What the Gimmick Was: A man that apparently thought he was the singer Prince. Why it's Confusing: Okay, let's just say that Prince Iaukea no longer wanted to be known as Prince Iaukea. Well then, why didn't he just change his name to something else? Did WCW force him to keep that name? And why in the hell would he decide to go with The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea? After all, Mike Hayner was his real name. Mike sounds like a nice, simple name. While Mike isnt that intimidating, its a lot less confusing and stupid than The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea. So why did the company bother calling him that? Well, this is most likely because somebody in WCW (Vince Russo) thought that it was a funny idea. Yes, an entire gimmick was based off a single joke. Now, you've heard some dated jokes before, but this was absurdly dated. After all, Prince was briefly known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince in 1993. This was six years before WCW made a character out of it! I'm pretty sure the well was pretty dry of Prince naming humor by that point.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
