411’s Dark Side of The Ring Report: Big Boss Man

-Written: 7.28.26
-Source: Vice
-Run Time: 1 Hour (w/ commercials)

-Plug: Samoa Joe vs. Necro Butcher

-Chris Jericho is our narrator!

-Teaser: It seems the focus will be on Boss Man’s rise to the 80s and then the crazy change for the character in The Attitude Era. It will also touch on his battle with addiction. Sadly, common for wrestlers in that era.

-Show opening!

-We start with Ray Traylor’s (Boss Man) wife and daughter. They are looking at photos, merchandise, and have his nightstick. We meet Lacy Traylor, daughter of Big Boss Man. She says the character had so many great feuds and matches, but the real guy was a big sweetheart and a great dad. We see home video as Lacy says her dad was a girl’s dad. She always felt loved and was always laughing.

-Angela Traylor, his wife, says they were together in High School. I am always fond of high school sweethearts lasting. She knows Ray loved her with everything he had. He said he would not marry her until he could take care of her. He had a job as a correctional officer. He needed to make extra money and took an offer to learn to wrestle.

-He started with Jim Crockett and had 2 training sessions and in two weeks was on the road with Dusty Rhodes. He learned on the job and that’s why Jim Cornette called him a prodigy. Speaking of which, here is Jim Cornette and he says at one time Ray Traylor was known as Big Bubba and was his bodyguard. It was a gimmick, but also a shoot because people stopped trying to come over the rails after him.

-They touch on the feud with Dusty and the famous spot where Dusty broke a wooden chair over Bubba’s head. Bubba just stood there like nothing happened and according to Cornette they forgot to gimmick the chair. It just made Bubba look like a monster. They would repeat that spot with Meng in 94. Ray was working both jobs and was being recognized by prisoners, so he made the choice to go full time with wrestling.

-Starrcade: We cover the infamous Scaffold Match where Bubba misses Cornette as he drops off the scaffold. Cornette: “I’m glad he didn’t play center field.” Cornette blows out his ACL and it’s still one of the gnarliest injuries falls you will see. The next year at Starrcade 87, they run another Scaffold Match and Bubba gets on the scaffold. He gets punched in the balls. Everyone in the match got $10,000 each, but Bubba only got $5000. He was upset with his pay-out and was going to quit the business.

-Vince McMahon comes calling as he heard about this monster down south that could move. Vince wanted monsters to fight Hulk Hogan. Gerald Brisco is our next talking head and says he would sit in as Vince had meetings with new talent. Vince heard that Bubba worked as a prison guard and that’s all Vince needed to know.

-The Big Boss Man is born and the gimmick fit Traylor like a glove. His wife notes that first paycheck was life changing. Cornette says Bubba got in a spot that most people only dream of having. Boss Man attacks Hogan during The Brother Love Show and leads to the legendary Cage Match on Saturday Night’s Main Event. That show was on my eighth birthday! We cover the spot that made the match legendary, but first, commercials!

-Commercials!

-Back to the cage match as Hulk Hogan gives Boss Man a superplex off the top of the cage. What’s crazy is they did the spot all over house show loop. That spot was treated as a big deal and both men sold it as such.

-Boss Man uses that feud to catapult up the card and he is firmly in the upper card of the WWF. He was turned face and would call Cornette to express his happiness over making $12,000 a week. Angela says he was making more with one check than he would make in a year as a corrections officer.

-We see video of Boss Man on Arsenio Hall and then we get to the face turn. Hogan gives Boss Man the seal of approval and is in Hogan’s corner at SummerSlam 90 against Earthquake. Cornette says it was a natural transition as now Boss Man could serve justice to the bad guys. That also lead to merchandise and even more money. BIG BOSS MAN WRESTLING BUDDY! They talk about the theme music and yes, it’s awesome! We need theme music like that brought back in wrestling.

-Jacques Rougeau is here to discuss his run as The Mountie and feud with The Boss Man. Heck yeah, we are going to talk about The Jail House Match! Jacques says he wasn’t a real Mountie, but he was a real jerk. Well, all they note is Boss Man won the Jail House Match decisively.

-We move to being away from his family with the grueling travel schedule in the WWF. Lacy says there were times she didn’t recognize her dad and thought a strange man was stealing time away she had with her mom. That’s sad, but the man was proving for his family.

-WCW comes calling in the mid 90s and offer the same money for less dates. That was a no brainer and both Angel and Lacy had Ray at home more. Cornette says Ray loved being in WCW because he could be at home more, but couldn’t be The Boss Man. He had various names including The Guardian Angel. Cornette goes off on The Guardian Angel group and says it was rotten, but what happened when he went back to the WWF was worse. “He is now remembered for taking part in some of the worst wrestling television that has even been perpetrated on the air.”

-Commercials!

-The Attitude Era: Boss Man returns to the WWF in 1998. Cornette talks about the feud between Vince McMahon and Steve Austin. Hey, Vince Russo is here and I hope we get him and Cornette taking shots at each other again. Russo introduces himself as the head writer of the WWF in The Attitude Era. He says they called Ray because they needed him on the show. Boss Man was back as the bodyguard for Vince McMahon and looked like a Swat Team member. Cornette: “That was a great spot.” Lacy says it was great to watch him on TV and kids at school would come up to her to talk about the previous PPV. She admits to loving The Rock and says that Rock and her dad shared the same birthday. They would make each other cards. She was also a Stone Cold fan and said he was big and scary as a kid.

-They discuss the idea of a Boss Man vs. Austin feud, but it never happened. The discuss Survivor Series 1998 and how Boss Man was supposed to run in during Austin vs. Mankind. Everyone is waiting, but Boss Man is standing backstage next to Russo. Vince turns and yells, “bro, you are supposed to be out there.” Vince sent Brisco into the ring to do the spot and he doesn’t want to blast Austin, so gives him a weak shot. Austin is pissed when he comes backstage and yells at Boss Man. We get audio of Austin who talks about the missed spot as Boss Man was talking about his match with Taker. Austin says he loves Ray, but he cussed him out. That ended any chance he had at a run with Austin as he started to fall down the card.

-WrestleMania XV: Boss Man vs. Taker inside Hell in A Cell. Cornette says it was a great spot and should have been great on it’s own, “but other forces took over.” Russo next as he says as a writer he has to think of something that people have never seen before and he doesn’t mind if people say, “holy shit, I can’t believe they are doing this.” Lacy says Ray told her to come to Mania because they were going to do something crazy. “They’re probably going to hang me.”

-Commercials!

-Back to WrestleMania XV with one of the worst Cell Matches in recorded history. Taker wins and then Boss Man gets hung from the top of the cell. Cornette: “They basically had a public lynching.” Russo didn’t know that was one of the first times his family came to see him wrestle. Russo admits that would be horrific. Lacy had to watch her dad be hung and she just wondered if it was necessary. Angela says Ray wasn’t happy, but what do you do? Cornette: “How do you come back from a hanging?”

-Lacy says Bubba sat her down and had to come clean about the business. Hey, Al Snow is here and says what they could get away with then, would be considered bad taste today. Oh, we know why Al Snow is here! Al talks about his character having schizophrenia and brings up having a dog named Pepper that he loved and was his friend. Bubba kills Pepper and feeds it to Al and this was a year before Cartman did something similar on South Park. Cornette: “What the fuck?” Lacy wonders how you explain that to your friends.

-We move to The Big Show feud and the death of his funeral. Okay, this was hilarious if only because of how insane it was and how over the top cartoon character villain Boss Man was. Lacy says it was embarrassing, but her dad was trying to get that check to make money. They touch on a glass jar being shattered over his head, but not breaking the right way and blood pouring down his face.

-Nick Patrick is here and talks about the boys using somas. He says they don’t make you quit hurting. They just make you not care. Angela gets emotional talking about Ray’s use as she never saw him like that where he had no control. Bubba wasn’t a party guy and Cornette would never dream he had a life threatening problem. Bubba would apologize to his daughter and tried to explain that he was in pain.

-Commercials!

-Ray continues to work a full schedule even with a bad back and knee. He was on the road and started hitting the medicine heavy. He had prescriptions from doctors all over the country. Patrick says it was easier back then as there was no data base. They would get doctors that were wrestling fans and they would write whatever they wanted. Lacy says it is disgusting and Patrick says there were a ton of guys that came through Atlanta and so many are in the graveyard right now.

-Chris Benoit: Dr. Phil Astin was the doctor in Georgia that provided wrestlers whatever they needed, included Chris Benoit and had 175 counts filed against him. Lacy would ask Astin if he knew the medication was as addictive as it was. “Did you know that people were going to get hurt?”

-Ray’s contract expires and he is searching for a new line of work. He ran for County Commissioner and was messed up on pills the night of the election. That was a breaking point for Angel and they separated.

-As he battles his addiction, Curt Hennig passes away from his demons. Angela says that bothered Ray a lot. Nick says you would think that would be a wake up call, but many more passed away after Curt. Terri Runnels is next and she says Ray is one of her dearest friends. She thinks so many wrestlers passed and were on drugs because there was no off season. Obviously we know that has changed and that’s a good thing. Guys get time off now and aren’t forced to work injured.

-Ray’s perspective changes after Curt’s passing and wants to come home. They renew their vows and Angela says she never saw Ray get messed up again. He was still dealing with pain and one night was complaining about his knees. Angela took the girls to bed and Ray said he would be up to tuck them in. Angela went downstairs and Ray was turning a different color. Lacy won’t ever forget the way her mom screamed. Angela called 911 and was told to put Ray flat on the ground. Not easy to get a big man like that flat on the ground. Lacy started CPR classes that week and started doing chest compression. She just asked God to let him life and says she could taste his last breath in her mouth. She knew at that moment her life had changed forever. Just heartbreaking!

-Commercials!

-Next week: Renegade!

-Ray Traylor dies of a heart attack at 41 years old. That’s so wild! I am four years older than him at this point. Angela notes his whole family died young of heart issues. Lacy talks about survivor’s guilt and if it was her fault. “Did I do it right?” She says people don’t know how she feels.

-Cornette says Ray died a week before the first Midnight Express reunion and he has to step away as he starts crying. He returns and says 1986 was his favorite year in wrestling. He had the ME and Bubba became the fourth member. They were friends making money together and he doesn’t think he ever had fun like that again. “I liked that fucking guy.”

-Lacy was traumatized by his death and it took over a decade before she could even think of his wrestling career. She felt angry and admits to becoming cynical. She has struggled and had to fix things in her life. She works now in the behavioral health space. She used to worry about speaking on Ray’s struggles, but knows it is part of his story and part of her story.

-We move to 2016 when Boss Man gets inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Lacy was shocked that people thought it was cool that her dad was The Big Boss Man. Angela misses that when Ray smiled, everyone smiled and we get more home video footage. Lacy loves his laugh and I am smiling and nearly crying seeing the vides of him playing with his daughter. Al Snow says Ray’s legacy is that of an all time villain and wonderful human being. Cornette says Boss Man should be remembered by the fans, but he will remember Bubba: a great guy. Angela says she still loves Ray and he always made them laugh and still will.

-This was enjoyable and heart breaking. There wasn’t a lot of Dark Side to this story outside of the pills, but I mean that’s nearly in every episode. The family is always what sticks with me during these shows. Credit to both Angela and Lacy for sharing their story and their husband/dad’s story. By all accounts it seems Ray was a good guy, who had his issues like most wrestlers. I am not sure how much the drugs played into his death since it was noted most of his family died young from heart problems. It seemed like he got sober sooner than a lot of guys, but a history of heart disease mixed with any drug use could be an issue. Cornette was a big part of this one as expected and he is always great as the man knows his history. We didn’t have any real shots fired between him and Russo. We obviously know what Cornette thinks of the stories Russo came up with for Boss Man. The tie in to Benoit seemed to come from out of nowhere, but I guess they just wanted to note the doctor that was giving Boss Man his pills was the one tied to The Benoit Tragedy.

-Overall, I felt this was a strong episode and I am glad Boss Man’s story was told. With only an hour you obviously has to skim through things but they touched on his start, the feud with Hogan, the jump back to WCW and then the stuff in The Attitude Era. Boss Man got to work with Hogan during his run at the top of the card and had brief moments with Austin during his peak as well. The story of how Boss Man fell out of favor in the WWF was interesting to hear. The one thing that stuck is him passing at 41 and how I am four years older. At the time of his passing it probably didn’t resonate with me how young he was, but it’s crazy to think about now. I am glad the business is changing and hopefully more of these men (and women) will be making it into their 70s and 80s.

-Thanks for reading!