Monday, February 23, 2009

The Birdman, Koko B. Ware

Posted on 9:37 PM by Steve


Koko B. Ware, the Wrestler of the Week (WOW) for 2/23/09! Was there anything this man couldn't do while competing in the WWF in the late 80s/early 90s? Oh that's right, he couldn't win many matches. But regardless of his win/loss regard, Koko B. Ware was one of only a handful of "small" wrestlers that Vince McMahon brought in to the the WWF during that time. Koko had the energy, charisma and look to be a star and has left a legacy behind him that may never die...okay that's probably not true either. But read on as I dig up the highlights of this man's career, both wrestling and "singing", give you a glimpse at his music video Piledriver and finish up with details on where he is now.

First, unlike last weeks Wrestler of the Week, Koko was not brought in to the WWF to strike fear into the hearts of the fans. Unlike most of the stars in the WWF at the time, Koko was "small", standing only 5'8" and weighing 240 lbs. He was brought in, given a pet macaw named Frankie, and was a typical over-the-top babyface. Koko's biggest claim to fame came when he got to sing the lead track on the WWF's PileDriver album. Luckily for all of us, this masterpiece can still be found:



Surprisingly, that knockout didn't land Koko a record deal, so he had to go back to wrestling, which led to more problems. Basically, he wasn't booked very well. His winning ways in the WWF were short lived and he quickly became a jobber, most notably becoming the first wrestler to fall victim to The Undertaker's tombstone piledriver and then losing to essentially every other established heel that the WWF needed to push. Koko was eventually repackaged and paired with Owen Hart, as High Energy. That lasted about as long as it took for me to type that last sentence. But regardless of how his matches turned out, Koko continued to dance to the ring for each match, flapping his arms with Frankis, as always entertaining the kids. Now I don't know about you, but I couldn't help but smile when this came on:




Koko did win the USWA World Title on two occasions and on one of those occasions he defeated last weeks WOW wrestler, Kamala. Overall, Koko entertained for a few good years in the WWF and made a couple of spot appearances since then. Luckily the video for Piledriver will live on forever along with The Birdman! Oh and he now has a new macaw, Frankie Jr. You can catch up with Koko at: Kokobware.net

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