Kayfabe Commentaries sent this in.
TERRY TAYLOR SAYS BEING POULTRY IMMORTALIZED HIM
Former star of the wrestling ring turned booker Terry Taylor knows a thing or two about bad booking decisions. In the new edition of Kayfabe Commentaries’ DVD series “Guest Booker,” (www.kayfabecommentaries.com) he sits down on the set of the popular show to review some that he has first-hand knowledge of, and to sort through one big flawed decision in 1987. The aforementioned involving the purchase of Bill Watt’s UWF by Jim Crockett. And of course, no discussion of bad booking or gimmicks can ever occur without the mention of WWE’s gem…The Red Rooster.
Terry Taylor was the lucky talent who was asked to donn the red-spiked hairdo back in the 80s. When the reference comes up in “Guest Booker,” Taylor is most comfortable with its place in history. “Everyone remembers it, don’t they?” He asks this rhetorically, and there really isn’t much more to say when you think about it. You’re given a character and you play it the best you can. During the course of the show, Taylor indicates a hierarchy in wrestling talent…those than can object to such a decision, and those that cannot. Despite falling in the latter of the categories, it seems Taylor wouldn’t have been the type to object anyway. When departing the ill-fated WCW booking committee, it’s likely that good soldier attitude back in the 80s made Vince McMahon take his call in the 90s, when Taylor said “I’m done with WCW and I’d like to come work for you.”
Taylor’s booking resume features the aforementioned WCW fiasco, WWE, and most recently TNA. Taylor discusses his philosophy in-depth (“all it is today is high-spots”) before digging into the show’s topic…Crockett buying an entire territory and doing largely nothing with it in 1987. Terry was working for Bill Watts at the time and made the trip up to Charlotte to witness first-hand the inability to incorporate the roster with any real fanfare. Now, with twenty years more knowledge and booking experience, we charge him with the task of being asked by the Crocketts to take the book and make something cool happen. Or memorable. Or compelling…in short…make ANYTHING happen with the purchase of the UWF roster.
Terry lays out several angles for those that would stay active in Charlotte, and talks in depth about the process of “sending guys away,” a delicate term for laying them off without bad blood and a door that remains open. He discusses his decisions for title unifications and the abandonment of some. He tackles the highbrow, heavyweight title stuff like Flair and Dr Death Steve Williams, as well as the other end of the spectrum — Dick Murdoch and Buzz Sawyer locking horns in an angle birthed by their both liking a “fat girl” at a bar.
The “Guest Booker” series is Kayfabe Commentaries’ ongoing study of wrestling’s creative minds, and the company’s President and frontman Sean Oliver says it’s a project that transcends the typical shoot-DVD genre. “This was our first video series five years ago,” Oliver began “and the historical significance of the series grows more and more as the public’s appreciation for the the sport’s history grows. Nowadays, the smart fan has gone beyond ‘to whom’ and ‘when’ so-and-so dropped the title, but they now want to know ‘why.'”
“Guest Booker with Terry Taylor” went on sale today at http://www.kayfabecommentaries.com.