Koko B. Ware

James W. Ware, Jr. (born June 20, 1958), better known by his ring name Koko B. Ware, is an American retired professional wrestler.

He debuted in 1978 and became widely popular in 1986.

He later went on to the World Wrestling Federation, where he went from strong mid-carder to jobber to the stars.

"The Birdman" came to the ring with a blue-and-yellow macaw named Frankie, both flapping and dancing before and after his matches.

Before joining the WWF, he was in several tag teams, most notably with Bobby Eaton in Memphis and with Norvell Austin (The PYT Express) in several promotions.

It was not until late 1980 Ware's fortunes changed when he participated in a battle royal to crown the first ever Mid-American Television Champion.

The crowd favorite was Jimmy Valiant, who Ware accidentally knocked into Danny Davis and eliminated.

Moments later, Koko dumped Davis to the floor and won his first title.

After the match, Valiant returned to the ring and beat Ware down.

Ware's feud with Valiant was quickly expanded to include the heel Tojo Yamamoto and Ware's ally, Tommy Rich.

When Dutch Mantel returned to the CWA in early 1981 he quickly defeated Ware for the TV title making Ware's first run with the gold a short one.

Ware floundered until September 1981, when he was chosen to referee a Southern Heavyweight Championship title match between Jerry Lawler and the "Dream Machine".

Ware unfairly counted Lawler out to give the Dream Machine the victory, a decision that did not sit well with Lawler nor the fans in Memphis.

Koko quickly aligned himself with manager Jimmy Hart and his First Family and changed his ring name to "Sweet Brown Sugar".

Sugar never got the best of Lawler but did taste tag-team success alongside Steve Keirn and then with Bobby Eaton.

Eaton and Sugar won the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship.

After successfully teaming for a while, Sugar and Eaton started to show signs of dissension, during their last run with the tag-team title Eaton beat Jacques Rougeau for the Mid-American Heavyweight title.

During an interview where Eaton and Hart bragged about the victory, Sugar complained that he was unable to win the Southern Title from Terry Taylor.

After being fed up, Hart finally slapped Sugar and sent the sulking superstar back to the dressing room after which Eaton commented that Sugar had been "whining like a woman".

Later that night the duo defended their title against Taylor and Bill Dundee, losing the title when Sugar "accidentally" kicked Eaton and then left the ring.

Eaton and Sugar contested a series of grudge matches centered around the Mid-America title and their issues with each other.

The feud got so out of control that it had to be settled with a "loser leaves town" match, a match that Eaton won, driving Sugar out of the arena.

Later, a masked man calling himself "Stagger Lee" debuted; the fact that he looked and wrestled like a masked version of Sugar helped make him instantly popular.

Eaton, along with the rest of the First Family, tried in vain to unmask Lee but could not manage to do so.

Bobby Eaton later turned face, he teamed with "Stagger Lee" for a series of matches.

During a tag-team tournament in 1983, the masked Stagger Lee teamed up with fellow face Norvell Austin to take on "Fargo's Fabulous Ones" (Tommy Rich and "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert).

During the course of the match Stagger Lee's mask was removed to reveal the man beneath it, prompting a heel turn for Ware.

Austin and Ware became a regular tag team dubbed "The Pretty Young Things" or ("The PYT Express").

The two men soon began wearing red leather jackets, and each had a single white glove on, in an obvious imitation of Michael Jackson to further enhance their "pretty boy" image.

The team defeated Elijah Akeem and Kareem Mohammad for the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship in February 1984; almost two weeks later, Akeem and Mohammad regained the title.

In August 1984, The Pretty Young Things began wrestling for World Class Championship Wrestling in Texas.

They remained with the promotion until November 1984.

In December 1984 the Pretty Young Things began wrestling for Championship Wrestling from Florida.

On February 26, 1985, Austin and Ware defeated Jay and Mark Youngblood to win the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship.

Two weeks later on March 5, 1985, the team re-lost the title to the Youngbloods.

They left the promotion in March 1985.

In 1993, during the premiere episode, he lost the first Monday Night Raw match to Yokozuna.

In 2009 he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Ware spent his early days in the sport in the Mid-South, Georgia and other NWA territories.

Early in his career, "Koko Ware" (as he was then known) did not find great success, learning the ropes and paying his dues in Jerry Jarrett's Continental Wrestling Association and Nick Gulas' territory.