James W. Ware, Jr. (born June 20, 1958), better known by his ring name Koko B. Ware, is an American retired https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestler. He debuted in 1978 and became widely popular in 1986. He later went on to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE, where he went from strong mid-carder to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_(professional_wrestling)#Jobbers. "The Birdman" came to the ring with a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Eaton in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Wrestling_Association and with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norvell_Austin (The PYT Express) in several promotions. In 1993, he lost the first https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Raw match to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokozuna_(wrestler). In 2009 he was inducted into the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Hall_of_Fame.
Continental Wrestling Association (1978–1986)- 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 both in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Jarrett's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Wrestling_Association and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Gulas' territory in the south. It was not until late in 1980 that Ware's fortunes changed when he participated in a battle royal to crown the first ever Mid-American Television Champion. The crowd favorite was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Valiant, who Ware accidentally knocked into https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Briley 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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tojo_Yamamoto and Ware's ally, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Rich. When https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.
Sweet Brown Sugar and Stagger Lee (1981–1983)- Ware floundered until September 1981, when he was chosen to referee a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AWA_Southern_Heavyweight_Championship title match between https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Hart and his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_Family_(professional_wrestling) and changed his ring name to "Sweet Brown Sugar". Sugar never got the best of Lawler but did taste tag-team success alongside https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Keirn and then with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Eaton. Eaton and Sugar won the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Rougeau for the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWA_Mid-America_Heavyweight_Championship. During an interview where Eaton and Hart bragged about the victory, Sugar complained that he was unable to win the Southern Title from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Dundee, losing the title when Sugar "accidentally" kicked Eaton and then left the ring.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_B._Ware#cite_note-Titles-4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koko_B._Ware#cite_note-Eaton-6 Eaton and Sugar contested a series of grudge matches centered around the Mid-America title and their issues with each other. 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.
World Wrestling Federation (1986–1994)-In August 1986, Ware signed with the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wrestling_Federation, where he continued his fun-loving "Birdman" Koko B. Ware" persona, complete with a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macaw named "Frankie". Ware made his debut as a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_(professional_wrestling) on the September 6, 1986, episode of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWF_Superstars_of_Wrestling, teaming with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Roma against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart_Foundation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Hart and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Neidhart) in a losing effort. His first victory was on the September 7 episode of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWF_Wrestling_Challenge against Bob Bradley. He made his entrances dancing to the ring to the tune of Morris Day and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_(band)'s "The Bird", flapping his arms and carrying Frankie, who sat on a perch at ringside while Ware wrestled. Bright outfits, colorful sunglasses, a constant smile and his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibrato singing voice made Ware popular, especially with the younger crowd that the WWF mainly catered to during the 1980s. Ware garnered his first big win of his initial WWF run when he upset https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley_Race at a house show in East Rutherford, NJ, on October 13. On television, his first major showcase was at the November 29, 1986 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night%27s_Main_Event_VIII where he defeated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Volkoff. Ware often lost to bigger stars, such as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_Reed, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_(wrestler), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Valentine, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Traylor. From 1987 to 1993, Ware appeared on several WWF PPVs (including https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_III where he lost to Reed) and editions of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night%27s_Main_Event, being used mainly to make established or rising stars look good. Ware was the first wrestler on television to fall victim to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suplex of newcomer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curt_Hennig on the January 7, 1989, episode of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night%27s_Main_Event_XIX, while at the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_Series_(1990), Ware became the first wrestler to fall victim to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Undertaker's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piledriver_(professional_wrestling)#Tombstone_piledriver in the Undertaker's WWF debut match. In a precursor to what would become a regular team years later, Ware occasionally teamed with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Hart, wrestling as The Blue Blazer at the time, throughout 1988 and 1989. In 1992, Ware teamed up with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Hart to form the high-flying team known as High Energy, well known in wrestling circles for their gigantic baggy brightly colored pants and checkered suspenders. High Energy feuded with (and generally lost to) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nasty_Boys, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Headshrinkers, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_Inc. After being inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009, Ware has been a point of controversy because, working as a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_professional_wrestling_terms#C, he was inducted before world champions.