Lane Huffman
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| Lane Huffman | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | Jive Soul Bro Super Collider Stevie Ray The Masked Heel[1] Kane |
| Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Billed weight | 289 lb (131 kg/20.6 st) |
| Born | August 22, 1958 Houston, Texas |
| Billed from | Harlem, New York City, New York |
| Trained by | Scott Casey |
| Debut | 1989 |
| Retired | 2002 |
Lane Steven Huffman, (born August 22, 1958 in Houston, Texas), is a retired American professional wrestler who is better known as Stevie Ray. He is best known as being part of the tag team Harlem Heat with his younger brother Booker Huffman (better known as Booker T). With his brother, he held the WCW World Tag Team Championship a record ten times.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Early career
Lane Huffman started wrestling in 1989 as Super Collider in 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 in a tag team called The Ebony Experience for the Global Wrestling Federation, which was on ESPN.[2] They were faces and feuded with the "Blackbirds" of Iceman Parsons and Brickhouse Brown. They won the Tag Team titles three times. Huffman then went on to win the GWF North American Title in 1993.
[edit] Early WCW
In August 1993, they went to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and changed their team name to Harlem Heat and he became Kane while Booker became Kole. They were then billed from Harlem. They became heels and were on Harley Race and Col. Rob Parker's team in the War Games at Fall Brawl on September 19, 1993, against Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes and The Shockmaster. They lost the match but were over as heels because of the caliber of faces they wrestled.
In 1994, they got Sister Sherri as their manager and changed their names back to Booker T and Stevie Ray. They feuded with "Stars N Stripes" (The Patriot and Marcus Bagwell) and won the WCW Tag Team Titles for the first time.
From there, they feuded with The Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags & Brian Knobbs) and got into a feud with Col. Parker's "Stud Stable" of Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck where Parker and Sherri were carrying on a love affair. Parker eventually left the Stud Stable in favor of the Heat to be with Sherri.
They had brief feuds with Lex Luger & Sting and The Road Warriors before starting a long feud with Rick and Scott Steiner in 1996. In October, they lost their titles to The Outsiders, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, and they fired Col. Parker and beat him up and became full-fledged faces. They would then enter into a brief feud against Parker's newest team The Amazing French Canadians, a feud they would win.
In 1997 they feuded with Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge & Rocco Rock), The Steiners and the New World Order. In fall 1997, they fired Sherri and added a new manager, Jacqueline. They were briefly put out of action by the nWo and returned to feud with the Faces of Fear (Meng & The Barbarian). Stevie then took five months off from WCW. Meanwhile, Booker T. would go on to win WCW World Television Championship. Through the association with his brother, he would gain his only singles title in WCW, as when Booker took time off with an injury as Television Champion, Stevie got a "power of attorney" to defend the belt for Booker. He then engaged in a short feud with Chavo Guerrero Jr. over the right to defend the belt and dropping it to Chris Jericho afterwards.
[edit] nWo
By 1998, Stevie Ray had returned to the ring, and the powerful gang-like faction of the nWo had been split into two: Hollywood Hogan's nWo Hollywood and Kevin Nash's nWo Wolfpac. Stevie Ray would be offered a spot in nWo Hollywood, but was hesitant at first. He would join the "black & white" in September, effectively turning him heel.
Although this would make Stevie Ray known for using dirty tactics and a stength-in-numbers mentality, his brother, Booker, showed little resentment and respected Stevie Ray's decision to be apart of the nWo. Meanwhile, Booker was steadily gaining popularity as a face, climbing the ranks of the WCW roster and winning championship titles.
During his tenure with the nWo, Stevie Ray would tag team with the likes of Horace Hogan and Scott Norton as well as performing in singles competition, often with Vincent at ringside. Alongside Hollywood Hogan and Bret Hart, he also participated in the War Games of Fall Brawl '98. The slapjack became known as Stevie Ray's trademark weapon which he would frequently use to knock an opponent unconscious, typically when the referee was distracted.
By early 1999, both nWo factions had fused back together, but members of nWo Hollywood started bickering over who the leader of the sub-faction was. Hollywood Hogan began telling various members in private that he had granted them official leadership, causing confusion and friction between members. Not long after, Stevie Ray won the leadership role in a 4-man battle royal on an April edition WCW Thunder, defeating Horace Hogan, Brian Adams, and Vincent.
During his tenure in the nWo, Stevie took up the habit of calling his opponents " fruit booties."
[edit] Harlem Heat reborn
As tension grew between members of nWo Hollywood, Stevie Ray started helping Booker T during his matches. As Booker was getting ganged up on in July, the two reunited Harlem Heat. They began feuding with Barry & Kendall Windham as well as The Jersey Triad of Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Kanyon and Bam Bam Bigelow. They went on to win the Tag Titles three more times, making them 10 time champions.
By late 1999, a female bodybuilder named Midnight had joined Harlem Heat. Stevie resented her help and started disputing with Booker over her. He eventually challenged Midnight in a match that would decide whether or not she would stay with Harlem Heat. After being defeated with a surprise small package, Stevie Ray would turn on both Booker and Midnight to form Harlem Heat, Inc. with Big T, Kash and J. Biggs. They won the rights to the Harlem Heat name in a match with Big T against Booker on February 20, 2000 at SuperBrawl X.
In May, Stevie split from Big T, Kash and Biggs (who all left WCW) and helped Booker T out of a jam. He then retired to become a commentator for WCW Thunder.
As a commentator, Stevie referred to all of the women as "yaks" and coined his catchphrase "Suckas gots to know!" He also provided in-depth analysis from a wrestler's point of view during matches and constantly criticized wrestlers for mistakes made in the ring. For example, he would often say that a wrestler "should have went for the cover!" or "needed to hook the leg!" and this advice earned him the nickname, "Straightshootin'" Stevie Ray.
Stevie came back for one more WCW match (a retirement match) against Scott Steiner in late 2000, which he lost. He wrestled a few matches for WWA against Ernest Miller in 2002 and then retired to run a garage.
[edit] Full retirement
In March 2005, Lane and Booker Huffman opened the Booker T. & Stevie Ray Pro Wrestling Academy in Houston. In addition to running his garage, Lane has also helped with the training of several upcoming wrestlers in the PWA. In fact, Lane (along with his brother Booker) helped retrain current ECW wrestler Boogeyman after he was released from World Wrestling Entertainment. After only two weeks of intense training with Lane and Booker at the PWA, Boogeyman was rehired by WWE.
[edit] In wrestling
- Finishing and signature
-
- Overheat (Double underhook facebuster)
- 110th Street Slam (High-impact delayed spinebuster)
- Release powerbomb
- Pendulum backbreaker
- Bearhug
- Signature weapon
- Managers
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
-
- PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1995 - with Booker T
- PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1996 - with Booker T
- PWI ranked him # 248 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
- PWI ranked him # 62 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Booker T in 2003.
-
- WCW World Tag Team Championship (10 times) - with Booker T
- WCW World Television Championship (1 time)
[edit] References
- Lane Huffman. Shoot Interview with Stevie Ray (2006) [DVD].
- ^ WCW Thunder - Wednesday, September 20, 2000
- ^ Lane Huffman. Shoot Interview with Stevie Ray (2006) [DVD].
