James Yun
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James Yun | |
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Statistics | |
Ring name(s) | Jimmy Yang Akio Yun Yang Apeman Jimmy Jun Jimmy Wang Yang |
Billed height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) |
Billed weight | 205 lb (93 kg) |
Born | May 13, 1981 Hollywood, California |
Resides | Phoenix, Arizona |
Billed from | Seoul, Korea Japan Atlanta, Georgia The South Austell, Georgia |
Trained by | Paul Orndorff WCW Power Plant |
Debut | June, 1999 |
James Eas Yun (born May 13, 1981) is an American professional wrestler. Yun is best known for his appearances in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and independent circuit as Yun Yang, and Jimmy Yang, as well as his more recent appearances in World Wrestling Entertainment's SmackDown! brand as Akio, and currently Jimmy Wang Yang.
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[edit] Career
In June 1999, Yun signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), making his WCW television debut in January 2000. He was originally a part of the Jung Dragons stable along with Jamie-San and Kaz Hayashi. In late 2000, when Jamie-San left the group, forming a tag team with former 3 Count member Evan Karagias, the team of Hayashi and Yang feuded with Karagias and Jamie-San until the WWF purchase of WCW.
In March 2001, with the purchase of WCW, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) also acquired Yun's contract and assigned him to the company's Heartland Wrestling Association developmental territory. With no plans to call him to the main roster, the WWF eventually released Yun.
After his brief stint as a WWF developmental talent, Yun agreed to join All Japan Pro Wrestling where he wrestled as both a part of its tag team division and its singles junior heavyweight division.
In July 2002, he made the move to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (working dually for both companies) where he, along with Sonny Siaki and Jorge Estrada, were given the gimmick of Elvis impersonators known as The Flying Elvises.
In September 2003, Yun was signed to a three year developmental deal with the renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He along with the Japanese-American Ryan Sakoda made their WWE debuts on October 19, 2003 at WWE No Mercy. Yun was renamed Akio (a reference to legendary Japanese wrestler Mr. Sato) and aligned himself with Sakoda, forming the heel tag team Kyo Dai (Japanese for "brothers"), the henchmen of the actual Japanese wrestler Tajiri.
Sakoda was eventually released from WWE, Tajiri was traded to RAW and Yun was left on his own to become a lower card wrestler and Velocity mainstay, competing primarily in the cruiserweight division until he was released on July 5, 2005.
After being released from WWE Yun wrestled in Ring of Honor (ROH), debuting on October 1, 2005, at the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, losing to James Gibson. He lost once again the following night to Christopher Daniels and again two weeks later to Roderick Strong, causing him to (kayfabe) take some time away from the company.
He returned to ROH in January 2006 where he recorded his first win in ROH, teaming with Matt Sydal and Jack Evans in the Trios Tournament, although the team were ultimately defeated by The Embassy. Yun stayed with the company for several months, wrestling as Jimmy Yang and using the same martial arts based persona he adopted in WCW. His entrance music was the theme from the spoof martial arts film The Last Dragon, and he even brought in the film's star Taimak (referred to in his appearances as 'Bruce Leroy', the name of his character) to help him in a feud with Embassy member Jimmy Rave.
In May 2006, Yun made a return to WWE, as Akio, on an edition of HEAT, working as a jobber in a try-out match with Charlie Haas. This match impressed the WWE and they revealed that Yun had re-signed to WWE and would be developing a new gimmick.
From the August 25, 2006 edition of SmackDown! vignettes began airing featuring Yun dressed as a cowboy and calling himself Jimmy Wang Yang (the "Jimmy Wang" part of the name as a spoof of the country singer Jimmy Wayne[citation needed] and martial arts actor Jimmy Wang Yu[citation needed]; ironically enough, the official spelling; either "Jimmy Wang Yang" or "Jimmy Wayne Yang", was unclear until he debuted. In the vignettes, Yang questioned why people would assume stereotypical Asian things about him while proclaiming that he was much more of a redneck, and that was something he was proud of. The vignettes played for several weeks with Yang focusing more on his redneck leanings, until the September 29 SmackDown! when he made his in-ring debut in a loss to Sylvan, who illegally used the ropes for leverage to get a pin. Weeks later, on November 3, Yang debuted his valet, Amy Zidian, though she was released from WWE just a month later.
[edit] In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
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- Moonsault onto a standing opponent into a pinfall
- Yang Time / Akio Time (Corkscrew moonsault, occasionally onto a standing opponent)
- Corkscrew 450° splash
- Fists of Fury (Double fist strike) - As Akio
- Back to belly piledriver - in WCW
- Hanging figure four necklock
- Spinning wheel kick to the opponent in the corner
- Superkick
- Jumping spinning leg lariat
- Corner backflip kick
- Scoop slam piledriver - in WCW
- Springboard moonsault
- Cross-arm iconoclasm - in WCW / ROH
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- Akio's first WWE theme song was titled Delhip-hop and can be found in the FirstCom production music library.
- During his time in Ring of Honor he used Last Dragon, the theme from the spoof martial arts film of the same name.
- For the Jimmy Wang Yang character he was given Gonna Punch Someone Tonight by David Church.[1]
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- Amy Zidian
- Bruce Leroy
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
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- Real World Junior Heavyweight Tag Team League (2002)
- Other Titles
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- Central American Middleweight Championship (1 time)
[edit] Personal information
- Attended South Cobb High School in Austell, Georgia from 1995 - 1999.
- He is actually of Caucasian and Korean descent.
[edit] External links
- WWE Profile
- Interview with Akio/Jimmy Yang by Genickbruch.com
- Jimmy Wang Yang is not your typical redneck.
Categories: Articles lacking sources from January 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 1981 births | Living people | Korean Americans | American professional wrestlers | Asian American sportspeople | Ring of Honor alumni | Total Nonstop Action Wrestling alumni | World Championship Wrestling alumni | People from Los Angeles | People from Phoenix, Arizona