WWE Hall of Fame 2016: 5 Things you should know about the Big Boss Man

Some things that you should know about the Big Boss ManThe Big Boss Man was in the headlines recently thanks to his induction into the Hall of Fame class of 2016. The Big Boss Man will be inducted into the Hall of Fame 12 years after his death and it is expected to be an emotional moment for the entire WWE community. Right when WWE announced that he was going to be inducted into the Hall of fame, a debate sparked off on whether he deserved the spot or not.But that is not the topic of discussion for this list. Instead, we are going to take a look at some of the facts that one should know about the Big Boss Man.

#5 Tragic death

The Big Boss Man passed away when he was 41

The real life Raymond "Ray" W. Traylor Jr. started off his wrestling career when he was 22 years old in 1985. His career ran all the way to 2004, the year in which he passed away. His death was tragic, to say the least. He was only 41 years old at the time of his death and was still an active wrestler in 2004. The reason for his death was a massive heart attack.

His wife, Angela, who was also his childhood sweetheart found him dead on the sofa in their home. He was scheduled with Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey for a wrestling show the very next month. Traylor had two daughters and they were playing downstairs during his death.

#4 Impressive resume and final matches

He feuded with some big names

The Big Boss Man was one of those wrestlers who was lucky enough to work for both WCW and WWE. He first started with WWE and had a high profile feud with Hulk Hogan. During this time, he also challenged Randy Savage for the WWE championship. The career of Big Boss Man then took a dip but resurfaced again when he challenged Big Show for the WWE title (we’ll get to that part).

He feuded with the NWo during his time in WCW and was one of the initial members of McMahon’s Corporation during his second spell in the WWE. In his last match in WCW, Big Boss Man was defeated by Goldberg whereas, in his final WWE match, he was defeated by Tommy Dreamer.

#3 A multiple time champion

The Big Boss Man is a multiple time champion

The Big Boss Man might’ve not won any big title during his time in wrestling, but he does have multiple mid-card title reigns to his name. In WWE, he won the Hardcore championship on four separate occasions. In fact, he was the second-ever Hardcore champion.

He reigned as the champion for a combined number of 154 days which is only second to Steve Blackman, whose reign lasted a combined 172 across six stints.

Apart from this, he won the WWE Tag team championship as well alongside Ken Shamrock. The team defeated the New Age Outlaws to win the title in 1998 and later dropped them to Jeff Jarrett and Owen Hart.

#2 He is a former prison guard

Prison guard before wrestling

Before entering into the wrestling business, Traylor worked as a prison guard in Cobb County in Georgia. He then entered into the business in 1985 and just like most of the wrestlers out there, he started off as a jobber. Jim Crockett promotions was his first destination and when the head booker at that time, Dusty Rhodes saw the potential in him, he decided to repackage Traylor.

Rhodes pulled off Traylor from television and repackaged him as Big Bubba Rogers, a bodyguard of Jim Cornette. Traylor’s stock soon rose and within no time, he was feuding with none other than Rhodes himself. Rhodes and Traylor had a memorable steel cage match to cap off their feud and Rhodes came out winning.

#1 He has defeated The Rock and Sting

He defeated both Sting and The Rock

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was one of the major stars of WWE during the Attitude Era when Sting was a name synonymous with WCW. Big Boss Man, who worked for both WCW and WWE at certain points of his career, has an impressive record of defeating both Rock and Sting.

Getting wins over these two legends is not a small achievement and it is worth a mention in the list. Not all wrestlers out there could brag about beating the Rock and Sting and this, along with his feuds with Hogan and Savage would be enough to justify his induction. Also, Big Boss Man faced the Undertaker at WrestleMania. Even though it is something that WWE would like to forget, not even John Cena, Steve Austin or the Rock have faced Taker at Mania.