10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (11 Oct)

2. Big Boss Man's Cobb County Vignettes Were A Struggle

Unlike most occupational gimmicks of the 1980s and '90s, Ray Traylor did actually work as a corrections officer at a prison in Cobb County, Georgia before becoming The Big Boss Man. That background was something the WWF wanted to use when he debuted, so much so that Bruce Prichard was tasked with producing vignettes from the facility.

He told a hilarious story about those shooting sessions on his 'Something To Wrestle With' podcast.

When the company returned to Cobb County for filming in 1988, staff at the prison repeatedly told Prichard that inmates adored Ray when he worked there. Then, they said that the company had been lied to about Traylor beating up prisoners for his own enjoyment. When they were told it was a fabricated story, they still wouldn't stop.

They didn't get that the WWF were only coming up with an elaborate backstory that'd sell Boss Man as a heel to fans, and they couldn't understand why poor sweet Ray was the victim of nasty rumours about his prior working life. Cobb County thought someone was out to get Traylor and smear his reputation.