Instead, the duo debuted on TV as Harlem Heat despite being from Texas, and with the names Kole and Kane rather than their respective soon-to-be famous monikers of Booker T and Stevie Ray. The second run with the title lasted a bit longer than a week, but was ultimately short lived as the Rough Riders (Black Bart and Johnny Mantell) won the gold on October 23. After being released from his sentence early, Booker T got into pro wrestling with his brother Stevie Ray. [11] In April 2013, Stevie Ray inducted Booker T into the WWE Hall of Fame. In 2005, Stevie Ray and Booker T opened the "Booker T and Stevie Ray Pro Wrestling Academy" in Houston, Texas. [30] As a result, Harlem Heat earned a tag team title shot against Slater and Buck at Fall Brawl. While WWE has not commented on it officially, Dawson and Wilder have been tweeting about the possibility continuously. Harlem Heat was a professional wrestling tag team composed of two brothers, Booker and Lash Huffman (better known as 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. However, six days later, at Halloween Havoc, Misterio was stripped off the title due to injury and the vacant title was put up in a three-way dance pitting Harlem Heat against Filthy Animals' Konnan and Kidman and The First Family (Hugh Morrus and Brian Knobs). Johnny Ace's brother was one half of the legendary Road Warriors/Legion of Doom along with his late partner Hawk. Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder have been pushing hard on social media for a match against WWE Hall of Fame tag team Harlem Heat following a promo on Booker T back at the TLC Kickoff show. "Five time" WCW heavyweight champion Booker T is about to become a two-time WWE Hall of Famer. This guitar has been on display at a Guitar Center in Austin, TX since 2018 in celebration of his 64th birthday. He is also the host of the podcast Stand Up for Greatness. XenForo Add-ons by Brivium 2012-2013 Brivium LLC. Stevies return coincided with Booker getting injured, so Stevie Ray defended the title on Booker Ts behalf for a while thanks to a kayfabe explanation involving Power of Attorney. The Road Warriors were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011. 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. Stevie Ray (@RealStevieRay) March 12, 2019. [21], On December 8, Harlem Heat defeated Stars and Stripes (The Patriot and Marcus Alexander Bagwell) to win their first WCW World Tag Team Championship, which aired on the January 14, 1995 episode of Saturday Night. Harlem Heat had a legendary career as a tag team in WCW. Stevie Ray was the oldest, and he took on the burden of looking after Booker. Let's take a look at the career of this legendary team and what fans should know about . In October, they lost their titles to The Outsiders, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, when Nash used Parker's cane to attack Stevie. They won the GWF Tag Team Championship three times. Courtesy of WWE Netw. Now, the brothers will be . Watch WrestleMania and other WWE Premium Live Events on Flow. Although a match between two of the greatest teams of their respective generations is a mouth watering prospect for fans, Bookers last official bout was on Raw seven years ago, while Stevie Ray has been semi-retired for a long time now although the brothers did reunite for one final match under the banner of Bookers own Reality of Wrestling promotion in February 2015. Claim the offer and place your bets below! When Booker T arrived in WWE he was a huge star arriving with much fanfare. His last name is slightly easier to pronounce than it looks. Lash Steven Huffman (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. Watch every Premium Live Event and get unlimited access to WWE's premium content - available to you anywhere, anytime, on any device. In 1997 they feuded with Public Enemy (Johnny Grunge and Rocco Rock), The Steiners and the New World Order. Reigns is one of the faces of modern WWE as is a former 4-time world champion, a former Royal Rumble winner as well as a triple crown winner. Booker was always the more talented wrestler and much better as a singles wrestler. By late 1999, a female bodybuilder named Midnight had joined Harlem Heat. Definitively one of the most dominating teams in history, "All the ladies, they loved [him]" - Booker T recalls saving WWE legend from angry boyfriend. Pro Wrestling Illustrated, March 1993 issue, p.97. Booker T may be a five-time World Champion, but now he's a two-time WWE Hall of Famer the [.] 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. And no WWE doesn't hire wrestlers based on "decent play-by-play ability can replace promo ability" standards. Stevie Ray Blasts The Booker T/Steve Austin Grocery Store Segment, More As Booker was getting ganged up on in July, the two reunited Harlem Heat. Stevie Ray, best known for his seven-year run (1993-2000) in WCW where he was one half of the tag team Harlem Heat with brother Booker T, is now host of a Houston-based weekly radio talk show called "Straight Shooting with Stevie Ray." He also does a podcast called "Stand Up for Greatness." [57] After that, Harlem Heat resumed their feud with the Steiner Brothers, losing to them at Fall Brawl. Stevie Ray: 'Harlem Heat Is Dead' - MSN Ive got one left in me! Booker T & Stevie Ray vs The Heavenly Bodies from Reality of Wrestling's iPPV #TheFinalHeat saw the last match ever of the legendary WCW & WWE hall of fame t. "[5], Harlem Heat was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019 as part of the 2019 class.[6]. His first lasted nearly six years between 1987 and 1993. On June 22, 1993, the brothers debuted in WCW as the tag team Harlem Heat, with Booker renamed Kole and Lash renamed Kane. We have often seen promoters put brothers into a tag-team when they are starting off and gaining experience and some even break away from the tag-team, like Scott Steiner and Jeff Hardy, to find success and gold as a singles star. Alongside Hollywood Hogan and Bret Hart, he also participated in the War Games of Fall Brawl 1998. They were then billed from Harlem. Kingdom Come: Booker T's Influence Will Be on Full Display During From then on, Booker T would simply be referred to as "Booker" and began using a cartoonish theme called "The Woodchuck's Game" before eventually adopting the moniker of G.I. 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. Despite being booked in strange storylines sometimes, Bray has always been treated as a singles star. Booker T Responds To Criticism Of Brother Stevie Ray Being Inducted This difference within the group would cause Harlem Heat and Midnight to lose a six-person tag team match to Curt Hennig and Creative Control at Starrcade. -. For years, Harlem Heat comprised of Booker T and Stevie Ray wreaked havoc on WCW's tag team division to the tune of 10 World Tag Team Championship reigns. Dash Wilder too replied to Booker T's comments writing, "Let's go, Book. Harlem Heat, comprised of real-life brothers Booker and Lash Huffman (known in the ring as Booker T and Stevie Ray), was announced Monday as the fourth inductee in the Hall's 2019 class. [61] This led to Harlem Heat reuniting once more on the June 29 episode of Nitro, where they lost to Benoit and Steve McMichael.[62]. After being released from his sentence early, Booker T got into pro wrestling with his brother Stevie Ray. 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. To help distinguish the two, Booker T has a more ripped body. But legendary wrestler turned promoter Skandor Akbar noticed the brothers and brought them into his short-lived Global Wrestling Federation as a tag team called The Ebony Experience. Speaking on his Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T recalled an incident in which he and his brother saved Duggan's life at a club before he was married: As the angry boyfriend and his group were about to attack the Hall of Famer, Booker T and Stevie Ray (aka Harlem Heat) entered the club: Booker T opened up on initially disliking a particular duo of eight-time champions. They were briefly put out of action by the nWo and returned to feud with The Faces of Fear (Meng and The Barbarian). Eventually, Stevie Ray rose through the ranks to become leader of nWo Hollywood, but the group was imploding and thus not long for this world. [19] The alliance with Sherri led to Harlem Heat being elevated in the tag team division. [41] At Clash of the Champions XXXIII, Harlem Heat retained the titles against Steiner Brothers and the team of Sting and Lex Luger in a triangle match as the match ended in a no contest when the referee Nick Patrick abruptly ended the match due to The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) just appearing at ringside. CNN and the CNN logo are registered marks of Cable News Network, LP LLLP, displayed with permission. Stevie Ray, in the WWE Hall of . However, just three days later on July 27, Harlem Heat defeated Steiner Brothers to win their sixth World Tag Team Championship. WWE Elite 46 Booker T and Stevie Ray Harlem Heat figure review The brothers signed with WCW and by 1993 they were appearing as a tag team dubbed the Harlem Heat. PS. Hollywood Hogan began telling various members in private that he had granted them official leadership, causing confusion and friction between members. While Booker's place in the Hall is deserving, some think that Stevie Ray doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame. Booker wasn't a bad kid. Bro at the time) under the ring name Jive Soul Bro. Booker T says an iconic tag team, who featured in both WCW and WWE, deserves to be a part of the WWE Hall of Fame and he's campaigning for them to get the nod. He's also a former WWE Champion but is currently off WWE programming as he waits for a new direction from creative. Tag Team Announced For The 2019 WWE Hall Of Fame Stevie Ray subsequently formed Harlem Heat, Inc. with Big T, J. Biggs and Kash. Despite having less Tag Team Championship reigns, The Steiner Brothers held on to the belts for more days than Harlem Heat. Do check the Promotions tab if you cannot find it in the Primary Inbox. He then engaged in a short feud with Chavo Guerrero Jr. over the right to defend the belt before dropping it to Chris Jericho afterwards. Legendary tag team Harlem Heat became 10-time champions during an incredible run in World Championship Wrestling, and the duo of real-life brothers - Booker T and . Huffman Brothers caught the eye of Skandor Akbar who was involved with the Global Wrestling Federation out of Dallas in 1992. If you're interested in sports betting, the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Baltimore Ravens this weekend! Booker T is open to a comeback (Credit: WWE) Booker T could return to the ring in 2020 and reunite Harlem Heat alongside his brother Stevie Ray. Instead, the two simply went their separate ways, with Booker T expressing support for Stevie Ray even if he personally didnt approve. In Ivan Putski's Western Wrestling Alliance, he first started feuding with his brother, Booker (who was G.I. Why did WWE never hire Stevie Ray? | WrestleZone Forums [7] The brothers were repackaged as The Ebony Experience and quickly rose through the ranks of the GWF tag team division under the guidance of Gary Hart, defeating Skandor Akbar's "Goodfellows" ("Gorgeous" Gary Young and Steve Dane) for the GWF Tag Team Championship on July 31, 1992. Soon enough, tag team gold would follow. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Huffman, as part of Harlem Heat, was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2019.[7]. However, after WWE bought out WCW, Booker T went onto a big star but Stevie Ray's contract never got picked up. Both teams traded wins in six-man tag team matches. On the August 2 episode of Nitro, Harlem Heat competed in its first match as a team in over a year as the duo defeated Bigelow and Kanyon, with assistance from Chris Benoit. Could another wrestler patch things up with Triple H like CM Punk did? Huffman, better known as Booker T. They won the WCW World Tag Team Championship a record ten times. Reigns has eclipsed the success of his later brother and there are a lot more titles left for him to win in the future. The original Harlem Heat duo of Booker T and Stevie Ray had one final reunion in WCW on the July 19 episode of Thunder where they defeated Jeff Jarrett and Rick Steiner in a tag team match. Booker T Campaigns For Former Rival Tag Team To Get Hall Of Fame Nod After a tumultuous romance and several breakups and makeups, Parker ended up managing Harlem Heat alongside Sherri. Harlem Heat suffered their first televised loss in WCW against Sting and Dustin Rhodes on the September 25 episode of Saturday Night. Harlem Heat Joins WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2019 - Sports Illustrated At this point, Rick is still decorated in his Trapper Keeper graphic-style singlet , while pre-"Big Poppa Pump" Scott opts for . Rob Parker, but was changed due to racial sensitivity based on their look, coming out to the ring in wrist and foot shackles. Booker T and Stevie Ray started to team together as The Huffman Brothers in Ivan Putski's Western Wrestling Alliance after a brief feud with each other. All rights reserved. Are Stevie Ray and Booker T really brothers? - Firstlawcomic Where Are They Now? Stevie Ray | WWE From there, they feuded with The Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags and Brian Knobs) 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. Harlem Heat was arguably the greatest tag team in WCW's history, and there are a lot of things fans should know about the duo. 10. They eventually gained Parker as a manager as he abandoned Slater and Buck to be with Sherri. Stevie. [34] This title change was taped on October 11. However, the WWE Hall of Famers never wrestled together in the Stamford-based company. The initial break-up of Harlem Heat is one of the more curious tag team breakups in history thanks to the lack of actual betrayal. On the October 18 episode of Nitro, Harlem Heat lost the tag team titles to The Filthy Animals members Konnan and Rey Mysterio Jr. As tension grew between members of nWo Hollywood, Stevie Ray started helping Booker T during his matches. [35] Harlem Heat unsuccessfully challenged Luger and Sting for the titles at SuperBrawl VI. SmackDown results, April 28, 2023: Find out who was drafted in Night One of the 2023 WWE Draft, WWE NXT Spring Breakin' results, April 25, 2023: Indi Hartwell retains the NXT Women's Championship in gutsy performance at Spring Breakin', Roman Reigns survives Cody Rhodes with controversial victory at WrestleMania, Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest Road to Backlash, The American Nightmare takes on The Beast at WWE Backlash. Ray and Big T referred their new team as Harlem Heat 2000. [54], Shortly after, Harlem Heat got involved in a feud with the Steiner Brothers over contention for the World Tag Team Championship, leading to a match between the two teams at The Great American Bash, which Harlem Heat won by disqualification after New World Order (nWo) member Vincent interfered by attacking them. Rosey's brother Roman Reigns recently came back from a health scare and is one of the most heavily pushed stars in WWE today. 5 Real WWE brothers who had totally different careers - Sportskeeda Don't miss out. RELATED: 5 Reasons Why Harlem Heat Was WCW's Best Tag Team (& 5 Why It Was The Steiner Brothers) Real life brothers, Booker T and Stevie Ray ended up becoming multi-time tag team champions before Booker T embarked on a successful career as a singles star. "It's hard to take it seriously," Meltzer said on The Wrestling Observer. Booker T was brought in to WWE to be a singles competitor. Booker T had a difficult childhood, losing both his parents early. Stevie Ray, best known for his seven-year run (1993-2000) in WCW where he was one half of the tag team Harlem Heat with brother Booker T, is now host of a Houston-based weekly radio talk show called Straight Shooting with Stevie Ray. He also does a podcast called Stand Up for Greatness., Deceased (19541990) [8] In early 1993 the Ebony Experience returned to action and started to chase The Bad Breed (Axl and Ian Rotten) who had won the titles while Booker T recovered. However, he has been a key backstage figure in WWE since retiring from the ring. Booker T's agility and aerial ability was perfectly blended with the brute powerhouse strength of his fraternal tag partner, Stevie Ray. . Booker T describes how his brotherly bond with Stevie Ray helped make Harlem Heat a combination deserving of WWE Hall of Fame induction. "For me as a tag team, who didn't even get a chance to work in WWE with my brother, my brother and I, we paved the way for so many other young African American wrestlers that watched us and said, man if Booker T and Stevie Ray can do it, we can do it too," said Booker. Building a Cloud Computing Career with Amazon AWS Certified Developer Azure Cognitive Services and Containers: 5 Amazing Benefits for Businesses, Running Your Own Electronics Accessories Ecommerce Store, August 22, 1958 Houston, Texas, United States, Booker T (brother) Bonita Huffman-Lott (sister) Carolyn Jones (sister) Sharmell (sister-in-law). [49][50] At Clash of the Champions XXXIV on January 21, 1997, Harlem Heat defeated the team of The Renegade and Joe Gomez. Check out the story here. As 1998 started to roll around, Stevie had to take some time off from WCW from January to June. The former tag-team champion was released from WWE in 2006. They began feuding with Barry and Kendall Windham as well as The Jersey Triad of Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Kanyon and Bam Bam Bigelow. From the streets of Harlem, N.Y., came a powerful pair of brothers who terrorized WCW's tag-team ranks throughout much of the 1990s. You can check out some highlights from the podcast below: A tag-team specialist like his brother, Johnny Ace found most of his in-ring success over in Japan. WWE Veteran Booker T Says He is Talking With Brother Stevie Ray for Match With The Revival. 0. Initially Lash was known as Kane while Booker became Kole. [25] Harlem Heat finally lost the titles to Nasty Boys at Slamboree.[26]. Harlem Heat won the match to begin their record-setting eighth tag team title reign.[64]. Please credit the Hall of Fame podcast and give a H/T to Sportskeeda if you use the above transcription. Me and my big brother, we talking about it." In the long run, this didn't weaken Booker T. If anything, it showed he has depth and willing to look like a dork but be actually funny at the same time. 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 New Heavenly Bodies for the ROW Tag Team Championship. The pair would end up winning the WCW World Tag Team Championships ten times throughout their time in the company. In case you missed it, you can check out the Monday Night RAW results here. Following the Harlem Heat breakup, Booker T became a huge singles star, capturing the WCW World Title five times, as well as the Intercontinental Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship in WWE, while Stevie Ray retired in 2002. Be the first one to comment on this story. It was at the appropriately named event, The Final Heat where Booker and Stevie defeated the Heavenly Bodies to win the ROW Tag Team Championship, a title they held for three weeks before vacating it. ? Real life brothers, Booker T and Stevie Ray ended up becoming multi-time tag team champions before Booker T embarked on a successful career as a singles star. He would join the "black & white" in August, effectively turning him heel. Soon after, the WWA ceased operating and the brothers started touring the Texas independent circuit. Shaun Ranft 12/2/2022. Despite being on opposite sides they managed to peacefully co-exist (despite Booker expressing dismay at Stevie for joining the nWo). or "needed to hook the leg!" 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