Paul Taylor is a native of Vero Beach Florida. He reportedly took the name Terry from his idol Terry Funk. I believe he attended Clemson University based on personal photos I have seen of Terry wearing a Clemson sweatshirt. I first saw Terry in a 1980 pro wrestling match from CWF (Championship Wrestling of Florida). Terry did a job for the heavyweight champion Harley Race. Terry was wearing his medium brown hair quite short at the time, too short to show off the fact that it was very attractive. However, his cute young boy-next-door facial features did catch my attention. That plus the fact that he looked like an athletic jock.
Later I recorded other Terry Taylor matches from the CWF, probably from 1981. Terry was wearing his medium brown hair a bit longer, and in my opinion was extremely good looking. He was an excellent worker who took extensive punishment and came back for more against heels like The Matador, Dutch Mantel, Dennis Condry and Mr. Knoxville (Gorgeous George Jr.). Terry had powerful legs and a fairly long torso for his leg length giving him a somewhat lower center of gravity than the average wrestler. The booker recognized Terry's appeal to the fans and put him over quickly allowing him to win most of his matches, but only after taking enormous punishment. He held the TV title for awhile and the TV tag team title with partner Don Diamond. Terry seemed to win his matches by outlasting his opponents or by making their cheating tactics backfire in Terry's favor. At one time he was called "Rookie of The Year," but they then retracted that statement and said that Terry was "second on the Rookie of the Year list." Images from some of Terry's matches from this era are shown on Index Page 1 of this site.
Later I saw quite a few of Terry's matches from Georgia. I did not keep good records of the year, but I think it was 1982. Terry looked about the same as he did in Florida. He fought a variety of guys, mostly jobbers, but not all. He won or tied these matches as I recall. You can see a few scenes from these matches on Index Page 1 where he faced the Assassins and Fulton. I saw only one of his matches live during this time period. Terry had to do the job in a tag team match against Big John Studd and some other monster. Terry's partner was Andre The Giant who got most of the crowd's attention. Andre never lost, of course. So, Terry had to do the honors.
Terry moved on to the mid-south area (Louisiana and I think St. Louis and Kansas City). I am a bit vague on the mid-south history, but I think the area was being run by Bill Watts. At first Terry looked pretty much the same as he looked in Georgia, but gradually he began wearing his hair longer and coloring it lighter. He became very popular at this time, but the area did not have national television exposure which limited Terry's popularity. Bill Watts' son (Joel Watts) enjoyed making promotional music videos of the wrestlers. The images you see of Terry on Index Page 7 are from two of those music videos. People are fickle. They eventually get tired of handsome heart-throbs, generally after about two years. Terry's popularity began to fade around 1984 or 1985. He tried a heel turn to freshen up his act, but his good looks worked against him. Fans did not want to accept this handsome hunk in a heel role.
Somewhere around 1985 the mid-south area became the UWF (Universal Wrestling Federation) run by Bill Watts. They did get national television exposure briefly on many cable systems. Many fans of that era absolutely loved the UWF shows as they featured the youngest, best looking performers and odd plots and exciting music. Terry was joined by the Rock and Roll Express, a very young Shawn Michaels, and Tim Horner as some of the attractive young talent. Heels included Dr. Death Steve Williams and The Dirty White Boys. Unfortunately, the Crockett family bought out Bill Watts' promotion for about $2M, with the stipulation that Watts must stay out of the wrestling business for at least four years. Then Crockett absolutely destroyed Terry Taylor and the other UWF wrestlers, putting them in jobber roles to push his own stable of wrestlers. This sort of bad luck seemed to dog Terry's career.
Terry Taylor spent some more time wrestling in Georgia in 1986. I have quite a few matches from that era. He was quite good, and he looked very good, but I personally did not like his lighter and longer hair as much as his medium brown hair from earlier years. Terry was working babyface again at this time. Despite his angelic looks, Taylor was not an angel. He did flip over his expensive sports car in a high speed, one-car accident when working in the mid-south area. It happened shortly after the wreck which left Magnum TA (Terry Allen) paralyzed, but Taylor was very lucky to get out of his car wreck with no significant injuries.
Taylor married in either 1986 or 1987 (My memory is vague). Apparently he found himself without much money and a wife to support. This was his motive behind taking the role as "The Red Rooster" for Vince McMahon in the WWF. Vince had a fondness for farm animals at that time. Terry reportedly did not find the role humiliating and appreciated the money because of his married circumstances, but many of Terry's fans were embarrassed for him because they thought that the "Red Rooster" role humiliated him. It will always be remembered as a low point by many of Terry's fans.
Terry worked for WCW in the early 1990s, but again a change in management worked against him. Bill Watts took over, and Watts did not want to push Terry at that time. So, Terry got brushed aside again. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter has commented that Terry has been treated quite badly overall by the wrestling business. Of course, I have seen Taylor in an announcing role for WCW for awhile in the year 2000. That is about the extent of my knowledge of Terry. I had a major crush on Terry from about 1981 through 1983, and a minor crush for some years thereafter. He looked like the most handsome guy on the local college wrestling team. His boyish good looks and well muscled body put him in the hunk category. He was a great worker, but perhaps he would have been better off retiring from wrestling in the mid-1980s and finding a new career. I am sure that such advice is much easier to give than to receive. Most guys have a hard time starting over at a minor job after performing as the main attraction before 20,000 screaming fans. Around 1983 Terry was as much a fantasy object in the mid-south as the Backstreet Boys were in 1999. It is difficult to forget that kind of experience and move on to a dull conventional job.