Terrance Wayne "Terry" Allen (born June 11, 1959) is an American retired professional wrestler, manager and commentator and from Chesapeake, VA who competed from 1978 to 1986 as Magnum T.A.
He debuted under his own name for the National Wrestling Alliance territories Championship Wrestling from Florida and Pacific Northwest Wrestling in Portland, Oregon, before switching to Mid-South, where he changed his name to Magnum T.A. He found his greatest success working for the NWA in Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, until he was forced to retire after a car accident in October 1986. He worked as a commentator and managed Sting and Lex Luger to victory in the 1988 Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup tag team tournament. He also worked in the WCW office until he left in the mid-1990s to return home to Virginia to work in telecommunications.
Among his in-ring achievements, he is a former 2x NWA United States Heavyweight Champion, a former Mid-South North American Heavyweight Champion, a former 2x Mid-South Tag Team Champion (1x w/"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and 1x w/Mr. Wrestling II), a 5x NWA Florida Global Tag Team Champion (3x w/Scott McGhee, 1x w/The Midnight Rider (Dusty Rhodes) and 1x w/Brad Armstrong) and, in 2017, the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame awarded him its "Lou Thesz World Heavyweight Championship Award."
"Magnum Trope A":
- The Big Damn Kiss: He gave one to Tully Blanchard's valet Baby Doll during his feud with Blanchard. She spoke well
about it years later. - Carpet of Virility: He had the chest pelt to go with the Magnum mustache.
- Celebrity Resemblance: Basically the entirety of his "Magnum T.A." gimmick was based on him having a passing resemblance to actor Tom Selleck, who at the time was starring in the popular television series Magnum, P.I.. Allen adopted the ring name after André the Giant suggested that he combine the Magnum name with the initials of his real name, resulting in a ring name similar to the title of the TV show.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: As much of his gimmick was based on him looking like the title character of Magnum, he still was very strong in the ring. He hit the belly-to-belly suplex on Kamala, who had a gimmicked weight of 450 lbs and probably weighed over 350.
- Charlie Brown from Outta Town: He joined Dusty Rhodes when he masqueraded himself as "The Midnight Rider" as The James Boys.
- Cut Short: One of the most dramatic examples of this in pro wrestling (at least not involving death); Magnum T.A. was one of the most popular stars in the NWA, even viewed as being groomed to become world champion, until a car accident and resulting back injury ended his career.
- Eye Scream: How he won his "I Quit" Match against Tully Blanchard. Magnum was carving up Blanchard's forehead with sharp wreckage from a broken wooden chair and it wasn't getting Blanchard to quit. When Magnum threatened to go after Blanchard's eye with it though, Blanchard's nerve broke and he quit.
- Gimmick Matches: His Steel Cage "I Quit" match against Tully Blanchard at NWA's Starrcade 1985 is considered the pinnacle of his career.
- Heroic Second Wind:
- He occasionally had an unstoppable rage variant, best seen in his United States Championship defense against Kamala, after he got sick of the Ugandan hitting him in the head the strikes stopped staggering him, even as he bled.
- He also had one of these during his Best of Seven series with Nikita Koloff over the vacant U.S. Championship. After losing the first three matches in a row to Nikita, Magnum began a comeback, winning the next three matches to keep the series going. However, in the tie-breaking seventh match, Nikita defeated Magnum to win the series and the title after interference from Ivan Koloff and Krusher Khruschev.
- Manly Facial Hair: He had a very manly, very '80s-worthy mustache. It's what led to him taking on the "Magnum" name, deriving it from famous mustache-wearer Tom Selleck's Magnum, P.I. character Thomas Magnum.
- Red Baron: "American Heart Throb".
- Suplex Finisher: His Finishing Move was the Belly-to-Belly Suplex.
- Tag Team: America's Team, with Dusty Rhodes.
- Talk Show with Fists: "Straight Talk with the Boss," after he had to retire.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Inverted. While in Mid-South, his mentor Mr. Wrestling II turned on him.
- Wrestling Family: His stepdaughter is Tessa Blanchard.
