Early career (1989–1993) Laslon Huffman started wrestling in 1989 as Super Collider on the
independent circuit in
Texas. In
Ivan Putski's Western Wrestling Alliance, he first started feuding with his brother,
Booker (who was G.I. Bro at the time) under the ring name Jive Soul Bro. He began teaming with his brother as Stevie Ray (named after a combination of musical artists
Stevie Wonder and
Ray Charles) in a tag team called The Ebony Experience for the
Global Wrestling Federation, which was on
ESPN. They were
faces and
feuded with the "Blackbirds" of
Iceman King Parsons and Brickhouse Brown. They won the
GWF Tag Team Championship three times. Stevie Ray then went on to win the
GWF North American Heavyweight Championship in 1993.
World Championship Wrestling (1993–2001) Harlem Heat (1993–1997) In August 1993, they went to
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and changed their team name to Harlem Heat. Initially Lash was known as
Kane while Booker became Kole. They were then billed from
Harlem. They became heels and were on
Harley Race and
Col. Rob Parker's team in the
War Games at
Fall Brawl on September 19, 1993, with
Vader and
Sid Vicious against
Sting,
Davey Boy Smith,
Dustin Rhodes and
The Shockmaster. They lost the match when Shockmaster forced Booker (Kole) to submit. In 1994, they got
Sister Sherri as their manager and changed their names back to Booker T and Stevie Ray. They feuded with
Stars and Stripes (
The Patriot and
Buff Bagwell) and won the WCW Tag Team Titles for the first time. From there, they feuded with
The Nasty Boys (
Jerry Sags and
Brian Knobs) and got into a feud with Col. Parker's "Stud Stable" of
Dick Slater and
Bunkhouse Buck where Parker and Sherri were carrying on a love affair. During this time, Stevie and Booker lost the titles to the Nasty Boys, regained them, then lost them to Slater and Buck and regained them again. They eventually gained Parker as a manager as he abandoned Slater and Buck to be with Sherri. Harlem Heat won the WCW World Tag Team Championship three times in 1995, trading the titles with the
American Males (Bagwell and
Scotty Riggs) in the early fall. They had brief feuds with
Lex Luger and Sting, trading the titles back and forth in early 1996 and
The Road Warriors before starting a long feud with
Rick and Scott Steiner in 1996. In October, they lost their titles to
The Outsiders,
Kevin Nash and
Scott Hall, when Nash used Parker's cane to attack Stevie. They would then fire the Colonel, beat him up, turn face, and enter into a brief feud against Parker's newest team
The Amazing French Canadians, a feud they would win. In 1997 they feuded with
Public Enemy (
Johnny Grunge and
Rocco Rock), The Steiners and the
New World Order. In the summer of 1997, they fired Sherri and added a new manager,
Jacqueline. They were briefly put out of action by the nWo and returned to feud with
The Faces of Fear (
Meng and
The Barbarian).
Singles appearances; New World Order (1998–1999) As 1998 started to roll around, Stevie had to take some time off from WCW from January to June. Meanwhile, Booker T would go on to win the
WCW World Television Championship. Through the association with his brother, he would gain his only singles title in WCW, as when Booker took time off with an injury as Television Champion from July to October, Stevie got a "power of attorney" to defend the belt for Booker. He then engaged in a short feud with
Chavo Guerrero Jr. over the right to defend the belt before dropping it to
Chris Jericho afterwards. By June 1998, Stevie Ray had returned to the ring, and the powerful gang-like
faction of the nWo had been split into two:
Hollywood Hogan's
nWo Hollywood and
Kevin Nash's
nWo Wolfpac. Stevie Ray would be offered a spot in nWo Hollywood, but was hesitant at first. He would join the "black & white" in August, effectively turning him
heel. Although this would make Stevie Ray known for using dirty tactics and a strength-in-numbers mentality, his brother, Booker, showed little resentment and respected Stevie Ray's decision to be a part of the nWo, and they were able to peacefully co-exist. Meanwhile, Booker was steadily gaining popularity as a
face, climbing the ranks of the WCW roster and winning championship titles. During his tenure with the nWo, Stevie Ray would tag team with the likes of
Horace Hogan and
Scott Norton as well as performing in singles competition, often with
Vincent at ringside. Alongside Hollywood Hogan and
Bret Hart, he also participated in the
War Games of
Fall Brawl 1998. The
slapjack became known as Stevie Ray's trademark weapon which he would frequently use to knock an opponent unconscious, typically when the
referee was distracted. By early 1999, both nWo factions had fused back together, but members of nWo Hollywood started bickering over who the leader of the sub-faction was. Hollywood Hogan began telling various members in private that he had granted them official leadership, causing confusion and friction between members. Not long after, Stevie Ray won the leadership role in a 4-man battle royal on the April 5, 1999, episode of
WCW Monday Nitro, defeating Horace Hogan,
Brian Adams, and Vincent.
Harlem Heat reformation and feud with Booker T (1999–2000) As tension grew between members of nWo Hollywood, Stevie Ray started helping Booker T during his matches. As Booker was getting ganged up on in July, the two reunited Harlem Heat. They began feuding with
Barry and
Kendall Windham as well as
The Jersey Triad of
Diamond Dallas Page,
Chris Kanyon and
Bam Bam Bigelow. They went on to win the Tag Titles three more times, making them 10 time champions. By late 1999, a female bodybuilder named
Midnight had joined Harlem Heat. Stevie resented her help and started disputing with Booker over her. He eventually challenged Midnight in a match that would decide whether or not she would stay with Harlem Heat. After being defeated with a surprise
small package, Stevie Ray would turn on both Booker and Midnight to form Harlem Heat, Inc. with
Big T,
Kash and
J. Biggs. They won the rights to the Harlem Heat name in a match with Big T against Booker on February 20, 2000, at
SuperBrawl X.
Color commentator (2000–2001) In May, Stevie split from Big T, Kash and Biggs (who all left WCW) and helped Booker T out of a jam. He then retired from in-ring competition to become a
color commentator for
WCW Thunder. As a commentator, Stevie referred to all of the women as "yaks" and coined his catchphrase "Suckas gots to know!" He also provided in-depth analysis from a wrestler's point of view during matches and constantly criticized wrestlers for mistakes made in the ring. For example, he would often say that a wrestler "should have went [sic] for the cover!" or "needed to hook the leg!" and this advice earned him the nickname, "Straightshootin'" Stevie Ray. Stevie came back for one more WCW match (a title vs. career match) for the
WCW World Heavyweight Championship against
Scott Steiner on the November 27, 2000, edition of WCW Monday Nitro, which he lost. A few months later, WCW was bought by the WWF in March 2001. Stevie did not want to go to WWF.
World Wrestling All-Stars (2001–2002) After WCW was bought by WWF, Stevie Ray wrestled a few matches for
WWA against
Jerry Lawler, and
Buff Bagwell in 2001, and
Ernest Miller in 2002, retiring later that year.
Semi-retirement (2005–2017) In 2005, Stevie Ray and Booker T opened the "Booker T and Stevie Ray Pro Wrestling Academy" in Houston, Texas. In April 2013, Stevie Ray inducted Booker T into the
WWE Hall of Fame. Ray's last match was at Reality of Wrestling on August 12, 2017, teaming with Abel Andrew Jackson as they lost to
Ernest Miller and Ryan Davidson. ==Championships and accomplishments==