First, let's put this business in perspective. A bit more than 6 months ago, WCW gave releases to then-World Champion Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Shane Douglas, and Eddy Guererro because they had a legitimate personal issue with new booker Kevin Sullivan (you know, Nancy and all that). Four of those men went to the WWF and enjoyed a higher level of success than they could in WCW. Kevin Sullivan went on to book Al Green drinking from a toilet, and other assorted BS that led to WCW bringing back Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo. Now, with Terry Taylor booking GOOD TV, he's being REMOVED as booker because Mick forbid that Scott Steiner should have to do a job. Puh-leeze! Never mind that Terry Taylor is the exact guy that WCW needs booking.

Let's face it. There is no one in this business who knows more about what bad wrestling is than Terry Taylor. You may not know this, but once upon a time, Terry Taylor was supposed to be the next Ric Flair. He had looks, athleticism, charisma, and knowledge of the squared circle. He was a can't-miss prospect. So what happened to Terry Taylor?

Well, he went to the WWF, and someone decided that Terry should become the Red Rooster. First an evil heel under the tutelage of Bobby Heenan, then a babyface feuding with the Brooklyn Brawler, the Rooster, complete with rooster-comb hairdo, was one of the worst brainfarts in the history of professional wrestling, and that is NOT Tony Schiavone hyperbole! I mean, that gimmick really laid an egg! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)

SO he came back to what I think was still the NWA, and he became a young prettyboy babyface. That worked well enough for what it was, but it wasn't much, and eventually, Taylor got another overhaul. He had been feuding with Michael Wallstreet, the lone member of Alexandra York's "York Foundation," but when Mike Rotunda departed for the greener pastures of the WWF, Taylor became a member of the Foundation himself: "The Computerized Man of the 1990's" TERRENCE Taylor. Yeah, uh huh, right. Eventually joined by RICHARD Morton and THOMAS Rich (see, they were in business, so they went with their full first names...get it?), Taylor's greatest achievement as a member of the York Foundation was capturing the six-man tag titles, which wasn't that much of an achievement, as the titles were mercy killed soon after the Foundation lost the belts to the Fabulous Freebirds.

Speaking of mercy killing, Taylor's involvement with the York Foundation ended around this time as well, as it was time for a new gimmick. And a new gimmick was exactly what Taylor got: he became the "Taylor Made Man." Confused? OK, let me give you an idea of what this was all about: First, take Rick Martel as "The Model." OK, now get rid of the cologne bit. OK, now get rid of any semblance of crowd heat. And while we're at it, let's lose the credibility. Yeah, that's about right. Taylor's reward for accepting this joke of a gimmick was winning the almost-dead US Tag Titles with Greg Valentine, defeating the established team of Ron Simmons and Big Josh.

That was pretty much the end of Taylor's career, save for a short WWF stint as "Terrific" Terry Taylor, which was a non-gimmick designed to do absolutely nothing. So, as you can see, Terry Taylor was held down his entire career because of bad wrestling. This makes him the perfect new booker for two reasons: 1)He's motivated to try and live down his days as the Red Rooster; and 2) He's not going to stick a wrestler in that kind of lame-ass gimmick. It's obvious that Terry Taylor was the best man for the job, so of course, WCW gave in to politics and brought back Vince Russo to finish losing that 60 million dollars. The moral of the story: politics SUCK. Until next time, this is Dartmouth Dan Doomsday, saying keep reading, because READING IS FUNDAMENTAL! Send all e-mail to dandoomsday@wrestlingfanz.com Goodnight, everybody.

Send all e-mail to dandoomsday@wrestlingfanz.com