10 Wrestlers Who Should Never Have Signed With WWE
8. Terry Taylor
In any discussion of wrestling’s worst gimmicks you’ll likely see mention of WWE’s New Generation and McMahon’s obsession with occupational gimmicks. He filled his promotion with wrestling dentists and bin men, and so on. Few of these left much lasting impression.
Supernatural gimmicks are also notoriously tricky to get right. For every The Undertaker there have been a dozen misfiring Papa Shangos.
Another thing to avoid, should you find yourself in control of the world’s largest wrestling company some time, is asking a guy to wear a dyed red Mohawk and making him crow like a cockerel.
Solid between the ropes and easy on the eye, Terry Taylor was a babyface star across various territories in the eighties before Vince McMahon saddled him with the Red Rooster gimmick.
Crowing and flapping his arms like wings to taunt opponents, he was also portrayed as an idiot who could only wrestle under the instruction of manager Bobby Heenan. All of this would be baffling but for the knowledge that ‘The Red Rooster’ gimmick was landed on Taylor as a rib because he was an office stooge with massive backstage heat.
Underwhelming stints in WCW followed plus a second brief WWE run as Terrific Terry Taylor. He’s no doubt happy in his ongoing backstage role with the company but Taylor remains best known for the awful rooster gimmick, never fulfilling his in-ring potential.