Retirement Age: 27 Young, handsome, and charismatic, Terry "Magnum T.A." Allen was earmarked to be a star in the National Wrestling Alliance. His feud with Tully Blanchard proved that T.A. could deliver in the ring, and his subsequent program with Nikita Koloff was a tune-up before Allen took on Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade. Everything changed in October of 1986, when T.A. lost control of his Porsche and crashed into a telephone pole. Allen suffered a severe neck injury, and initially, it was thought that he'd never be able to walk again. The right side of his body was paralyzed, but the tough Allen eventually managed to regain most of his motion and lead a normal life. Still, his career was over. T.A. made some in-ring appearances and worked as a commentator once he was physically able to do so, but he never wrestled again.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
