Allan Funk

Allan Eric Funk (born July 7, 1971) is an American professional wrestler, who has previously worked in promotions such as World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, often with comedic personas. He competes in Lucha Libre USA as Chi Chi.

Professional wrestling career

World Championship Wrestling

He first appeared in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as Allan Funk, wrestling on Saturday Night and WorldWide against opponents such as Sonny Siaki. Soon after his debut, Allan had a brief feud with Barry Horowitz, he then teamed with "Above Average" Mike Sanders, as the Re-Enforcers. The team dissolved after both men got brought to WCW Monday Nitro.

Allan Funk is not related to Terry Funk. Upon his graduation from the WCW Power Plant in 1998, Funk was moved up to the main roster and given a left field gimmick as an eccentric dressed all in pink, and given the ring name Kwee Wee. Contrary to popular belief the Kwee Wee was not a homosexual, as demonstrated by his physical interactions withmanager Paisley. Near the end of WCW's existence, Kwee Wee developed an aggressive alter-ego named "Angry Allan", whom Kwee Wee would suddenly "turn into" in the event he was angered, a gimmick similar to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or The Incredible Hulk. He feuded with Prince Iaukea, Elix Skipper and The Natural Born Thrillers.

WCW Monday Nitro

WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001. Production ceased shortly after WCW was purchased by the WWF.

The debut of Nitro began the Monday Night Wars, a ratings battle between the WWF and WCW that lasted for almost six years and saw each company resort to cutthroat tactics to try to compete with the competition. In mid-1996, Nitro began to draw better ratings than Raw based on the strength of the nWo storyline, a rebellious wrestling stable that wanted to take over WCW. Nitro continued to beat Raw for 84 consecutive weeks, forcing WWE owner Vince McMahon to change the way he did business. As the nWo storyline grew stagnant, fan interest in the storyline waned, and Raw began to edge out Nitro in the ratings.

The turning point for the organizations came during mid April 1998 after Stone Cold Steve Austin won his first WWF World Heavyweight Title. From that week forward, Raw beat Nitro in the ratings by a significant amount, and WCW was never able to regain the success it once had.

Stevie Ray

Lash Rushay Huffman (born August 22, 1958) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He's better known by his ring name, Stevie Ray. Stevie Ray is best known for his seven-year tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1993 to 2000, where he was one-half of the tag team Harlem Heat, with his younger brother Booker T. Huffman, better known as Booker T. They won the WCW World Tag Team Championship a record ten times.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1989–1993)

Lash Huffman started wrestling in 1989 as Super Collider on the independent circuit in Texas. In Ivan Putski's Western Wrestling Alliance, he first started feuding with his brother, Booker (who was G.I. Bro at the time) under the ring name Jive Soul Bro. He began teaming with his brother as Stevie Ray (named after Stevie Ray Vaughan) in a tag team called The Ebony Experience for the Global Wrestling Federation, which was on ESPN. They were faces and feuded with the "Blackbirds" of Iceman King Parsons and Brickhouse Brown. They won the GWF Tag Team Championship three times. Stevie Ray then went on to win the GWF North American Heavyweight Championship in 1993.

World Championship Wrestling

World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion company based in Atlanta, Georgia. It began as a regional (mid-Atlantic U.S.), National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)-affiliated "territory" promotion – Jim Crockett Promotions – until November 1988, when Ted Turner (through his Turner Broadcasting System business) bought the promotion, whose struggle to compete with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) had left it near bankruptcy. Immediately after the buyout, the promotion was renamed the Universal Wrestling Corporation (UWC) and consisted of Crockett's business assets; however, it was soon renamed again: World Championship Wrestling (the title of the promotion's weekly TV series, which had aired on TBS for many years prior).

In the mid-1990s, WCW dramatically improved its economic performance, largely due to the promotion of Eric Bischoff to Executive Producer (to guide the overall direction of the on-screen product); the strategy of quickly hiring former WWF main eventers who often brought large fanbases with them; the introduction of the Monday Nitro series on cable TV, and the resultant Monday Night Wars with the WWF's Monday Night Raw; the successful creative and marketing execution of the New World Order (nWo) brand/stable of wrestlers; and other innovative concepts. WCW also had a popular and successful cruiserweight division (an acrobatic, faster-paced, lucha libre-inspired style of wrestling).

Prince Iaukea

Michael Laauli "Mike" Hayner (born August 1, 1964) is an American professional wrestler best known as Prince Iaukea in World Championship Wrestling. He earned a black belt in Judo right after high school and is well trained in amateur and submission wrestling. He has trained with former USMC champions Greg Gibson and Craig Pittman, and submission wrestlers Gordon Nelson, Ron Hill, and Karl Gotch.

Career

World Championship Wrestling (1995–2000)

After being trained by Dean Malenko and Rico Federico, Hayner debuted on World Championship Wrestling (WCW) pay-per-view Fall Brawl 1995 as a cadet delivering papers to Cobra for Craig Pittman. Later, Kevin Sullivan brought him to some TV tapings and was so impressed by his professionalism, overall attitude, and respect for the business that Sullivan gave him the Iaukea name taken from Curtis Iaukea, a good friend of Sullivan. Prince Iaukea debuted on WCW TV in 1996 and quickly made a name for himself with his unique Samoan persona and real submission wrestling skills along with solid pro wrestling ability. The common pronunciation of his ring name came about by the mispronunciation from WCW Announcer Tony Schiavone. Prince Iaukea also received blessing from King Curtis Iaukea during a phone conversation with King Curtis telling him that "he was family" and that he enjoyed the work that Prince was doing.