Stevie Ray

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the wrestler. For the musician, see Stevie Ray Vaughan. For the Scottish fighter, see Stevie Ray (fighter).

Stevie Ray
Houston, Texas[5]
Trained byScott Casey
Debut1989
Retired2017

Lash Steven Huffman[6] (born August 22, 1958) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, 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.

Huffman is also a

1998
pay-per-views.

Huffman, as part of Harlem Heat, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2019.[7]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1989–1993)

Lash Huffman started wrestling in 1989 as Super Collider on the

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 a combination of musical artists Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles[8]) in a tag team called The Ebony Experience for the Global Wrestling Federation, which was on ESPN.[9] 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 (1993-2001)

Harlem Heat (1993–1997)

In August 1993, they went to

Fall Brawl on September 19, 1993, with Vader and Sid Vicious against Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes and The Shockmaster. They lost the match when Shockmaster forced Booker (Kole) to submit. In 1994, they got Sister Sherri as their manager and changed their names back to Booker T and Stevie Ray. They feuded with Stars and Stripes (The Patriot and Buff Bagwell
) and won the WCW Tag Team Titles for the first time.

From there, they feuded with

The Road Warriors before starting a long feud with Rick and Scott Steiner
in 1996.

In October, they lost their titles to

Meng and The Barbarian
).

Singles appearances; New World Order (1998–1999)

As 1998 started to roll around, Stevie had to take some time off from WCW from January to June. Meanwhile, Booker T would go on to win

nWo Wolfpac. Stevie Ray would be offered a spot in nWo Hollywood, but was hesitant at first. He would join the "black & white" in August, effectively turning him heel. Although this would make Stevie Ray known for using dirty tactics and a strength-in-numbers mentality, his brother, Booker, showed little resentment and respected Stevie Ray's decision to be a part of the nWo, and they were able to peacefully co-exist. 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

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 the April 5, 1999, episode of WCW Monday Nitro, defeating Horace Hogan, Brian Adams
, and Vincent.

Harlem Heat reformation and feud with Booker T (1999–2000)

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 and 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

SuperBrawl X
.

Color commentator (2000–2001)

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 from in-ring competition to become a color 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 [sic] 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 title vs. career match) for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Scott Steiner on the November 27, 2000, edition of WCW Monday Nitro, which he lost. A few months later, WCW was bought by the WWF in March 2001. Stevie did not want to go to WWF.[10]

World Wrestling All-Stars (2001–2002)

After WCW was bought by WWF, Stevie Ray wrestled a few matches for WWA against Jerry Lawler, and Buff Bagwell in 2001, and Ernest Miller in 2002, retiring later that year.

Semi-retirement (2005-2017)

In 2005, Stevie Ray and Booker T opened the "Booker T and Stevie Ray Pro Wrestling Academy" in Houston, Texas.[11] In April 2013, Stevie Ray inducted Booker T into the WWE Hall of Fame.[2] On February 21, 2015, Booker T and Stevie Ray reunited as Harlem Heat for one last match at Booker T's promotion, Reality of Wrestling's "The Final Heat" event, where they defeated the Heavenly Bodies for the ROW Tag Team Championship. On March 14, the titles were vacated. On May 16, 2015, Ray won the WildKat Heavyweight Championship defeating Shane Taylor. He dropped to title back to Taylor on November 14, 2015. In 2015 Ray was added to WWE 2K16 as DLC. On March 30, 2016, Stevie Ray debuted a new weekly radio talk show, Straight Shooting with Stevie Ray which airs on KCOH radio 92.9 FM HD2 every Wednesday. He is also the host of the podcast Stand Up for Greatness.[12] Ray's last match was at Reality of Wrestling on August 12, 2017, teaming with Abel Andrew Jackson as they lost to Ernest Miller and Ryan Davidson.[13]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ a b "WWE 24". WWE Network. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Giannini, A. & Murphy, R. (April 4, 2013). "Stevie Ray to induct Booker T into WWE Hall of Fame". WWE.com. WWE. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
  3. ISBN 978-1499656343
    .
  4. ^ a b c d "Stevie Ray profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
  5. ^ a b Clayton, C. (March 6, 2008). "Booker T & Stevie Ray: Bringing the 'Heat'". WWE.com. WWE. Retrieved September 7, 2013.
  6. ^ Mitchel, Pamela (December 3, 1998). "Wrestling 101: getting a grip on the basics". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on November 29, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2017.
  7. ^ "Harlem Heat To Be Inducted Into The 2019 WWE Hall Of Fame | Fightful Wrestling". www.fightful.com. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  8. Pro Wrestling Torch
    . Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  9. ^ Lash Huffman. Shoot Interview with Stevie Ray (2006) (DVD).
  10. ^ "Stevie Ray Reveals Why He Never Went To WWE". April 14, 2019. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  11. ^ Jason Clevett (June 22, 2005). "Booker T to play two more years". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on January 1, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. ^ Mooneyham, Mike (November 10, 2017). "Stevie Ray is now host of a Houston-based weekly radio talk show".
  13. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (August 22, 2022). "Stevie Ray Thinks He Has One Last Match In Him". Fightful.com. Retrieved October 15, 2022.
  14. ^ "Harlem Heat Will Be Honored in Las Vegas - Cauliflower Alley Club". www.caulifloweralleyclub.org.
  15. ^ "RoW Tag Team Title (Houston)". Wrestling-Titles.com.
  16. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Awards « Stevie Ray « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net.
  17. ^ "WildKat Sports & Entertainment". www.facebook.com. Archived from the original on February 26, 2022.

Bibliography

  • Lash Huffman. Shoot Interview with Stevie Ray (2006) (DVD).

External links

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