Jimmy Yang
| James Yun | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | May 13, 1981 Hollywood, California |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| 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 (83 kg) |
| Billed from | Seoul, Korea Japan Atlanta, Georgia The South |
| Trained by | Paul Orndorff |
| Debut | June, 1999 |
James Eas (pronounced Eace) 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, aswell as his more recent appearances in World Wrestling Entertainment's SmackDown! brand as Akio, and currently Jimmy Wang Yang.
Career
World Championship Wrestling
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 Karagais and Jamie-San until the WWF purchase of WCW.
World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment
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.
In September 2003, Yun was signed to a three year developmental deal with the renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He along with 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 the Japanese-American Ryan 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.
In May 2006, Yun made a return to WWE, as Akio, on an edition of HEAT, working as a jobber in a match with Charlie Haas. It was later 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. In the vignettes, Yang questioned why people would assume sterotypical 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 he made his debut on the September 29, 2006 episode of SmackDown! Yang made his in-ring debut the same night with a loss to Sylvan, who illegally used the ropes for leverage to get a pin. The next week, a rematch was held between the two, and Sylvan used the ropes illegally once again for the win.
Independent circuit
After a 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 Elvis's.
After a more high profile stint with WWE, Yun debuted in Ring of Honor (ROH) 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 wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Yang Time - As Jimmy Wang Yang / Akio Time - As Akio / Akio-Sault - As Akio (Corkscrew moonsault press)
- Fists of Fury (Double fist attack)
- Back to belly piledriver
- Corkscrew 450° splash
- Hanging figure four necklock
- Spinning wheel kick to the opponent in the corner
- Superkick
- Jumping spinning leg lariat
- Corner backflip kick
- Theme music
- Akio's WWE theme song is titled "Delhip-hop" and can be found in the FirstCom production music library.
- Jimmy Yang's ROH music was the theme from the spoof martial arts film The Last Dragon.
Championships and accomplishments
- Real World Junior Heavyweight Tag Team League (1 time)
- Other championships
- Central American Middleweight Champion (1 time)
Personal information
Attended South Cobb High School in Austell, GA from 1995 - 1999.