Jim Powers

James Manley (born January 4, 1958), better known by his ring name Jim Powers is an American professional wrestler. He most notably wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s. The high point of his career was teaming with Paul Roma as The Young Stallions.

Professional wrestling career
Powers was discovered and brought into the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in late 1984 by Big John Studd who also had a hand in training him.[1] In 1985, Powers ventured outside the WWF to gain more experience, including two Texas based promotions: Texas All-Star Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling where he appeared at a couple of the federation’s featured "Star Wars" events.[2][3] After gaining more experience, Powers returned to the WWF and resumed the role he had for most of his career, being used as a jobber.

Young Stallions
He arguably reached the peak of his career in the WWF when Powers, on March 11, 1987, along with fellow preliminary wrestler Paul Roma, formed a tag team called The Young Stallions.[4] The team seemingly received their name by accident when color commentator Bruno Sammartino referred to them once as "a couple of young stallions" thus naming the team. Powers and Roma were still viewed as enhancement talent when, during the August 8, 1987 episode of Superstars (taped August 4), they scored an upset disqualification victory over WWF Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation.[5] Along with The Killer Bees, they were also the only survivors in the elimination tag team match at the first annual Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 26, 1987.[1]

The team was placed in featured matches on television and at house shows, but most times ended up on the losing end. Following yet another loss, this time to Demolition on the March 19, 1989 episode of Wrestling Challenge, the team began arguing after the match. Soon, they were split up off camera without an official announcement. Roma and Powers went their separate ways and both floundered on the undercard afterward; while Roma would later team up with Hercules to form the team of Power and Glory, Powers continued to work as an “Enhancement talent". During this time, he most notably became the first WWF wrestler to lose to Ric Flair when the "Nature Boy" made his Federation debut on the September 30, 1991 episode of Prime Time Wrestling [6]. In 1994, Jim Powers left the WWF a full decade after first signing with the company.

American Wrestling Federation
In 1994, he competed for the short lived American Wrestling Federation (AWF) on the TV series Warriors of Wrestling where he was a fan favorite. He also teamed with Johnny Gunn while in the AWF.

World Championship Wrestling
Powers resurfaced in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the spring of 1995 hoping to shed his “jobber" image. He was scouted and then managed for a brief time by Teddy Long as well as being scheduled to form a mid card stable with “Desperado" Joe Gomez and The Renegade but nothing ever came of it. He was attacked and spray painted during a mid-1996 match by the emerging New World Order (nWo). The reason for the attack was simply that the nWo wanted to address the crowd; it didn't really have anything to do with Jim Powers as he was just an expendable body. Just like in the WWF, WCW saw nothing but “Enhancement Talent" work for Jim Powers who finally left the company in early 1999 after being one of the sixty competitors in the annual WCW World War 3 Pay Per View in 1996.[7]

Semi-retirement
After spending several years in semi-retirement and rehabbing a neck injury that forced him out of the squared circle in the first place, Jim Powers returned to wrestling for an independent promoter on March 9, 2007. Since returning to wrestling, Powers has wrestled for several independent based organizations and has appeared, pairing back up with Young Stallions partner Paul Roma, at several wrestling fan fests meeting his fans and signing their autographs.

In 2007, Powers was contacted by World Wrestling Entertainment concerning a training position within the company's developmental territories. Despite meeting face to face with John "Johnny Ace" Laurinaitis over the matter, nothing ever was finalized. In 2008, Powers was spotted at the Iron Sheik Roast as the main person attempting to restrain an extremely annoyed Scott Hall who was attempting to assault King Kong Bundy who made an off color joke about the death of Owen Hart. He also has made a cameo appearance as himself in the Mickey Rourke film, The Wrestler.