Dave Taylor (wrestler)
Dave Taylor | |
---|---|
Birth name | David Taylor |
Born | [1] Yorkshire, England, UK[1] | 1 May 1957
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Dave Taylor[1] David Taylor[1] Tim Shea[2] |
Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[3] |
Billed weight | 256 lb (116 kg)[3] |
Billed from | Queensbury, West Yorkshire, England |
Trained by | Eric Taylor[1] Joe Taylor[1] |
Debut | 1977 |
Retired | 2012[2] |
David Taylor[1] (born 1 May 1957) is a retired English professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the United States with World Championship Wrestling from 1995 to 2000 and with World Wrestling Entertainment from 2006 to 2007.[1][2]
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1977–1989)
A third-generation wrestler, Taylor was trained by his father Eric Taylor (who held the British Heavy-Middleweight title for the 14 years 1953–67) and grandfather Joe who competed in Wrestling at the 1932 Summer Olympic Games. After winning several awards as an amateur wrestler, Taylor made his professional debut in 1978 under the ring name Dave "Rocky" Taylor.
Taylor eventually joined All Star Wrestling, making his terrestrial TV debut in 1987 when the company gained a share of ITV's wrestling coverage. In early 1988, he was tangentially involved in the falling out of Kendo Nagasaki and Rollerball Rocco when he and 'Ironfist' Clive Myers faced the duo in a televised contest in Croydon. Taylor was attempting, mid-match, to unmask Nagasaki and had nearly succeeded when Rocco intervened. Rocco attempted to pull the mask back down, but Taylor forearm-smashed Rocco, causing the mask to come off in his hands. As Taylor and Myers celebrated, Kendo fled to the dressing room and returned with another mask. Kendo's manager George Gillette blamed Rocco for the unmasking, igniting a major feud that would run on into the early 1990s.[4]
Taylor defeated
Catch Wrestling Association (1989–1995)
In the early 1990s, Taylor began wrestling for the
World Championship Wrestling (1995–2000)
In the mid-1990s, Taylor traveled to the United States of America and joined the
World Wrestling Federation (2001)
In 2001, Taylor joined the
Independent circuit (2001–2006)
In May 2002, Taylor, William (formerly Steven) Regal and
On 7 April 2004 Taylor made an appearance in
In February 2005, Taylor came back to the UK for three weeks with Brian Dixon's All Star Wrestling, where he responded to some comments made by Drew McDonald.
World Wrestling Entertainment (2006–2008)
Taylor was hired by
On 20 October 2006 episode of
After
Following Regal's departure, Taylor was absent from SmackDown! for several weeks and began teaming with Paul Burchill at house shows and dark matches. Since then, Taylor had only competed on SmackDown! sparingly, competing in a 20-Man Battle Royal for the then-vacant World Heavyweight Championship and losing a match to former rival Kane. Taylor brought Drew McIntyre to SmackDown! in October 2007 and acted as his mentor, but McIntyre would only make a few appearances before moving to the Raw brand in January 2008.[20][21][22] Following McIntyre's move, Taylor went on a leave of absence from WWE television. He was released by WWE on 28 April 2008.[23]
Later Career (2008–2012, 2017, 2019)
On 26 and 27 September Taylor took part in the 2008 Ted Petty Invitational held by IWA Mid-South in Joliet, Illinois.[24] He defeated Tracy Smothers in the first round, but lost out to Claudio Castagnoli in the quarter-finals.
From 27 to 29 March 2009, he competed in Chikara's King of Trios Tournament as a member of "Team Uppercut", along with Castagnoli and Bryan Danielson. The team made it all the way to the finals before losing to "F.I.S.T." of Gran Akuma, Icarus and Chuck Taylor.
On 4 April 2009, Taylor lost a fourway match for the HPW Heavyweight Championship against HPW heavyweight champion Vito "the Violator" Toscani, Anthony Zeus and Eddy De La Combe in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
In March 2010 Taylor received a tryout as an agent for TNA Wrestling.[1]
On 2 April 2011, Taylor appeared at the
On 9 September 2011, Taylor made his debut for small British promotion New Generation Wrestling (NGW) in a winning effort against
Taylor retired from professional wrestling in 2012.[2] Taylor returned to wrestling for one night only on September 23, 2017 teaming with Franz Schuhmann against Salvatore Bellomo and Big Tiger Steele in a no contest in Bremen, Germany.[26] On December 21, 2019, Taylor returned to Hannover, Germany for European Wrestling Promotion on December 21, 2019 where he fought Ice Train in a no contest.[27]
Championships and accomplishments
- All Star Promotions
- Catch Wrestling Association
- CWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times)[6] – with Chris Benoit (1), and Miles Zrno (1)[1]
- Hanover Tournament (2004)
- CWF Mid-Atlantic
- Frontier Wrestling Alliance
- European Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[1]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Dave Taylor". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Dave Taylor". Cagematch.de. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
- ^ "The Comeback". Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
- ^ a b "British Heavyweight Title". Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ a b c "C.W.A. World Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ a b Waldman, Jon (21 October 2006). "Smackdown: A-1 matches better "A-list" celebs". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ McNamara, Andy (18 November 2006). "Smackdown: Batista crowns the King". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ McNamara, Andy (25 November 2006). "Smackdown: A royal thrashing". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ McNamara, Andy (9 December 2006). "Smackdown: Deadman plays mind games". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Elliott, Brian (18 December 2006). "Unexpected ladder contest steals Armageddon". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Waldman, Jon (13 January 2007). "Smackdown: The last dash to the Rumble". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ McNamara, Andy (8 April 2007). "Booker's kingdom continues to crumble". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ McNamara, Andy (28 April 2007). "Smackdown: Kennedy and Finlay falter". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 30 June 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Waldman, Jon (12 May 2007). "Smackdown: The title's on the line..." SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ McNamara, Andy (19 May 2007). "Smackdown: Edge addresses the masses". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ McNamara, Andy (26 May 2007). "Smackdown: The Animal rises again". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ McNamara, Andy (30 May 2007). "Smackdown: The Animal cuts down Edge". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Dee, Louie (17 June 2007). "2007 Supplemental Draft results". WWE. Retrieved 20 January 2008.
- ^ DiFino, Lennie (12 October 2007). "Scottish invasion". WWE. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ DiFino, Lennie (19 October 2007). "One of our own". WWE. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ "WWE.com HEAT archives". WWE. 4 January 2008. Archived from the original on 16 March 2009. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ "2008 TPI". iwamidsouth.com. 14 July 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ Caldwell, James; Radican, Sean (2 April 2011). "ROH Internet PPV report 4/2: Caldwell & Radican's ongoing "virtual-time" coverage of live ROH PPV from Atlanta". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
- ^ "Cagematch.net".
- ^ "Cagematch.net".
- ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500 – 2007". Wrestling Information Archive. Archived from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
External links
- David Taylor at IMDb
- Dave Taylor's profile at Cagematch.net , Wrestlingdata.com , Internet Wrestling Database