50 Fascinating Facts About WWE in The 1980s

Legend has it that none other than Terry Taylor was the first pick to play a new 'Mr. Perfect' character the WWF had whipped up. Both he and Curt Hennig joined the company at roughly the same time in 1988, so this adds up. Instead of becoming Perfect, Taylor was turned into the appalling 'Red Rooster'. That's something Bruce Prichard has defended to this day by suggesting Terry could've made something of the guise had he only put his all into it.

That's debatable.

It's unclear whether or not Hennig would've been hitched with the Rooster persona had Taylor taken on the Mr. Perfect name. That's one hell of a lucky escape, if so. Curt fit the Perfect character....perfectly. Like with most of the best gimmicks ever, it's legit challenging to picture anyone else spitting that gum up into the air then smacking it with their hand, or another wrestler appearing in those memorable introductory vignettes.

If true that these guys might've swapped roles, then you've got to feel sorry for Terry. He was an accomplished technician with bags of potential before joining the federation, but all of that promise fizzled away once he started strutting around the place like an actual rooster. There are several excellent cartoonish and over-the-top gimmicks (The Undertaker, for example). This was not one of them - poor Taylor became everything he probs hated.

Things were so dire that Taylor wound up leaving the WWF in 1990 and barely got another look in besides an unremarkable 1992-1993 stint as 'Terrific' Terry Taylor. There was certainly nothing terrific about The Red Rooster. You know it's bad when Bobby Heenan can't get it over.