10 Great Wrestling Careers Ruined By Bad Gimmick Changes
2. Terry Taylor Becoming The Red Rooster
Widely regarded as one of wrestling’s hottest prospects in the 1980s, Terry Taylor was an athletic, technically-proficient grappler with an excellent look. His career took an unfortunate downturn with Jim Crockett’s acquisition of the UWF in 1987, but it looked like Taylor was finally set to reach his full potential after transitioning to WWE the following year.
Debuting as Scary Terry Taylor, the former UWF World Television Champion was soon repackaged as The Red Rooster. Paired with the legendary Bobby Heenan, Taylor’s gimmick didn’t quite reach Gobbledy Gooker levels of absurdity, but it wasn’t far off. Donning bright red tights and a matching ring coat, The Rooster styled his hair like a real rooster’s comb, and strutted around the ring Foghorn Leghorn.
It was a predictable disaster, and Taylor never fulfilled his incredible promise as a direct result of his first WWE run. Nobody could take Taylor seriously after his run as the Rooster, and while he had further spells with both WWE and WCW over the years that followed, he never looked like becoming a star again. He retired from the ring in 2006, having become TNA’s Head of Talent Relations three years prior, and joined WWE as an NXT trainer in 2012 - a role he remains in today.