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The Gimmick Table: The Origin of The Big Boss Man

Posted: Mar 11th 2026 By: Brian Damage - RingTheDamnBell.com

A gimmick is something that is intended to hook the attention of fans to a wrestler. They may be outrageous or steeped more in reality, whatever the case may be…some have succeeded and many others have failed. The Gimmick Table takes a look at the origins of some of your favorite and not so favorite gimmicks of professional wrestlers.

Today we browse the gimmick of The Big Boss Man

In 1988, Ray Traylor jumped to the WWF from Jim Crockett Promotions in a move that set some legal precedents. Traylor was technically still under a contract with Crockett, but Vince McMahon and his legal team discovered a loophole in his specific contract to take him away from Crockett. While most other wrestlers had specified money deals within the NWA, Traylor’s did not. The argument was made that since Traylor wasn’t guaranteed any amount of money, he was fair game to sign away.

Vince McMahon reportedly wanted to debut Traylor under his NWA gimmick of ‘Big’ Bubba Rogers and have him feud with Hulk Hogan for the WWF title as a way to stick it to Crockett and Dusty Rhodes. Ultimately, however, McMahon decided to create a gimmick for Traylor that would be exclusively owned by Titan Sports. After talking with Traylor about his likes, hobbies and past history, Traylor revealed he was once a corrections officer in Georgia before becoming a pro wrestler.

That was enough for McMahon to create the corrupt, heel gimmick of ‘The Big Boss Man.’ Boss Man was paired with manager Slick. The Big Boss Man character worked as both a heel and then a babyface in the WWF. He remained with the company until 1993. Traylor would attempt to revive the character in WCW under the name of ‘The Boss’ but was dropped after legal action from Vince McMahon. The Big Boss Man gimmick was once again resurrected in 1998 when Traylor returned to the WWF and remained there until 2003.