Great-ing Gimmicks of the Past: The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea — WCW, 1999-2000
History
WCW viewers were surprised to see yet another character change on the December 6th Nitro. Prince Iaukea had, ever since his 1997 debut, been in the character of a Hawaiian prince, even wearing a traditional sarong to the ring (earning him the Jericho nickname of Prince Mahi-Mahi).
In a backstage vignette, we saw the Prince sitting under a black light with a dove, while a rip-off of Purple Rain played. We were informed that he was no longer Prince Iaukea. Now he was the Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea (from here on out simply referred to as the Artist).
The Artist made his in-ring debut on the following Nitro, and his entrance was something to see with its purple lights and candles arranged on the entranceway and his new manager Paisley (better known today as Queen Sharmell). His opponent was Vampiro. As the match got underway, Oklahoma came out and tried hitting on Paisley. Vampiro got the win, so the Artist attacked Oklahoma. That brought Dr. Death Steve Williams out to obliterate the Artist.
The following Nitro opened with the Artist taking on the Maestro. The match started as Paisley asked the Artist what he had to say. His response? Yellow. Then the Maestro rode his piano down from the ceiling with Symphony (the former Ryan Shamrock) with him. The match ended when Jeff Jarrett hit the ring and dished out two guitar shots before challenging Chris Benoit to a bunkhouse brawl match.
On Thunder, Evan Karagias (with Nitro Girl Spice in his corner) took on the Artist in a non-title match. This time his word of the night was “Sage.” As Madusa and Spice got into a catfight at ringside over Evan, the Artist rolled him up for the win.
On December 20th, after being absent from Starrcade, we got video of the Artist and Paisley in a recording session.
Thunder showed more recording footage, as the Artist was told that his lyrics didn’t make any sense and Paisley went ballistic.
It was the January 6th Thunder before we got Recording Session Number Three. Again, nothing remarkable happened.
After another recording video on the January 19th’s Thunder, the Artist was back in action to take on Kidman. Kidman wound up with the victory (thanks to a little help from Torrie Wilson).
Meanwhile, another storyline was brewing that the Artist would wind up in. On January 16th, Oklahoma had won the Cruiserweight title from Madusa, only to vacate the title two days later. In response, WCW decided to have a tournament to determine the new Cruiserweight champion.
On January 26th’s Nitro, the Artist took on Kid Romeo in a first-round match. As Romeo was distracted by Paisley, the Artist took advantage of the opportunity and got the win.
On the February 5th Saturday Night, the Artist quickly disposed of Jeremy Lopez.
On the 14th’s Nitro, Mean Gene took a second to talk to the Artist about his tournament match against Psychosis on Thunder. The Artist promised to make Psychosis his next hit.
Kidman and Vampiro then took on La Parka and the Artist in a tag match. Paisley and Torrie got into a catfight on the outside. Vampiro tagged Kidman in, diverting his attention from the women. Vampiro (who’d looked disgusted as he tagged Kidman) dropped to the floor and left, leaving Kidman easy pickings for the Artist.
Then Thunder arrived, and no Psychosis. Instead, the Artist faced off against Kaz Hayashi, with the winner advancing to the finals to take on Lash LeRoux at Superbrawl. The Artist wound up with the win.
At Superbrawl, the Artist wound up with the win and the Cruiserweight title in the opening match.
The Artist defended his title against La Parka the next night. At least, that’s what we thought until another La Parka hit the scene to deliver a chairshot to Oklahoma at ringside (who’d come out to proclaim to the world that La Parka was really Madusa). Needless to say, the Artist wound up with another win.
On Thunder, the Artist took on Crowbar. As Paisley and Daffney got into a catfight at ringside, the Artist got the win.
The Artist took on Crowbar’s partner David Flair on Nitro. Again, as Paisley and Daffney got into a catfight at ringside, the Artist got the win.
Thunder opened with the Artist defending the title against Chavo Guerrero Jr. The match ended when the Artist clocked Chavo with the title belt and got caught, giving Chavo a DQ win.
Psychosis opened Nitro by taking on Kaz Hayashi when the Artist and Paisley made their way out. The Artist blasted Psychosis with the belt, giving Kaz the win. Afterward, Psychosis and Juventud Guerrera attacked the Artist.
Psychosis got his title shot on Thunder. The Artist pulled the referee into Psychosis’s way, thereby removing him from the equation. Psychosis then pinned the Artist and Juvi hit the ring to count the pinfall. However, the referee came to and returned the belt to the Artist after disqualifying Psychosis.
On Saturday Night, the Artist took on Kidman. Again, the Artist clocked Kidman with the belt to lose the match by DQ.
On Thunder, Psychosis took on Kaz to determine who got a title shot at Uncensored. Psychosis won and the Artist attacked him after the match. The Artist was finally able to hit his finisher (a second rope DDT) and left Psychosis lying.
Coincidentally, Psychosis vs. the Artist was the opening match for Uncensored. Outside, Juventud and Paisley were scrapping back and forth as Juvi tried to get a kiss. Inside, Psychosis was ready to hit his finisher when Paisley jumped up onto the ring apron. That let the Artist nail his DDT and retain the title.
On Nitro, the Artist and Paisley did guest commentary for Chris Candido’s match against Lash LeRoux. Candido won, and the Artist didn’t get involved.
On the 27th’s Nitro, the Artist and Paisley walked up to three wrestlers backstage and randomly picked one for a match that night.
The one who was chosen was Michael Modest. Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Chris Candido were ringside and, surprisingly, Modest got the win.
The Prince’s next appearance was at Spring Stampede. During the week previous, Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff had returned to WCW and the New Blood angle had kicked off by having every champion surrender their title.
To recapture the title, the Artist was in a suicide match against Crowbar, Shannon Moore, Juvi, Chris Candido, and Lash LeRoux. The Artist was distracted as Candido’s manager Tammy (Sunny) Sytch made her entrance, and that gave Candido the opportunity he needed to put the Artist away and become the Cruiserweight champion.
The Artist stayed with WCW until the end, but that was the end of his major run.
Analysis
The Artist is an interesting character. Although he never had a definitive storyline of his own (such as Positively Kanyon vs. DDP), he still managed to cross paths with several WCW storylines at the time (like Oklahoma and the Jarrett-Benoit feud).
The Artist was just another idea that Vince Russo had tried in the WWF with Goldust, and then recycled for his WCW run. The twist this time was that the Artist went more of a Prince-like direction, rather than The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, which just went off the deep end.
Overall, the Artist didn’t do anything to advance Prince Iaukea’s career. His moveset remained extremely bland and lacking in the excitement that wrestlers like Juventud Guerrera or Rey Misterio Jr. generated.
Still, he did get a Cruiserweight title run and Paisley as a manager out of the deal. So it wasn’t all bad.
Where are they now?
The Artist’s contract was not picked up by the WWF in the WCW buyout. He wound up going to Jimmy Hart’s XWF, where he competed as the Tongan Prince before it collapsed in early 2002. Today the Prince (real name Michael Haynes), has gone into stunt work, which he has done on films such as Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Scream 2, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
Next Week
Disco Inferno has a problem.
