Michael Haynes III

Infobox Wrestler
name = Michael Hayner
names = Prince Iaukea The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea The Artist The Tongan Prince


height = 6 ft (180 cm)
weight = 220 lbs (100 kg)
real_height =
real_weight =
birth_date =
birth_place = Honolulu, Hawaii
death_date =
death_place =
resides = Zephyrhills, Florida
billed = Honolulu, Hawaii The Kingdom of Tonga
trainer = Larry Simon Dean Malenko Rico Federico WCW Power Plant
debut = 1995
retired = 2002

Michael Hayner (sometimes known as Mike Haynes, or Mike Haines) was a professional wrestler best known as Prince Iaukea in World Championship Wrestling. Haynes has also made a career performing and coordinating stunts for major motion pictures.

Career

Military service

Haynes was a member of the United States Navy Underwater Demolition Teams. He served in Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Colombia, and the Persian Gulf War.He is currently a military security contractor for Blackwater USA.

World Championship Wrestling (1995-2001)

After being trained by Dean Malenko and Rico Federico, Haynes debuted on WCW pay-per-view Fall Brawl 1995 as a cadet delivering papers to Cobra for Craig Pittman. Later, Kevin Sullivan brought him to some TV tapings and was so impressed by his professionalism, overall attitude, and respect for the business that Sullivan gave him the Iaukea name taken from Curtis Iaukea, a good friend of Sullivan. Prince Iaukea debuted on WCW TV in 1996 and quickly made a name for himself with his unique Samoan persona and real submission wrestling skills along with solid pro wrestling ability. On February 17, 1997, Iaukea captured the WCW World Television Championship by defeating Lord Steven Regal and would hold it for 4 months before losing it to Ultimate Dragon. Iaukea then went off to tour New Japan working with established greats such as Shinjiro Otani and Koji Kanemoto. Japanese booker Riki Chōshū was a huge supporter of Iaukea and would try to bring him back for many more tours.

Back in WCW, Iaukea would then float around the lower mid-card for several years, mainly because of an alleged romantic link between Iaukea and the wife of an upper level WCW executive. Iaukea denied the allegations, but the rumor persisted. He was repackaged in 2000 as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea, a comedic gimmick based on singer Prince. Later, his ring name was shortenend to simply The Artist and Haynes was finally allowed to be a creative heel where he was at his best. He won the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship from Lash LeRoux in February 2000. The Artist would lose the title to Billy Kidman and later reclaim it before being stripped of the title by Vince Russo in April 2000 when Russo and Eric Bischoff "re-launched" WCW. After the purchase of WCW by the World Wrestling Federation, Haynes signed with the WWF but was not used after turning down storylines that conflicted with his Christian values. He asked for his release and it was granted.

Independent circuit (2001-2002)

After WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001, he wrestled the independent scene traveling around the country for various promotions. He was briefly known as The Tongan Prince for Jimmy Hart's X Wrestling Federation, but when that went under he went back into security contracting.

Personal life

In addition to his professional wrestling career, Haynes also has considerable experience as a martial artist, stunt performer and coordinator in motion pictures.

Haynes owns and promotes 3SX Pro Wrestling and 3SX Entertainment which runs events in the Pacific, particularly Australia and New Zealand.

Haynes is married to Gorina Quintana a former Hawaiian Tropic swimsuit model. He has two children, Nixson (Nick) and Marijella (Mariah).

Haynes is also a Christian.

In wrestling

*Finishing and signature moves:*Diving DDT:*Swan dive headbutt:*Multiple suplex variations::*Northern Lights::*German::*Belly to belly::*Leg hook:*Diving crossbody:*Slingshot leg drop:*Snap swinging neckbreaker

*Managers:*Paisley

Championships and accomplishments

*Pro Wrestling Illustrated:*PWI Rookie of the Year (1997):*Pro Wrestling Illustrated ranked him # 97 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003
*World Championship Wrestling:*WCW Cruiserweight Championship (2 times):*WCW World Television Championship (1 times)

*Independent circuit:*eXtreme Japan World Championship (2 times):*FXCW World Championship (2 times):*GPCW World Championship (3 times)

External links

*imdb name|id=0354271