http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hjg5vjYB1no When the regional promotion UWF was making headlines in the late 1980s, one of its top stars was a young man called Terry Taylor. He had speed, agility, finesse and was a good looking chap too. He seemed to have everything a future superstar could ever need, and he was being groomed for the top in the UWF. But then the UWF was bought out by Jim Crockett Promotions, who owned the NWA, the number two promotion in the US. Taylor was UWFs Television Champion, and was scheduled to unify his TV title with the NWA TV title held by Nikita Koloff at Starrcade 1987. In a move uncannily similar to the WCW invasion of WWE in 2001, the NWA decided to bulldozer over everyone in the UWF to show the NWA fans how they were the better of the two promotions. Taylor could see the writing on the wall, and jumped ship to the WWF in 1988. Taylor was soon aligned with manager Bobby Heenan and was given a gimmick overhaul. Similar to Kerry Von Erich, his achievements elsewhere were ignored. His name of Terry Taylor was never mentioned. He was even portrayed as a rookie wrestler who needed guidance from his experienced manager. Worse still, he dyed a red streak in his hair, which he spiked up to look like a roosters comb, strutted around the ring like a rooster and even had a cluck at the beginning of his entrance music. Fans hated him, but not in a good way. Even when he turned on Heenan and became a face, he had no chance. The gimmick was ridiculous on every level imaginable and was another example of the WWF mocking great wrestlers from other promotions (see Dusty Rhodes and his polka dots having Sapphire as his manageress, for example), a trend which only ended when Ric Flair arrived in the WWF in 1991. Taylor left the WWF in 1990 after the Rooster had become the archetypal jobber to the stars, and headed for WCW. His arrival in WCW this time around was with considerably less fanfare than 1987. Fans never took to Taylor again as his Red Rooster gimmick stuck to him as a veritable career killer. He won secondary tag team titles in WCW but that was the limit to his success. Taylor was a highly adept wrestler who was often used to guide newer wrestlers through their paces in live matches, but he was never able to shake off the Red Rooster tag throughout his wrestling career.
Dean Ayass is a well known name to British wrestling fans. A commentator, manager, booker and ring announcer who has been involved in the business since 1993, Dean's insight into the business is second to none.