Дэйв "Рокки" Тейлор: Күрес шеберінің өмірі мен мансабы

English professional wrestler

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. Taylor defeated Dave Finlay for the All Star British Heavyweight Championship in King's Lynn on 4 June 1991. He held the title for two years before losing to Tony St. Clair on 4 May 1993 in Croydon. After St. Claire vacated the title in 1995, Taylor entered a tournament for the belt, and defeated Marty 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 the German Catch Wrestling Association. On 21 December 1991 in Bremen, he and Chris Benoit defeated Franz Schumann and Miles Zrno for the CWA World Tag Team Championship. They vacated the titles in June 1992 after Taylor suffered an injury and Benoit left the CWA to compete in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Taylor won the CWA Tag Team Championship on a second occasion on 18 July 1993, teaming with Mile Zrno to defeat Larry Cameron and Mad Bull Buster. Cameron and Buster regained the titles on 24 October 1993 in Hanover. The two debuted the same night, earning a dominating victory over Scotty 2 Hotty and Funaki. The match was changed into a fatal four way ladder match also involving MNM and The Hardys, and London and Kendrick retained their titles. In a subsequent regular tag rematch on SmackDown! Regal and Taylor came up short of winning the titles. After WrestleMania 23, Regal and Taylor began a feud with Kane when after a match between Kane and Taylor, Taylor and Regal attacked Kane. The Boogeyman soon joined the feud as Kane's tag team partner, but the feud ended after Kane defeated Regal in a singles match. On 25 May edition of SmackDown!, Regal and Taylor competed in a number one contenders match for the WWE Tag Team Championship against Kendrick and London which they lost when Deuce 'n Domino interfered, making both teams the number one contenders. This led to a triple threat match the next week on SmackDown!, where Deuce 'n Domino retained. Taylor and Regal's tag team would come to an end on 17 June when Regal was drafted to Raw during the Supplemental Draft. 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. Following McIntyre's move, Taylor went on a leave of absence from WWE television. He was released by WWE on 28 April 2008.

On 26 and 27 September Taylor took part in the 2008 Ted Petty Invitational held by IWA Mid South in Joliet, Illinois. 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. On 9 September 2011, Taylor made his debut for small British promotion New Generation Wrestling (NGW) in a winning effort against Jack Gallagher. Taylor retired from professional wrestling in 2012. 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.