WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.839 Picture the absolute loudest, most chaotic environment 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:06.040 you can possibly imagine. Right, just total sensory 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:08.539 overload. Exactly. Pyrotechnics are going off, 00:00:08.619 --> 00:00:10.179 you've got 20 ,000 people screaming their heads 00:00:10.179 --> 00:00:12.960 off, and the performers in the center of the 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.759 arena are wearing neon spandex. Oh, yeah, shouting 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:17.879 catchphrases and doing whatever they can to get 00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:20.160 you to look at them. Right. Now, in the middle 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:22.820 of all that noise, I want you to imagine a man. 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:26.980 He's towering at six foot three. weighing 256 00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:29.719 pounds, which is a massive guy. Yeah, totally. 00:00:30.100 --> 00:00:32.219 And he's wearing completely unflashy trunks. 00:00:32.219 --> 00:00:34.560 He isn't yelling. He isn't, you know, pandering 00:00:34.560 --> 00:00:36.719 to the crowd. But somehow he's the one holding 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:40.380 the whole thing together. Yes. Welcome to today's 00:00:40.380 --> 00:00:43.460 deep dive. We are digging into the source material, 00:00:43.799 --> 00:00:46.719 specifically the Wikipedia archives, to explore 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.979 the life and the quiet mastery of English professional 00:00:49.979 --> 00:00:52.539 wrestler. Dave Taylor. And the mission for this 00:00:52.539 --> 00:00:55.520 deep dive is really to figure out how a third 00:00:55.520 --> 00:00:58.600 generation grappler from Yorkshire managed to 00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:01.100 become this undeniable linchpin of the global 00:01:01.100 --> 00:01:03.780 wrestling industry. Across four completely different 00:01:03.780 --> 00:01:06.319 decades, no less. Yeah, what's fascinating here 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:09.739 is how his career serves as a perfectly scaled 00:01:09.739 --> 00:01:12.620 map of the industry's evolution. Like if you 00:01:12.620 --> 00:01:14.939 track his movements, you're tracking the mechanics 00:01:14.939 --> 00:01:18.079 of the business itself, right? Exactly. You see 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:21.239 the industry move from regional UK terrestrial 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:26.040 television in the 1980s to the really gritty 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:27.879 German circuits. Oh, we're definitely going to 00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:30.319 talk about Germany. Oh, yeah. And from there, 00:01:30.620 --> 00:01:33.420 straight into the massive corporate boom of the 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:36.480 U .S. Monday Night Wars in the 90s and finally 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:39.340 settling into the modern independent scene. He 00:01:39.340 --> 00:01:41.299 was the connective tissue through all of those 00:01:41.299 --> 00:01:44.140 era shifts. I kind of think of him as the ultimate 00:01:44.140 --> 00:01:46.299 character actor of the wrestling world. Oh, that's 00:01:46.299 --> 00:01:48.219 a great analogy. Like someone who might not always 00:01:48.219 --> 00:01:50.140 be the face on the promotional poster, you know? 00:01:50.219 --> 00:01:53.439 Yeah. But his technical mastery and physical 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:56.079 presence basically elevate the leading stars. 00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:58.799 Right, because a leading man in a movie has nothing 00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.099 to react to if the character actor doesn't give 00:02:01.099 --> 00:02:04.420 him a solid foundation. Precisely. For Dave Taylor, 00:02:04.799 --> 00:02:06.859 that foundation was practically written into 00:02:06.859 --> 00:02:10.240 his DNA. Before you go global, you have to master 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:14.800 your home turf. And his turf was defined by generations 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:17.219 of specialized knowledge. I mean, Taylor was 00:02:17.219 --> 00:02:20.719 born in 1957 in Yorkshire, England, into just 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:23.520 a massive family legacy. He was a third generation 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:25.979 wrestler. Yeah. And to put that in perspective, 00:02:26.340 --> 00:02:28.800 his father, Eric Taylor, was the British heavy 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:31.620 middleweight champion for 14 consecutive years. 00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:36.180 Wait, 14 years? Spanning from 1953 to 1967. Holding 00:02:36.180 --> 00:02:38.860 any physical combat championship for 14 years 00:02:38.860 --> 00:02:42.050 is just... staggering to me. It really requires 00:02:42.050 --> 00:02:45.110 a level of physical preservation and honestly 00:02:45.110 --> 00:02:47.569 political savvy that most athletes just never 00:02:47.569 --> 00:02:50.009 achieve. And the pedigree goes back even further, 00:02:50.189 --> 00:02:53.270 doesn't it? It does. His grandfather, Joe Taylor, 00:02:53.650 --> 00:02:57.129 competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics. Even Dave's 00:02:57.129 --> 00:02:59.129 brother, Steve, was an established television 00:02:59.129 --> 00:03:00.909 wrestler. So when Dave made his professional 00:03:00.909 --> 00:03:04.990 debut in 1978 as Dave Rocky Taylor, he wasn't 00:03:04.990 --> 00:03:07.629 just like... learning the ropes. No, not at all. 00:03:07.669 --> 00:03:09.830 He had already absorbed the psychology of crowd 00:03:09.830 --> 00:03:12.129 manipulation and physical leverage just sitting 00:03:12.129 --> 00:03:14.969 at his family's dinner table. Right. So he starts 00:03:14.969 --> 00:03:17.930 making his way onto television in the early 80s 00:03:17.930 --> 00:03:21.009 on a Welsh language show called Reslo. And eventually 00:03:21.009 --> 00:03:23.389 moves up to national terrestrial television in 00:03:23.389 --> 00:03:25.789 the UK. But and here's where it gets really interesting. 00:03:25.870 --> 00:03:29.490 You can be a master technician, but sometimes 00:03:29.490 --> 00:03:33.270 pure unscripted chaos is what dictates your legacy. 00:03:33.439 --> 00:03:36.439 Oh, are we talking about Croydon? Yes, the 1988 00:03:36.439 --> 00:03:38.539 Croydon incident. I'm looking at the notes on 00:03:38.539 --> 00:03:40.659 this and it sounds like pure panic. It's a legendary 00:03:40.659 --> 00:03:43.479 moment. So Taylor is in a televised tag team 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:46.639 match. He's teaming with Iron Fist Clive Myers 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:49.960 against two absolute icons of the British scene. 00:03:50.060 --> 00:03:52.580 Right, Kendo Nagasaki and Rollerball Rocco. Yeah, 00:03:52.759 --> 00:03:55.280 and Taylor is in the ring trying to unmask Kendo 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:57.740 Nagasaki. He's pulling at the fabric, and Rollerball 00:03:57.740 --> 00:04:00.319 Rocco jumps in to pull his partner's mask back 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:02.439 down to protect the gimmick. Because the mask 00:04:02.439 --> 00:04:05.159 is everything for that character. Exactly. But 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:07.319 in the heat of the struggle, Taylor throws a 00:04:07.319 --> 00:04:10.240 forearm smash, accidentally hits Rocco, and the 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:13.180 collision somehow causes the mask to just... 00:04:12.939 --> 00:04:15.580 rip completely off in Taylor's hands. Oh man, 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:19.560 live on television. Yes. Nagasaki's face is completely 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:22.639 exposed to the cameras. He immediately sprints 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:25.300 in the dressing room, grabs a spare mask, and 00:04:25.300 --> 00:04:27.480 runs back out. But the illusion is completely 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:29.899 broken at that point. Right. And the fallout. 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:32.699 Nagasaki's manager blames Rocko for the unmasking, 00:04:33.060 --> 00:04:36.160 and it ignites a multi -year blood feud storyline 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:39.529 between Nagasaki and Rocko. It completely shifted 00:04:39.529 --> 00:04:41.910 the landscape of British wrestling for years. 00:04:42.209 --> 00:04:43.750 Okay, well I have to push back here, or at least 00:04:43.750 --> 00:04:45.509 ask you to break down the mechanics of this for 00:04:45.509 --> 00:04:49.029 me. Sure, what's the hangup? Well, we know professional 00:04:49.029 --> 00:04:51.730 wrestling involves scripted storylines and predetermined 00:04:51.730 --> 00:04:53.649 outcomes, right? Of course. But if this was an 00:04:53.649 --> 00:04:56.910 actual accident, like a stray forearm that snagged 00:04:56.910 --> 00:04:59.970 a piece of fabric, how does a genuine mistake 00:04:59.970 --> 00:05:02.850 accidentally rewrite the entire television script 00:05:02.850 --> 00:05:05.389 for the next three years? That right there is 00:05:05.389 --> 00:05:07.870 the dividing line between a good performer and 00:05:07.870 --> 00:05:10.509 a master. I mean, the broad strokes of wrestling 00:05:10.509 --> 00:05:12.689 are planned, but the physical execution happens 00:05:12.689 --> 00:05:15.730 live. So things are meant to go wrong. Exactly. 00:05:16.189 --> 00:05:18.509 Sweat makes things slippery, bodies collide, 00:05:18.910 --> 00:05:21.589 accidents just happen. When an unscripted moment 00:05:21.589 --> 00:05:24.329 like a major character's face being exposed happens, 00:05:24.509 --> 00:05:26.490 the crowd knows it wasn't supposed to go down 00:05:26.490 --> 00:05:28.569 like that. The tension in the room just changes 00:05:28.569 --> 00:05:31.850 instantly, I imagine. Completely. A lesser performer 00:05:31.850 --> 00:05:35.410 would freeze? or try to awkwardly put the mask 00:05:35.410 --> 00:05:37.870 back on. But Taylor and the others in that ring 00:05:37.870 --> 00:05:40.089 adapted instantly. And just rolled with it. Yeah, 00:05:40.129 --> 00:05:42.850 they took a chaotic accident, treated it as a 00:05:42.850 --> 00:05:45.129 deeply offensive betrayal within the context 00:05:45.129 --> 00:05:48.029 of the story, and used the genuine shock of the 00:05:48.029 --> 00:05:51.529 audience to fuel a new, highly lucrative narrative. 00:05:52.050 --> 00:05:54.870 That ability to improvise physically and narratively 00:05:54.870 --> 00:05:57.389 is exactly why Taylor was so highly regarded. 00:05:57.529 --> 00:05:59.470 He rolls with the chaos instead of fighting it. 00:05:59.670 --> 00:06:02.610 I love that. So he continues to dominate the 00:06:02.610 --> 00:06:04.990 UK, winning the British Heavyweight Championship 00:06:04.990 --> 00:06:08.089 against Dave Finley in 1991. And he loses it, 00:06:08.089 --> 00:06:10.529 but then wins it back against Marty Jones in 00:06:10.529 --> 00:06:13.550 1995. Right. But once you conquer Britain, a 00:06:13.550 --> 00:06:15.709 true craftsman kind of seeks out different styles, 00:06:15.949 --> 00:06:18.709 right? This takes him to mainland Europe. Specifically, 00:06:19.009 --> 00:06:21.949 the Catch Wrestling Association, or CWA, in Germany. 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:24.360 And the Cerf material highlights that the German 00:06:24.360 --> 00:06:26.379 style was radically different from what he was 00:06:26.379 --> 00:06:28.939 doing. Oh, vastly different. It was known for 00:06:28.939 --> 00:06:31.899 being a very stiff style of wrestling. OK, break 00:06:31.899 --> 00:06:33.759 that down for someone tuning in who has never 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:36.540 stepped foot in a ring. What makes a style stiff? 00:06:37.779 --> 00:06:40.540 Well... In traditional American wrestling, the 00:06:40.540 --> 00:06:43.279 performers are actively cooperating to make the 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:45.980 moves look impactful, you know, while protecting 00:06:45.980 --> 00:06:48.480 each other from actual trauma. Right, it's cooperative. 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:50.939 But a stiff style, which was highly popular in 00:06:50.939 --> 00:06:54.220 Germany and Japan, involves far less cooperation. 00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:57.199 The strikes are legitimate. Wait, really? Like 00:06:57.199 --> 00:06:59.220 actual hits? Yeah, the forearms actually make 00:06:59.220 --> 00:07:01.660 contact, the kicks leave bruises, and the grappling 00:07:01.660 --> 00:07:04.300 involves real joint manipulation. That sounds 00:07:04.300 --> 00:07:06.720 incredibly painful. It requires an incredibly 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:09.189 high... pain tolerance, and a deep background 00:07:09.189 --> 00:07:11.209 in legitimate amateur wrestling, so you don't 00:07:11.209 --> 00:07:13.209 actually break your opponent's arm by mistake. 00:07:13.410 --> 00:07:15.829 And Taylor thrived in that brutal environment. 00:07:16.029 --> 00:07:21.029 He did. In 1991, in Bremen, Germany, he won the 00:07:21.029 --> 00:07:25.009 CWA World Tag Team Championship. And his partner 00:07:25.009 --> 00:07:28.250 for that championship run was a very young Chris 00:07:28.250 --> 00:07:31.540 Benoit. Which I know Benoit is a complex and 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:33.680 tragic figure in wrestling history. Yes, very 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:36.360 much so. But from a purely athletic standpoint, 00:07:36.740 --> 00:07:40.480 he was notoriously intense. Why does Taylor teaming 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:43.319 with him matter so much to this timeline? Because 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:45.920 Benoit was already building a reputation globally 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:49.660 as a relentless, unforgiving, technical prodigy. 00:07:49.819 --> 00:07:53.120 He trained in the infamous New Japan dojos. So 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:55.120 he was essentially the gold standard for that 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:58.120 stiff style at the time. Exactly. To be paired 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:00.610 with him, And to actually keep up with his pace 00:08:00.610 --> 00:08:03.470 in a stiff German promotion proves that Taylor 00:08:03.470 --> 00:08:05.509 wasn't just a British TV character. Right. He 00:08:05.509 --> 00:08:07.990 was the real deal. He was a legitimate, world 00:08:07.990 --> 00:08:10.730 -class, heavyweight grappler who commanded respect 00:08:10.730 --> 00:08:12.769 from the most serious athletes in the sport. 00:08:13.050 --> 00:08:15.709 He'd win those titles again in 93 with Miles 00:08:15.709 --> 00:08:18.149 Erno. Okay, let's unpack this next phase then. 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:21.230 Because mid 90s, Taylor makes the massive jump 00:08:21.230 --> 00:08:23.350 across the Atlantic. The big American debut. 00:08:23.529 --> 00:08:25.930 Yeah, he joins the Atlanta -based world championship 00:08:25.930 --> 00:08:28.769 wrestling WCW right at the dawn of the American 00:08:28.769 --> 00:08:31.910 wrestling boom. But he doesn't debut as this 00:08:31.910 --> 00:08:34.830 gritty, tough -as -nails German circuit fighter. 00:08:34.909 --> 00:08:37.690 Not at all. Yeah. He undergoes a total character 00:08:37.690 --> 00:08:40.370 reinvention. He becomes Squire David Taylor. 00:08:40.590 --> 00:08:43.529 He just totally embraces the pageantry. He forms 00:08:43.529 --> 00:08:47.629 an incredibly posh, elitist aristocrat stable 00:08:47.629 --> 00:08:51.110 called the Blue Bloods with Lord Stephen Regal. 00:08:51.250 --> 00:08:52.950 And this is where it gets really funny, actually. 00:08:53.110 --> 00:08:55.450 Yeah. They recruit an American wrestler, Earl 00:08:55.450 --> 00:08:58.870 Robert Eaton. to be in their group, try to teach 00:08:58.870 --> 00:09:01.070 him manners, and then eventually kick him out 00:09:01.070 --> 00:09:03.110 and feud with him because he isn't proper enough. 00:09:03.309 --> 00:09:06.409 It is pure unabashed soap opera. Completely. 00:09:06.649 --> 00:09:08.490 It's so different from what he was doing before. 00:09:08.789 --> 00:09:10.610 Well, if we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:09:10.889 --> 00:09:13.750 you are seeing the rarest trait in any performer 00:09:13.750 --> 00:09:15.929 total adaptability. Right, because the mechanical 00:09:15.929 --> 00:09:18.129 shift here is huge. Think about it. He spent 00:09:18.129 --> 00:09:20.870 the early 90s in Germany where the matches were 00:09:20.870 --> 00:09:24.450 quiet. violent, and focused entirely on the geometry 00:09:24.450 --> 00:09:26.870 of grappling. And then he crosses the ocean into 00:09:26.870 --> 00:09:29.669 WCW. Where the matches are built around television 00:09:29.669 --> 00:09:32.029 commercial breaks, running the ropes, and character 00:09:32.029 --> 00:09:34.409 -driven drama. So the actual pacing of how he 00:09:34.409 --> 00:09:36.730 moves in the ring has to change? Completely. 00:09:37.629 --> 00:09:40.629 Many purist technical wrestlers fail when they 00:09:40.629 --> 00:09:42.690 come to America because they refuse to change 00:09:42.690 --> 00:09:44.549 their timing. They just want to do what worked 00:09:44.549 --> 00:09:47.399 in Germany or Japan. Right, they want to wrestle 00:09:47.399 --> 00:09:49.820 a pure sports style in front of an audience that 00:09:49.820 --> 00:09:53.500 just wants a pantomime villain. But Taylor understood 00:09:53.500 --> 00:09:55.399 the assignment. He knew what the crowd wanted. 00:09:55.879 --> 00:09:59.179 He realized his job was no longer just to apply 00:09:59.179 --> 00:10:02.799 a perfect wrist lock. It was to pause, sneer 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:05.399 at the crowd, act like an arrogant snob, and 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:07.440 make the audience desperately want to see him 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:10.200 get punched in the face. That is brilliant. He 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:12.799 manipulated the crowd's emotions just as well 00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:15.399 as he manipulated an opponent's joints. Absolutely. 00:10:15.500 --> 00:10:17.820 So he plays that role to perfection for years. 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:21.039 But as we move into the 2000s, the entire industry 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:23.080 undergoes a corporate monopoly. The end of the 00:10:23.080 --> 00:10:26.539 Monday Night Wars. Yes. In 2001, the WWF, which 00:10:26.539 --> 00:10:30.779 is now WWE, buys WCW. The competition basically 00:10:30.779 --> 00:10:33.700 dies overnight. And this leads to one of my absolute 00:10:33.700 --> 00:10:36.059 favorite details in all the research we pull 00:10:36.059 --> 00:10:38.220 for this deep dive. The transition behind the 00:10:38.220 --> 00:10:43.929 scenes. Yes. In 2001, Taylor joins the WWF. He 00:10:43.929 --> 00:10:46.370 wrestles exactly one match. The records call 00:10:46.370 --> 00:10:49.350 it a dark match. Right, meaning it was performed 00:10:49.350 --> 00:10:51.970 for the live arena crowd before the television 00:10:51.970 --> 00:10:54.730 cameras turned on, usually just to test out talent. 00:10:55.070 --> 00:10:58.139 So he defeats a guy named Scott Vick. in this 00:10:58.139 --> 00:11:00.740 dark match. And then he just leaves the largest 00:11:00.740 --> 00:11:02.600 wrestling corporation on the planet. And the 00:11:02.600 --> 00:11:05.200 reason why is amazing. They told him he had to 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:08.080 relocate to Cincinnati, Ohio to work in their 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:10.120 Heartland Wrestling Association developmental 00:11:10.120 --> 00:11:12.970 territory. and he just flat out refused. Which 00:11:12.970 --> 00:11:15.169 is a remarkable stance to take in a monopoly, 00:11:15.230 --> 00:11:18.070 you know? It is exactly like a highly specialized 00:11:18.070 --> 00:11:21.090 senior software engineer surviving a massive 00:11:21.090 --> 00:11:24.490 corporate merger, only to be told, hey, we love 00:11:24.490 --> 00:11:26.669 your work, but we need you to move to a cubicle 00:11:26.669 --> 00:11:28.970 in a different state to train interns. Yeah, 00:11:29.110 --> 00:11:30.529 and the engineer just looks at the executives 00:11:30.529 --> 00:11:32.809 and says, I know exactly what my time is worth, 00:11:32.850 --> 00:11:35.159 and I'm not doing that. It's a master class in 00:11:35.159 --> 00:11:36.679 setting personal boundaries. Well, he didn't 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:39.179 need the corporate machine to validate his worth. 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:41.659 He knew his value lay in his knowledge. So instead 00:11:41.659 --> 00:11:44.299 of relocating to Cincinnati, he stayed in Atlanta. 00:11:44.590 --> 00:11:47.730 And opened his own school, right? Yes. In 2002, 00:11:47.990 --> 00:11:50.529 he opened the Blue Bloods Wrestling Academy with 00:11:50.529 --> 00:11:53.309 his longtime partners William Regal and Dave 00:11:53.309 --> 00:11:56.210 Finley. They created their own institution to 00:11:56.210 --> 00:11:58.490 teach the mechanics of their craft entirely on 00:11:58.490 --> 00:12:01.230 their own terms. But the giant machine eventually 00:12:01.230 --> 00:12:05.470 realizes it needs the master craftsman. By 2006, 00:12:05.950 --> 00:12:09.309 WWE hires him back on his terms to train students 00:12:09.309 --> 00:12:11.730 in their deep south wrestling territory in Georgia. 00:12:12.070 --> 00:12:14.919 But. Taylor wasn't done on camera yet? No, he 00:12:14.919 --> 00:12:18.139 wasn't. In October 2006, he makes his return 00:12:18.139 --> 00:12:21.000 to the main roster on SmackDown. He reunites 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:23.679 with Regal, but they drop the posh gimmick entirely. 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:26.480 The source material says they were simply portrayed 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:29.500 as sadistic fighters. They stripped away all 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:31.700 the theater. The narrative was simple. We are 00:12:31.700 --> 00:12:34.299 veterans. We know how the human body bends, and 00:12:34.299 --> 00:12:36.720 we are going to stretch you. OK, when you say 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:38.600 stretch you, what does that actually mean in 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:41.250 wrestling terminology? So stretching is a term 00:12:41.250 --> 00:12:43.590 from the old carnivals and the early days of 00:12:43.590 --> 00:12:46.629 the sport. It means applying legitimate painful 00:12:46.629 --> 00:12:48.529 submission holds. Like actually hurting them. 00:12:48.620 --> 00:12:51.860 Well, not necessarily to injure, but to inflict 00:12:51.860 --> 00:12:55.519 enough real discomfort to force a younger, maybe 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:57.779 cocky opponent to respect your authority in the 00:12:57.779 --> 00:13:00.299 ring. It was a warning that their technical knowledge 00:13:00.299 --> 00:13:02.919 made them genuinely dangerous. And his resilience 00:13:02.919 --> 00:13:06.159 during this run is just absurd. In his second 00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:09.139 match back on TV, Taylor tears his left meniscus. 00:13:09.399 --> 00:13:11.519 Which for a guy pushing 50 years old, that is 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:13.879 a career ender. At best, you need surgery and 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:17.190 a year off. But Taylor. He takes a couple of 00:13:17.190 --> 00:13:19.289 weeks to stand in the corner as a manager, heals 00:13:19.289 --> 00:13:22.110 up with terrifying speed and jumps right back 00:13:22.110 --> 00:13:25.269 into active competition. It leads to this massive 00:13:25.269 --> 00:13:27.389 feud with Paul London and Brian Kendrick who 00:13:27.389 --> 00:13:30.370 are these fast young aerial specialists and it 00:13:30.370 --> 00:13:33.330 all culminates at the Armageddon 2006 pay -per 00:13:33.330 --> 00:13:36.669 -view in a fatal four -way ladder match involving 00:13:36.669 --> 00:13:39.399 the Hardys and M &M. And this raises a really 00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:41.220 important question about his role at that point. 00:13:41.299 --> 00:13:44.179 Yeah. How does a 50 year old veteran with a recently 00:13:44.179 --> 00:13:47.320 torn knee balance the expectation to perform 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:50.139 in a chaotic high flying ladder match while also 00:13:50.139 --> 00:13:52.299 fulfilling his primary behind the scenes role 00:13:52.299 --> 00:13:55.299 of passing the torch? Because logically, he shouldn't 00:13:55.299 --> 00:13:57.600 even be in a match that requires jumping off 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.840 a 15 foot ladder. Exactly. And that is where 00:14:00.840 --> 00:14:04.149 ring psychology comes into play. Taylor survived 00:14:04.149 --> 00:14:06.610 that match and actually made it brilliant by 00:14:06.610 --> 00:14:09.389 being the grounded base. He stayed on the mat. 00:14:09.509 --> 00:14:11.730 Right. He wasn't the one taking massive bumps, 00:14:11.769 --> 00:14:13.590 which is the industry term for falling onto the 00:14:13.590 --> 00:14:16.429 mat or crashing through an object. Instead, he 00:14:16.429 --> 00:14:19.470 used his size and technical skill to ground the 00:14:19.470 --> 00:14:22.049 high flyers. Oh, I see. He used the ladder as 00:14:22.049 --> 00:14:24.250 a brutal weapon on the mat rather than climbing 00:14:24.250 --> 00:14:27.649 it for a stunt. Yes. He paced the match, directing 00:14:27.649 --> 00:14:29.789 the traffic of the younger stars, ensuring they 00:14:29.789 --> 00:14:31.490 were in the right place at the right time to 00:14:31.490 --> 00:14:34.960 hit their spectacular moves safely. He was acting 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:37.059 as the architect of the match from the inside. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.639 While simultaneously mentoring in the next generation 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:43.059 during the week. Like in 2007, he brings a young 00:14:43.059 --> 00:14:45.919 Drew McIntyre to Smackdown and acts as his on 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:48.519 -screen mentor. And McIntyre, of course, goes 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:51.419 on to become a global megastar and world champion 00:14:51.419 --> 00:14:54.799 years later. Exactly. Yeah. Taylor is eventually 00:14:54.799 --> 00:14:58.559 released by WWE in April 2008, but he enters 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:01.610 what feels like a Twilight tour. He really cements 00:15:01.610 --> 00:15:04.690 his status as an absolute cult hero on the independent 00:15:04.690 --> 00:15:07.610 scene. Oh, he became a revered elder statesman. 00:15:07.970 --> 00:15:10.029 When he hit the indies, the new generation of 00:15:10.029 --> 00:15:12.870 technical wrestlers just idolized him. I mean, 00:15:12.929 --> 00:15:15.789 look at these stops. He competed in the 2008 00:15:15.789 --> 00:15:19.679 Ted Petty Invitational. In 2010, he got a tryout 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.480 as an agent for TNA Wrestling. And for context, 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:25.080 an agent or a producer in wrestling is the veteran 00:15:25.080 --> 00:15:27.740 who sits down with the talent backstage, helps 00:15:27.740 --> 00:15:29.960 them map out the psychological beats of the match, 00:15:30.360 --> 00:15:32.779 and ensures it fits the television time constraints. 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:35.360 Right. So it is the ultimate role for a journeyman, 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:37.679 really transferring your architectural knowledge 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:39.940 of match structure to the younger talent. Spot 00:15:39.940 --> 00:15:42.320 on. He also appeared in Ring of Honor in 2011, 00:15:42.340 --> 00:15:44.899 joining the embassy stable. He was just distributing 00:15:44.899 --> 00:15:47.549 his specialized knowledge across every alternative 00:15:47.549 --> 00:15:49.830 promotion available. But the peak of this indie 00:15:49.830 --> 00:15:53.990 run, for me, is the 2009 Chikara King of Trios 00:15:53.990 --> 00:15:56.669 tournament. Oh, Chikara was fantastic. It was 00:15:56.669 --> 00:15:59.509 this incredibly quirky, almost comic book style 00:15:59.509 --> 00:16:02.570 wrestling promotion. And here goes Dave Taylor, 00:16:02.809 --> 00:16:06.169 forming a trio called Team Uppercut. with Claudio 00:16:06.169 --> 00:16:09.009 Castagnoli and Bryan Danielson. Two guys who 00:16:09.009 --> 00:16:12.169 would eventually become massive, massive superstars. 00:16:12.370 --> 00:16:15.629 Yes. And they based their entire identity around 00:16:15.629 --> 00:16:18.610 the European uppercut. Which is a strike that 00:16:18.610 --> 00:16:20.970 is totally synonymous with Taylor's heritage. 00:16:21.269 --> 00:16:23.309 How's it different from a regular uppercut? Well, 00:16:23.309 --> 00:16:26.110 unlike a traditional boxing uppercut, the European 00:16:26.110 --> 00:16:28.289 style in wrestling is delivered with the forearm 00:16:28.289 --> 00:16:30.730 and biceps swinging upward into the chest or 00:16:30.730 --> 00:16:33.470 jaw. Ouch. Yeah, it's a hallmark of those rugged 00:16:33.470 --> 00:16:36.470 European circuits we discussed earlier. Forming 00:16:36.470 --> 00:16:38.830 a team around that single fundamental technique 00:16:38.830 --> 00:16:41.610 with two modern indie darlings was just a perfect 00:16:41.610 --> 00:16:44.750 synthesis of the past, present and future. And 00:16:44.750 --> 00:16:46.970 they took that concept all the way to the finals 00:16:46.970 --> 00:16:48.970 of the tournament. So what does this all mean 00:16:48.970 --> 00:16:51.799 for us? We've tracked this massive winding journey 00:16:51.799 --> 00:16:54.279 from a Yorkshire lineage to German stiffness 00:16:54.279 --> 00:16:58.580 to WCW aristocracy to WWE ladder matches to being 00:16:58.580 --> 00:17:01.179 an indie cult hero. I think it means that Dave 00:17:01.179 --> 00:17:04.599 Taylor represents the quiet, load -bearing architecture 00:17:04.599 --> 00:17:07.380 of an entire industry. He officially retired 00:17:07.380 --> 00:17:10.759 in 2012, though he did return for special one 00:17:10.759 --> 00:17:14.750 -off matches in Germany in 2017 and 2019. But 00:17:14.750 --> 00:17:17.430 his legacy is proof that an industry does not 00:17:17.430 --> 00:17:20.690 survive solely on its flashy main event superstars. 00:17:21.130 --> 00:17:24.509 It survives because of the journeymen. The craftsmen 00:17:24.509 --> 00:17:26.990 who master the unglamorous fundamentals. Exactly. 00:17:27.349 --> 00:17:29.930 The ones who adapt mechanically to shifting cultures 00:17:29.930 --> 00:17:32.750 and generously pass that architectural knowledge 00:17:32.750 --> 00:17:35.789 down. Because without the Dave Taylors, the superstars 00:17:35.789 --> 00:17:37.890 have no foundation to stand on and the whole 00:17:37.890 --> 00:17:40.369 production collapses. And that is exactly why 00:17:40.369 --> 00:17:42.730 this deep dive matters to you listening, whether 00:17:42.730 --> 00:17:44.369 you care about professional wrestling or not. 00:17:44.890 --> 00:17:47.309 Absolutely. True mastery in any field, be it 00:17:47.309 --> 00:17:50.259 corporate finance, software development. Creative 00:17:50.259 --> 00:17:52.960 arts often looks exactly like Dave Taylor. It 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:55.500 is the ability to adapt your skills across different 00:17:55.500 --> 00:17:57.759 corporate cultures. And the confidence to set 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:00.359 firm personal boundaries, like refusing to move 00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:03.039 to Cincinnati because you know the actual value 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:06.779 of your expertise. Yes. And above all, it's about 00:18:06.779 --> 00:18:10.400 having the technical mastery to quietly, consistently 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:13.359 elevate the people around you so the entire project 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.480 succeeds. Which leaves us with a provocative 00:18:15.480 --> 00:18:18.779 thought to consider. Today, major wrestling companies, 00:18:19.019 --> 00:18:21.059 much like massive tech firms or corporations, 00:18:21.539 --> 00:18:24.579 train their talent in highly sanitized, strictly 00:18:24.579 --> 00:18:27.240 controlled, state of the art performance centers. 00:18:27.640 --> 00:18:30.839 Everything is homogenized. Right. So as those 00:18:30.839 --> 00:18:32.740 environments become the norm, does it make it 00:18:32.740 --> 00:18:35.200 impossible for a rugged organic journeyman like 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:37.940 Dave Taylor, who learned his craft in the messy, 00:18:38.099 --> 00:18:41.180 chaotic global circus to ever exist again? Has 00:18:41.180 --> 00:18:43.240 the modern corporate structure permanently killed 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:45.460 the era of the true craftsman? Think about the 00:18:45.460 --> 00:18:47.450 Dave Taylor holding your own workplace together 00:18:47.450 --> 00:18:49.609 and make sure you thank them before the system 00:18:49.609 --> 00:18:50.309 replaces them.