Jimmy Garvin
Jimmy Garvin | |
---|---|
Birth name | James Williams |
Born | Tampa, Florida, U.S.[1] | September 25, 1952
Spouse(s) | [2] |
Children | 2 |
Family | Ron Garvin (stepfather)[3] Valerie French (cousin) |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Beau James[1] Jimmy Garvin[1] |
Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm) |
Billed weight | 235 lb (107 kg) |
Billed from | Tampa, Florida "Badstreet U.S.A"[4] |
Debut | 1968 |
Retired | 2000 |
James Williams (born September 25, 1952) is an
Early life
Williams grew up in Tampa, Florida, where he was an amateur wrestler.[1]
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1968-1983)
Garvin began his wrestling career in November 1968 at the age of 16 as Beau James. He soon took the name "Gorgeous Jimmy" Garvin and was given two kayfabe brothers, Terry and Ron Garvin, whom he briefly managed.
He toured the Mid-South and Florida territories from 1978 until 1983. In 1982, Garvin (while holding the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship with Big John Studd) won the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship from Sweet Brown Sugar. As a reward, Garvin's manager, J. J. Dillon, presented him with a valet named Precious.[5] The original Precious was not the same woman as Garvin's wife, Patti Williams, who would later assume the name Sunshine II then "Precious".[5] During his title defenses, Garvin often became distracted by Precious and flaunted his good looks to impress her. This would cause his opponents to recover and attack him. Due to her quiet-but-distracting nature, Garvin quickly lost the NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship to Dusty Rhodes, while he and Studd lost the NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship to Ron Bass and Barry Windham.[5] Garvin replaced Precious with his cousin, Sunshine, and joined World Class Championship Wrestling in 1983. Garvin claimed in a shoot interview years later with Wrestling Perspective, that the onscreen relationship with Precious had been causing problems in his marriage.
World Class Championship Wrestling (1983-1984)
Along with his valet Sunshine, Garvin competed in WCCW as a heel, refusing to wrestle on live TV before he started a feud with beloved David Von Erich, which he lost and ended up spending a day with Sunshine on David's ranch, doing ranch type duties such as washing the five dogs owned by David (as he relaxed and shot skeet right over Jimmy and Sunshine's heads) and relocating several bales of hay without the use of a truck. However, towards the end of the day, Garvin drew the line at cleaning out the old horse barn and the two went at it.
He next moved on to feud with
American Wrestling Association (1984-1986)
In the AWA, he formed a tag team with
Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling (1986–1992)
Feuds with Wahoo McDaniel, Brad Armstrong and Magnum T. A. (1986-1987)
After losing the titles to
Feuds with The Midnight Express, Ric Flair, and Kevin Sullivan (1987-1988)
In 1987, Jimmy's "brother" Ron (Jimmy's real-life stepfather), was in a feud with
Jimmy (and, by association, Precious) turned face and helped Ron feud with the Midnight Express. One of the bigger matches during that feud was when the two teams were matched against each other during the 1987 Jim Crockett Memorial Cup tag team tournament. The Midnight Express won by countout to advance.
Later that year, Jimmy had one of the most memorable feuds in his career with
In 1988, Garvin had a feud with
During the 1988 Great American Bash in
In September 1988, Garvin left to sell a broken leg that he had gotten from Sullivan and
The Fabulous Freebirds (1989-1992, 1994)
Garvin returned to Jim Crockett Promotions, now known as
In February 1991, they added two managers,
Following the arrival of Bill Watts as Executive Vice President of WCW the Freebirds were targeted for what would become a wave of budget cuts. Following a loss of the United States tag-team titles to Dick Slater and The Barbarian, Garvin was split from Hayes. He wrestled The Barbarian in singles matches in August 1992 and also began teaming with Tom Zenk. His final match with the company came on the October 10th episode of The Power Hour when he partnered with Zenk to face Butch Reed and The Barbarian.[6]
World Wrestling Federation (1992)
After leaving WCW in September 1992, Garvin received a tryout with the
Garvin's voice from the un-aired segment - along with Okerlund's - would be sampled into the title track of the album WrestleMania.
World Championship Wrestling (1994)
In February 1994, Garvin made one final appearance in WCW at SuperBrawl IV when he replaced Michael Hayes in a losing effort against Johnny B. Badd.
Global Wrestling Federation (1994)
After SuperBrawl IV, Garvin went to the Global Wrestling Federation (GWF), where he reformed the Freebirds with Terry Gordy and Hayes. He won the Tag Team Titles with Gordy in 1994. They were the last champions before the promotion folded in September 1994 and he retired shortly thereafter. Before the promotion folded, Garvin was scheduled to feud with Chris Adams over the GWF North American Heavyweight Championship.
Retirement
Garvin prominently appears in The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling DVD released by
Garvin also appeared on an installment of "Legends" on WWE Classics on Demand discussing managers. Garvin spoke on a number of subjects, including the often contentious relationship between Sunshine, Precious and Missy Hyatt, as well as his own experiences as a manager.
On April 2, 2016, Garvin was inducted into the
Personal life
Married in 1972, Williams and his wife Patti Williams (born January 1, 1955), better known as Precious, have two daughters. Williams and his wife are involved in a ministry for the poor and homeless.[2][9][10]
Garvin's stepfather is professional wrestler Ron Garvin.[3]
Since his retirement from professional wrestling, Garvin has become an
Championships and accomplishments
- American Wrestling Association
- 1 time) - with Steve Regal[1]
- Championship Wrestling from Florida
- NWA Florida Bahamian Championship (1 time)
- NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Big John Studd
- NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Steve Keirn (1 time) and Jack Brisco (1 time)
- NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (Florida version) (2 times)
- Killer Kox
- Continental Wrestling Association
- “Cowboy” Bob Ellis
- Global Wrestling Federation
- GWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Terry Gordy
- NWA Tri-State - Mid-South Wrestling Association
- 1 time)
- 1 time) - with Herb Calvert
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- World Championship Wrestling
- 2 times) - with Michael Hayes
- 1 time) - with Michael Hayes and Badstreet
- NWA (Mid-Atlantic)/WCW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Michael Hayes[1]
- World Class Championship Wrestling
- WWE
- WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2016) as a member of The Fabulous Freebirds[1]
See also
- The Fabulous Freebirds
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-61321-875-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55490-331-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4391-2174-0.
- ^ a b "The Fabulous Freebirds". WWE.com. WWE. Archived from the original on April 30, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2016.
- ^ a b c Top 100 Women Of Wrestling - "Precious I" entry, Pro Wrestling Illustrated Women of Wrestling special, 2002, p16
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2011-12-04.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-21. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ The Fabulous Freebirds join the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2016, archived from the original on 2021-12-13, retrieved 2021-06-30
- ^ "World Class Memories: FAQ: Current Whereabouts and Final Resting Places". Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
- ^ "Jimmy Garvin on his 23 years in wrestling'Jimmy Jam' has settled down". SLAM! WRESTLING. 2000-01-23. Archived from the original on August 4, 2012. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ISBN 978-1-55022-685-0.
- ^ "PWI 500 1992". The Turnbuckle Post. Archived from the original on 2012-07-26. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
- ^ "PWI 500 of the PWI Years". Willy Wrestlefest. Archived from the original on 2014-05-18. Retrieved 2012-08-26.
- ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ "NWA United States Heavyweight Title (1967-1968/05) - American Heavyweight Title (1968/05-1986/02)". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
- ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ "NWA Texas Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
- ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- ^ "World Class Television Title". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved November 19, 2016.
External links
- The Fabulous Freebirds on WWE.com
- James Williams at IMDb
- Jimmy Garvin's profile at Cagematch.net , Internet Wrestling Database