anybody that knows these articles know that not every fact is a great one or highlight and we've come to that with this one. This fact is pretty well known as longtime fans are aware of this match for many reasons. The first because it marked the first time the still fairly new stipulation made it's way to the granddaddy of them all. The second was the match, for whatever reason, just didn't work as it was panned and considered one of Wrestlemana's worst matches ever. Third was the infamous aftermath of the Brood coming down from the rafters to deliver a noose and Taker's Ministry hanging Boss Man from the Cell. To be fair to Taker and Boss Man, a HIAC match had tremendous expectations as there were only a few and two of the previous ones were legendary with Taker vs. Shawn Michaels being amazing while Taker vs. Mankind was unforgettable with Mankind damn near killing himself for our entertainment. It also didn't help Taker was battling nagging injuries, neither were willing to take extreme bumps like falling off the Cell, and the match was way too short going less than ten minutes. Still, it's an achievement for Boss Man to make his mark on this legendary match by having the first one in Wrestlemania history. In the end, Boss Man would become The Undertaker's eighth victim by falling to the tombstone in 9:46. As of 2023, this would be the first of four Hell in a Cell matches at Wrestlemania with Taker doing two more. The first would be Taker/HHH at Wrestlemania XXVIII in 2012, the second would be Taker/Shane McMahon at Wrestlemania 32 in 2016, and the most recent being Finn Balor/Edge at Wrestlemania 39 Night Two. As for Boss Man, this would be a big match as he made history doing the first Hell in a Cell in Wrestlemania history and it marked Boss Man not only being one of many Taker victims at Wrestlemania but the only time he fell at the Showcase of the Immortals. Boss Man previous scored victories at Wrestlemanias V, VI, VII, and VIII while returning to his winning ways at 2000 (XVI) ending his Wrestlemania record with a very good 5-1 record.

His loss to The Rock at Survivor Series 1998 is the shortest match in WWF/WWE History- The lowlights continue as the Boss Man has made history in a way nobody probably want to but making history is better than not in most cases. At Survivor Series 1998, the WWF Championship was put on the line in a one night tournament after it was vacated two months earlier due to Undertaker and Kane double pinning previous champion Steve Austin in a triple threat title match. Among the participants were Boss Man and The Rock and while Vince McMahon did not want Steve Austin as champion again, a second story in the tournament was he was beginning to have issues with Rock and didn't want him either. In the first round, Boss Man was scheduled to face Austin and while he lost, he made his mark as he was disqualified after working over the Texas Rattlesnake with his nightstick to soften him up for the remainder of the tournament. Later in the first round, Rock was scheduled to face Triple H but when HHH was still not able to return as he was still recovering from knee surgery, Vince decided to insert Boss Man as his replacement. However, the move seemed to backfire when Rock immediately caught Boss Man entering the ring with a small package for the immediate win. The Rock would later go on to win the tournament and be revealed to have been working with Vince all along. The match would actually make history as it literally lasted only three seconds. According to WWE, this makes it the shortest match in WWE history. I guess making history is better than not.

Was Rick Rude's final opponent in the WWF and Rude was his first in WCW- Boss Man had a unique relationship with fellow legend "Ravishing" Rick Rude. The two first came into contact in the fall of 1990 when the two were set to have a feud when Rude along with manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan began insulting Boss Man's mother in interviews. However, during the early part of the feud, Rude would abruptly leave the WWF over a pay dispute in October 1990 thus reshaping the feud to Boss Man feuding with the rest of the Heenan Family. Despite the departure, the two would face each other at house shows and it would be there where Boss Man served as Rude's last WWF opponent when he defeated Rude at a house show on October 26, 1990. The story doesn't end there. Fast forward three years later and Rude has become one of the top stars in WCW while reigning as the WCW International World Champion. Going into Starrcade 1993 that December, Rude was set to defend the championship against The British Bulldog but Bulldog would be fired during this time. With Rude needing a new opponent, WCW would hire Boss Man who had left the WWF in early 1993 and spent most of his time in All Japan. Boss Man made his WCW debut on the December 18th edition of WCW Saturday Night where he faced Rude in an impromptu match that he would win while competing under his begging for a lawsuit gimmick of "The Boss" which would be a complete rip off to the Boss Man gimmick that Ray Traylor did not own. The win was supposed to set up for a WCW International World Title match at Starrcade 1993 a few days later which Rude ended up winning.

Participated in a WarGames match- Since it's debut in 1987, WarGames: The Match Beyond is one of the most popular match concepts in history. Created by Dusty Rhodes, it was mostly an attraction used for the NWA's Great American Bash tours of the late 1980s before eventually being used for WCW's Wrestlewar and Fall Brawl PPVs in the 1990s. Many WarGames matches are considered classics and all time great matches. Through out it's 35+ year history, many wrestlers and all time great legends would participate in at least one and what some may not know or forgot, Boss Man would be one of them. Originally, the first WarGames matches were to feature Rhodes, Nikita Koloff, The Road Warriors, and Paul Ellering against Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, Lex Luger, and JJ Dillon. However, after Dillon suffered an injury, the Horsemen were in need of a replacement for their manager. On July 31st, the second WarGames in history would take place and with Dillon out, The Horsemen introduced their partner: a mysterious masked man named "The War Machine". The masked man was none other than Boss Man, who at the time, was competing in the NWA as Big Bubba Rogers though his identity was never revealed to the public. In the end, Boss Man and the Four Horsemen lost in 19:38 due to surrender which was one of only two way to lose with the other being submission.

Main Evented the first WCW Monday Nitro- The Big Boss Man has had a Hall of Fame career and a career he could be proud of. However, his WCW run doesn't have many highlights as he struggled to make it out of the midcard and ran through several gimmicks while never finding one that came close to his Big Boss Man gimmick even after reviving his NWA gimmick Big Bubba Rogers. However, Boss Man had at least two highlights in WCW. The first was his cup of coffee run in the nWo. The second was main event the first episode of WCW Monday Nitro on September 4, 1995. The match would see Boss Man revive his classic rivalry with WCW World Champion Hulk Hogan in a non title match. To the surprise of no one, Boss Man put up a good effort but fell to the big boot and leg drop in 7:08. Though Boss Man came up short, he still made history main eventing the first episode of the show that would be huge for both WCW and American wrestling.

Nearly returned to the WWF in late 1993- 1993 is unquestionably one of, if not, the biggest turnover year in WWF/WWE history, at least since the promotion went national in 1984. Pretty much everyone from wrestlers to managers to announcers left the promotion including Hulk Hogan himself as the promotion began to transition from the Rock n' Wrestling/Hulkamania era to the New Generation era. Among the departures, Boss Man would be among them when he left the promotion in March 1993. What a lot of people perhaps don't know is that 1993 nearly saw the full time return of Boss Man and while it didn't happen, he did make a one time only return that flew under the radar. After spending time in All Japan, USWA, and SMW throughout 1993, the Boss Man made a one night return to the WWF at a house show on December 4, 1993 where he served as the special guest referee for the main event between Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett which saw Bret win. According to some reports, this was supposed to mark the return to the WWF for Boss Man with him reportedly set to make his televised return in time for the 1994 Royal Rumble the following month. However, it didn't happen and the return proved to be a one night only as he of course would go on to sign with WCW and jumped weeks later. As far as I know, there never was an official reason why Boss Man's return fell through but according to Boss Man's former manager Jim Cornette, he claimed Boss Man confided in him that he was uncomfortable coming back to the WWF as a law enforcement officer just as Vince was being indicted by the federal government over the steroid scandal.

Was the first to win a championship in the history of WWF/WWE Smackdown- Since it's debut in 1999, Smackdown has been one of wrestling's biggest shows with longevity, memorable moments, great matches, and title changes. Many wrestlers made their mark on the blue brand and Boss Man would be one of them. On August 24, 1999, the WWF taped the first official episode of Smackdown after having done a pilot the previous April with the episode airing on August 26th. One of the matches on the show was a Summerslam rematch between Al Snow and Boss Man for the Hardcore Championship that Boss Man lost to Snow two days earlier at Summerslam 1999. Boss Man would emerge victorious and claim the championship in 2:21. With the win, Boss Man became the first wrestler to win a championship in Smackdown history. As an added bonus, he also became the first to hold the Hardcore Championship three times.