James Carson Yun (born May 13, 1981) is an American former professional wrestler and actor.
1999
He is best known for his tenures in World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment from 1999 to 2010, under the ring names Jimmy Yang, Akio and Jimmy Wang Yang.
Yun was trained in the Power Plant, the World Championship Wrestling farm territory.
In June 1999, Yun signed with World Championship Wrestling, making his WCW television debut in January 2000 under the ring name "Jimmy Yang".
He was originally a part of the Jung Dragons faction along with Jamie-San and Kaz Hayashi.
They were brought into WCW by Jimmy Hart to feud with 3 Count, another faction.
They made their pay-per-view debut at New Blood Rising, losing a ladder match to 3 Count.
2000
They added a manager, Leia Meow, and continued the feud with 3 Count, until, in late 2000, Jamie-San unmasked and left the group, becoming known as Jamie Knoble and forming a tag team with former 3 Count member Evan Karagias.
The team of Hayashi and Yang feuded with Knoble and Karagias until the WWF purchased WCW.
2001
He worked in WCW until its closure in 2001.
During the following years, he worked for several promotions.
In the United States, he worked with NWA Total Nonstop Action (where he was part of the promotion's first match) or Ring of Honor, but most notably with World Wrestling Entertainment, where he had three different stints from 2001 to 2002, 2003 to 2005 and 2006 to 2010.
During his last stint, he wrestled as Jimmy Wang Yang, an Asian-American cowboy and redneck.
In March 2001, the World Wrestling Federation acquired Yun's contract and assigned him to the company's Heartland Wrestling Association developmental territory, but he was released in December 2001.
2002
He also starred in All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he won the World's Strongest Junior Tag League in 2002 with Kaz Hayashi and the Junior League in 2010.
Yun was born in Hollywood, California, to a German mother, and a Korean father.
His father was in the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany, where he met Yun's mother.
He grew up in Austell, Georgia, and has three sisters and one brother.
In 2002, Yun joined All Japan Pro Wrestling where he wrestled as both a part of its tag team division and its singles junior heavyweight division.
On April 13, 2002, Yun, competing as Yang, teamed up with Kaz Hayashi and Hi69 to defeat Kazushi Miyamoto, Gran Naniwa, and Ryuji Hijikata.
On July 17 on an AJPW pay-per-view, Yang teamed up with Hayashi and George Hines to defeat Ryuji Hijikata, Gran Naniwa, and Johnny Smith.
Over a month later, Yang returned to AJPW on August 31, teaming with Masaaki Mochizuki and Dragon Kid to defeat Magnum Tokyo, Susumu Yokosuka, and Darkness Dragon.
Yang suffered his first loss in AJPW on September 15, when he and Kazushi Miyamoto lost to Kendo Kashin and Robbie Brookside, although that same month he teamed with Kaz Hayashi to win the Real World Junior Heavyweight Tag Team League.
The following month, Yang defeated Gran Hamada and Gran Naniwa in a three-way match, before he and Yoji Anjoh lost to Mike Barton and Jim Steele.
Throughout the end of 2002, Yang continued competing in six-man tag team matches, with mixed results.
From May to August 2002, Yang was one third of the Flying Elvises in NWA Total Nonstop Action (NWA TNA) alongside Sonny Siaki and Jorge Estrada.
Yang and the other Elvises were involved in TNA's first match, defeating A.J. Styles, Jerry Lynn, and Low Ki in a six-man tag team match.
On December 20, 2002 Yang made his Major League Wrestling debut at King of Kings, where he and Mike Sanders lost to "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and PJ Friedman.
2003
Yang continued wrestling for TNA as a singles competitor through to January 2003.
He competed regularly in MLW throughout 2003, both in singles and tag team competition.
At the War Games and J Cup USA show on September 19, 2003, Yang competed in the Super J Cup USA tournament, defeating Juventud Guerrera in the first round, but losing to Christopher Daniels in the second.
In September 2003, following a match with Tommy Dreamer on Sunday Night Heat, Yun was signed to a three-year developmental deal with the renamed World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
Yun made his WWE debut on October 19, 2003 at No Mercy, along with the Japanese American Ryan Sakoda.
Yun was renamed Akio (a reference to Japanese wrestler Akio Sato) and aligned himself with Sakoda, forming the villainous tag team Kyo Dai, the henchmen of the native Japanese wrestler Tajiri.
Sakoda was eventually released from WWE and Tajiri was traded to Raw.
2005
This left Yun 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).
He debuted 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.
2006
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.
