| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | David Taylor (1957-05-01)1 May 1957 (age 68)[1] |
| 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 an English retiredprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his weekly appearances onWorld of Sport and in the United States for his time withWorld Championship Wrestling from 1995 to 2000 and withWorld Wrestling Entertainment from 2006 to 2008.[1][2]
A third-generation wrestler, Taylor was trained by his father Eric Taylor (who held the British Heavy-Middleweight title for the 14 years 1953–1967) and grandfatherJoe who competed in Wrestling at the 1932 Summer Olympic Games. His brother Steve was also an established TV wrestler. After winning several awards as anamateur wrestler, Taylor made his professional debut in 1978 under thering name Dave "Rocky" Taylor.
Taylor made his TV debut in the early 1980s onReslo, promoterOrig Williams' Welsh language TV wrestling show forS4C. He eventually joinedAll Star Wrestling in the mid 1980s appearing in the promotion's TV show on cable channelScreensport. He briefly defected toJoint Promotions in 1986, making his national terrestrial TV debut in September that year, losing a tournament semifinal for the vacantBritish Heavyweight Championship to finalist and former champion Ray Steele, before returning to All Star Wrestling in 1987 when the company gained a share of ITV's wrestling coverage.
In early 1988, Taylor was tangentially involved in the falling out ofKendo Nagasaki andRollerball 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 defeatedDave Finlay for theAll-Star British Heavyweight Championship inKing's Lynn on 4 June 1991.[5] He held the title for two years before losing to Tony St. Clair on 4 May 1993 inCroydon. After St. Clair vacated the title in 1995, Taylor entered a tournament for the belt, and defeatedMarty Jones in the tournament final in August 1995 in Croydon. His second reign lasted until 1996, when he was defeated by Jones in Croydon.
In the early 1990s, Taylor began wrestling for theGermanCatch Wrestling Association. On 21 December 1991 inBremen, he andChris Benoit defeated Franz Schumann and Miles Zrno for theCWA World Tag Team Championship.[6] They vacated the titles in June 1992 after Taylor suffered an injury and Benoit left the CWA to compete inNew Japan Pro-Wrestling. Taylor won the CWA Tag Team Championship on a second occasion on 18 July 1993,teaming withMile Zrno to defeat Larry Cameron and Mad Bull Buster. Cameron and Buster regained the titles on 24 October 1993 inHanover.[6]
In the mid-1990s, Taylor traveled to the United States of America and joined theAtlanta-basedWorld Championship Wrestling promotion. Taylor, renamedSquire David Taylor, formed astable withLord Steven Regal andEarl Robert Eaton known asThe Blue Bloods.[1] After Eaton (an American) left the group, Taylor and Regalfeuded with him. Taylor continued to team with Regal until Regal was fired from WCW in 1998. Taylor would work more singles matches and teamed withFit Finlay in 1999. Later that year, Regal returned to WCW after being fired from WWF. Taylor and Regal would leave the promotion in 2000 before WCW was bought by the WWF in March 2001.
In 2001, Taylor joined theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF), acting as a trainer and wrestler inOhio Valley Wrestling, a subsidiary of the WWF.[1] Only working one match where he defeatedScott Vick in a dark match forWWF Jakked/Metal on 7 May 2001. He worked for Heartland Wrestling Association where he teamed with WCW alumnusLash LeRoux. Taylor eventually left the WWF after unhappiness over having to relocate toCincinnati, Ohio, where the WWF'sHeartland Wrestling Association subsidiary was located.[1]
In May 2002, Taylor, William (formerly Steven) Regal andDave Finlay opened the Atlantan "Blue Bloods Wrestling Academy", aprofessional wrestling school.[1]
On 7 April 2004 Taylor made an appearance inTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling as a mentor/coach ofTeam Britain during theTNA 2004 America's X-Cup Tournament.[1]
In February 2005, Taylor came back to the UK for three weeks with Brian Dixon'sAll Star Wrestling, where he responded to some comments made byDrew McDonald.
Taylor was hired byWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in January 2006 to train wrestling students atDeep South Wrestling (DSW) inMcDonough, Georgia.[1] On 23 March 2006, Taylor returned to the ring in DSW to once again team with William Regal.[1]
On 20 October 2006 episode ofSmackDown!, Regal announced that Taylor would be joining him on the brand.[7] The two debuted the same night, earning a dominating victory overScotty 2 Hotty andFunaki.[7] Though the pair reformed their previous tag team, Regal and Taylor would not reuse the Blue Bloodsgimmick, instead portraying themselves as sadistic fighters. The team was quickly put into jeopardy in their second match together when Taylor suffered a tornmeniscus in his left knee. Taylor took a more relaxed role for a couple of weeks as a corner man for Regal and only wrestled a few shorthouse show matches. Taylor would quickly heal from his injury and the pair went on to feud withPaul London and Brian Kendrick in the hunt for theWWE Tag Team Championship. After defeating London and Kendrick on several occasions, they earned a WWE Tag Team Championship match atArmageddon in December.[8][9][10] The match was changed into afatal-four wayladder match also involvingMNM andThe Hardys, and London and Kendrick retained their titles.[11] In a subsequent regular tag rematch onSmackDown! Regal and Taylor came up short of winning the titles.[12]
AfterWrestleMania 23, Regal and Taylor began a feud withKane when after a match between Kane and Taylor, Taylor and Regal attacked Kane.[13]The Boogeyman soon joined the feud as Kane's tag team partner, but the feud ended after Kane defeated Regal in a singles match.[14][15][16] On 25 May edition ofSmackDown!, Regal and Taylor competed in a number one contenders match for the WWE Tag Team Championship against Kendrick and London which they lost whenDeuce 'n Domino interfered, making both teams the number one contenders.[17] This led to a triple threat match the next week onSmackDown!, where Deuce 'n Domino retained.[18] Taylor and Regal's tag team would come to an end on 17 June when Regal was drafted toRaw during theSupplemental Draft.[19]
Following Regal's departure, Taylor was absent fromSmackDown! for several weeks and began teaming withPaul Burchill at house shows and dark matches. Since then, Taylor had only competed onSmackDown! sparingly, competing in a 20-Man Battle Royal for the then-vacantWorld Heavyweight Championship and losing a match to former rival Kane. Taylor broughtDrew McIntyre toSmackDown! in October 2007 and acted as his mentor, but McIntyre would only make a few appearances before moving to theRaw 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]
On 26 and 27 September Taylor took part in the2008 Ted Petty Invitational held byIWA Mid-South inJoliet, Illinois.[24] He defeatedTracy Smothers in the first round, but lost out toClaudio Castagnoli in the quarter-finals.
From 27 to 29 March 2009, he competed inChikara'sKing of Trios Tournament as a member of "Team Uppercut", along with Castagnoli andBryan Danielson. The team made it all the way to the finals before losing to "F.I.S.T." ofGran Akuma,Icarus andChuck 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 forTNA Wrestling.[1]
On 2 April 2011, Taylor appeared at theRing of Honor pay-per-viewHonor Takes Center Stage as the newest member ofPrince Nana'sThe Embassy stable, facingColt Cabana in a losing effort.[25]
On 9 September 2011, Taylor made his debut for small British promotion New Generation Wrestling (NGW) in a winning effort againstJack Gallagher.
Taylor retired from professional wrestling in 2012.[2] Taylor returned to wrestling for one night only on 23 September 2017 teaming withFranz Schuhmann againstSalvatore Bellomo andBig Tiger Steele in a no contest in Bremen, Germany.[26] On 21 December 2019, Taylor returned to Hannover, Germany for European Wrestling Promotion on 21 December 2019 where he foughtIce Train in a no contest.[27]
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