In the mid-eighties, Magnum T.A. was a shooting star for Jim Crockett Promotions and the NWA. He was poised to be the next big star of the promotion and could have been the NWA's answer to Hulk Hogan if he had a longer career. Unfortunately, that wasn't to be and the course of wrestling history changed forever. On October 14, 1986, Magnum was driving his Porsche through the rain in Charlotte, North Carolina, not too far from his home. He lost control of the car on the wet road and crashed catastrophically into a telephone pole. Two of Magnum's vertebrae were said to have "exploded" and he was paralysed for months. After he recovered, he made sporadic appearances as a commentator and a manager for the NWA, UWF and later WCW, but he eventually left wrestling. He made his first appearance on WWE television at Night of Champions 2007 where he was highlighted as a former United States Champion. At the time, Magnum was being groomed for a third run with the US Championship, and a run with the NWA World Heavyweight Championshop seemed inevitable. Magnum's car crash was a personal and professional tragedy, but it could have been extremely worse. While he never wrestled again, doctors said it was his physical conditioning from being a wrestler that ultimately saved his life.
