well, I’m reading the WSJ article, then reading wiki, which says that Merv Griffin had driven Resorts Intl into the ground by 1988 and ‘construction was stopped’ on the Taj Mahal, as in, nobody was being paid. Griffin initially refused to sell but Trump prevailed by swapping some properties with Merv. Trump then spent a billion dollars to open the casino in 1990 - which went on to become the top grossing casino on the strip for well over a decade.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Taj_Mahal
According to the wsj article Trump began his hostile takeover of the Taj Maja in 1987 and used his stock holdings to sabotage the company so that it’s stock price would plummet and he could take it over.