 Huffman in 2015 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Laslon Steven Huffman (1958-08-22)August 22, 1958 (age 67) New York City, U.S. |
| Relative(s) | Booker T (brother)[5] Sharmell (sister-in-law)[5] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Jive Soul Bro[1] The Masked Heel[2] Stevie Ray Super Collider |
| Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm)[3] |
| Billed weight | 292 lb (132 kg)[3] |
| Billed from | Houston, Texas[4] |
| Trained by | Scott Casey |
| Debut | 1989 |
| Retired | 2017 |
Laslon"Lash" Steven Huffman[6] (born August 22, 1958) is an American retiredprofessional wrestler, better known by hisring name,Stevie Ray. Stevie Ray is best known for his seven-year tenure withWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1993 to 2000, where he was one-half of thetag teamHarlem Heat, with his younger brotherBooker T. Huffman, better known as Booker T. They won theWCW World Tag Team Championship a recordten times.
Huffman is also aone-timeWCW World Television Champion.[1][4] Among other events, he headlined theFall Brawl 1993 and1998 pay-per-views.
Huffman, as part of Harlem Heat, was inducted into theWWE Hall of Fameclass of 2019.[7]
Laslon Huffman started wrestling in 1989 as Super Collider on theindependent circuit inTexas. InIvan 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 a combination of musical artistsStevie Wonder andRay Charles[8]) in a tag team called The Ebony Experience for theGlobal Wrestling Federation, which was onESPN.[9] They werefaces andfeuded with the "Blackbirds" ofIceman King Parsons and Brickhouse Brown. They won theGWF Tag Team Championship three times. Stevie Ray then went on to win theGWF North American Heavyweight Championship in 1993.
In August 1993, they went toWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) and changed their team name to Harlem Heat. Initially Lash was known asKane while Booker became Kole. They were then billed fromHarlem. They became heels and were onHarley Race andCol. Rob Parker's team in theWar Games atFall Brawl on September 19, 1993, withVader andSid Vicious againstSting,Davey Boy Smith,Dustin Rhodes andThe Shockmaster. They lost the match when Shockmaster forced Booker (Kole) to submit. In 1994, they gotSister Sherri as their manager and changed their names back to Booker T and Stevie Ray. They feuded withStars and Stripes (The Patriot andBuff Bagwell) and won the WCW Tag Team Titles for the first time.
From there, they feuded withThe Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags andBrian Knobs) and got into a feud with Col. Parker's "Stud Stable" ofDick Slater andBunkhouse Buck where Parker and Sherri were carrying on a love affair. During this time, Stevie and Booker lost the titles to the Nasty Boys, regained them, then lost them to Slater and Buck and regained them again. They eventually gained Parker as a manager as he abandoned Slater and Buck to be with Sherri. Harlem Heat won the WCW World Tag Team Championship three times in 1995, trading the titles with theAmerican Males (Bagwell andScotty Riggs) in the early fall. They had brief feuds withLex Luger and Sting, trading the titles back and forth in early 1996 andThe Road Warriors before starting a long feud withRick and Scott Steiner in 1996.
In October, they lost their titles toThe Outsiders,Kevin Nash andScott Hall, when Nash used Parker's cane to attack Stevie. They would then fire the Colonel, beat him up, turn face, and enter into a brief feud against Parker's newest teamThe Amazing French Canadians, a feud they would win. In 1997 they feuded withPublic Enemy (Johnny Grunge andRocco Rock), The Steiners and theNew World Order. In the summer of 1997, they fired Sherri and added a new manager,Jacqueline. They were briefly put out of action by the nWo and returned to feud withThe Faces of Fear (Meng andThe Barbarian).
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 theWCW 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 from July to October, Stevie got a "power of attorney" to defend the belt for Booker. He then engaged in a short feud withChavo Guerrero Jr. over the right to defend the belt before dropping it toChris Jericho afterwards. By June 1998, Stevie Ray had returned to the ring, and the powerful gang-likefaction of the nWo had been split into two:Hollywood Hogan'snWo Hollywood andKevin Nash'snWo 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 himheel. 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 aface, 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 ofHorace Hogan andScott Norton as well as performing in singles competition, often withVincent at ringside. Alongside Hollywood Hogan andBret Hart, he also participated in theWar Games ofFall Brawl 1998. Theslapjack became known as Stevie Ray's trademark weapon which he would frequently use to knock an opponent unconscious, typically when thereferee 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 ofWCW Monday Nitro, defeating Horace Hogan,Brian Adams, and Vincent.
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 withBarry andKendall Windham as well asThe Jersey Triad ofDiamond Dallas Page,Chris Kanyon andBam Bam Bigelow. They went on to win the Tag Titles three more times, making them 10 time champions.
By late 1999, a female bodybuilder namedMidnight 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 surprisesmall package, Stevie Ray would turn on both Booker and Midnight to form Harlem Heat, Inc. withBig T,Kash andJ. Biggs. They won the rights to the Harlem Heat name in a match with Big T against Booker on February 20, 2000, atSuperBrawl 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 from in-ring competition to become acolor commentator forWCW 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 theWCW World Heavyweight Championship againstScott 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]
After WCW was bought by WWF, Stevie Ray wrestled a few matches forWWA againstJerry Lawler, andBuff Bagwell in 2001, andErnest Miller in 2002, retiring later that year.
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 theWWE Hall of Fame.[1] 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 theWildKat Heavyweight Championship defeating Shane Taylor. He dropped to title back to Taylor on November 14, 2015. In 2015 Ray was added toWWE 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 podcastStand 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 toErnest Miller and Ryan Davidson.[13]
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