Every Version Of The Big Boss Man, Ranked From Worst To Best
The Big Boss Man never won a world title and didn’t spend all that much time as a main event level act. Nonetheless, when fans who followed wrestling anytime from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s think back, he was an unmistakably memorable performer. He was an agile, skilled big man, who had his share of successes at the height of Hulkamania, alongside the New World Order, and in WWE’s Attitude Era.
Related: 10 Worst Things Wrestlers Did During The Attitude Era
Throughout wrestling history, there are plenty of performers who've undergone drastic gimmick changes (or at least would have benefited from reimagining their characters). Ray Traylor had his share of personas. Besides his work in Mid-South and WCW, he was most synonymous with the Boss Man gimmick, and even that one had multiple variations on it as he worked both as a face and heel, and at different levels of the card.
8 The Guardian Angel
A combination of intellectual property quibbles with WWE and a drive to freshen Ray Traylor’s character saw him briefly reinvent himself in WCW as The Guardian Angel. The group paid homage to the real-life crime prevention group based out of New York City, and Traylor became arguably its most famous representative.
While Traylor’s work as The Guardian Angel wasn’t necessarily bad, the bloom was off the rose for his work as a fringe main event act. So, he was a largely ineffectual upper mid-card face with a gimmick that didn’t quite fit, who came out on the losing end of a rivalry with Big Van Vader.
7 NWO Associate
The tail end of Ray Traylor’s WCW tenure saw him mostly wrapped up in New World Order storylines. First, he turned on the Dungeon of Doom to join the heel supergroup, then he got kicked out and feuded with them. Then he turned heel again to rejoin them.
Related: MBTI®: Which nWo Member Are You Based On Your Personality?
While Traylor was always a good worker and recognizable personality, his work with the faction largely underscored one of the elements of the nWo that have aged poorly. The group grew to have too many members with too many convoluted storylines that were contingent on guys turning face and heel over and over. While Traylor remained relevant in this period, it was far from his best work.
6 The Boss
When Ray Traylor first signed with WCW, it helped the company and the performer. As The Big Boss Man, he had more or less done all he could and burned out in WWE. In WCW, he had a fresh slate of opponents and automatically slid into a higher place in the card by virtue of his name value and being a fresh face on the scene.
The Boss character was probably a bit too derivative of his Big Boss Man gimmick. Nonetheless, it helped to make his identity clear upon his debut, as he engaged in early rivalries with Rick Rude and Big Van Vader.
5 Big Bubba Rogers
Ray Traylor’s first major gimmick was that of Big Bubba Rogers. He wrestled in business attire and was immediately established as a monster heel, complete with winning the UWF Championship on multiple occasions.
The Big Bubba Rogers gimmick returned in his WCW run when he first turned heel and for the first leg of his work with the nWo. While the Big Boss Man persona will always be his most iconic, Rogers has to be Traylor’s second most recognizable gimmick which served him well across a long stretch of time and different settings.
4 The Twin Towers Run
The Big Boss Man thrived as a monster heel early in his WWE run and posed quite the intimidating duo when he teamed up with an even larger villain in Akeem. Together, the two were compelling foils for The Mega Powers—Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage--as they built up to their own rivalry.
Of course, in addition to the size of The Twin Towers making them a spectacle, the agility and work rate of the two big men was a key to their success. Boss Man in particular distinguished himself as one of the best workers from a field of giants in that era. While their work with Hogan and Savage is what they’ll be best remembered for, the big men more than held their own in a strong WrestleMania match with The Rockers as well.
3 Corporate Enforcer
Both Ray Traylor the wrestler and the Big Boss Man gimmick found new life upon a return during The Attitude Era, with Boss Man re-cast as Mr. McMahon’s bodyguard and an enforcer for The Corporation faction. Though he would briefly rotate into the main event spot when needed, he was mostly recast into a well-fitting role as a respected big man and tough guy who did dirty work as a key member of the corporate stable.
The Big Boss Man memorably worked with Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, The Big Show, and a host of others in this era. His expert performance at Survivor Series 1998—acting as though he were working against The Rock, but really helping him—demonstrated just how good he was, effectively weaving layers into his performance.
2 WWE Championship Challenger In The Late 1980s
When The Big Boss Man first arrived on the scene in WWE, he was immediately established as a main event level heel and challenged both Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan for the world title. Boss Man was an ideal fit for this role—big, fast, and vicious enough to be a believable threat, and able to sell very well to make the champ look terrific.
Related: The 10 Biggest Booking Errors With Hulk Hogan
Unfortunately, there’s a shelf life on top contenders who don’t actually win the title, as they’re only believable for challengers for so long. In another era, maybe he could have won a world title. Nonetheless, this run set up Boss Man as a recognizable and respected champion for a decade-plus to follow.
1 Upper Mid-Card Face
After the Big Boss Man’s original run as a heel in WWE, he was one of those stars whom it was difficult to imagine turning face. There were questions as to whether a man of his size and skill set could get the fans behind him. Needless to say, the experiment of a face turn worked out quite well.
The Big Boss Man became one of the most iconic mid-card faces of the early 1990s. Highlights of his tenure include fighting his way through The Heenan Family with a vengeance after Bobby Heenan spoke poorly of Boss Man’s mother. From there, the Big Boss Man was that rare gimmick to justify its own spinoff character as WWE introduced Nailz as an ex-convict with a bone to pick.
