Recently I’ve been playing old video games, and one of the games I’ve got my teeth into is WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009. The reason for this, is because yesterday we wrote an article on Vince McMahon firing and rehiring Jimmy Wang Yang. Jimmy appears on this game, and was one of my favourite characters to go. This got me thinking, how good was Jimmy Wang Yang?
For those who don’t know, Jimmy Wang Yang was a wrestler who appeared on near enough all the top promotions in the world. He’s also wrestled under many different names such as Akio, Akio Yang, Yun Yang and my favourite Ape Man. Jimmy started his wrestling career with WCW in 1999, wrestling under a The Jung Dragons faction before WCW was bought out by WWE. He had some excellent matches with 3 Count during that time.
Once WCW was bought out, Jimmy did sign for WWE and was sent to the Heartland Wrestling Association Company (HWA) territory, but was released in 2002. This led to his short stint in NJPW before eventually signing with TNA. Yang has such a strong character that he was able to change his personality on a dime. For TNA he was part of The Flying Elvises and actually beat AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn and Low Ki in the shows first ever match.
Following the time in TNA, Jimmy spent time on the independent circuit before once again spending time in WWE and then Ring of Honour. Jimmy’s best time in wrestling came when he returned to WWE back in 2006. He spent 4 years with the company, and this was the first time he was turned into the Jimmy Wang Yang gimmick. He spent time in the cruiserweight division having multiple challenges for the title, but never getting there.
In 2007 Jimmy teamed with Shannon Moore, and was so close to winning the tag titles against the team of Miz and Morrison, but they retained. 2010 was the end of Jimmy’s WWE career, but he continued to make appearances for the independent scene and returned to TNA in 2011. Each match that Jimmy had was fantastic, and he never didn’t give over 100%. I loved seeing him wrestler, and you could see Jimmy has a clear passion for the business.
The one thing I could say about Jimmy Wang Yang, is that he was always so close to greatness. He had multiple chances at titles, but WWE never seemed to want to give him the push. His ability to reinvent himself was brilliant to see, and he’s been of huge benefit to the whole industry. I hope one day that he’s recognised for all his work across all promotions. He’s a redneck legend and I hope one day, I’ll get to say that to him in person.
You can find my on Twitter @fazzasthoughts
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