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Thursday, February 10, 2011

King Curtis Iaukea, American professional wrestler, died after a long illness he was , 73

Curtis Piehau Iaukea, III was a professional wrestler better known as King Curtis Iaukea. Iaukea won championships in several of the major regional US promotions, both as a single and in various tag team combinations, during the 1960s died after a long illness he was , 73. He then competed in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) where he won the WWF Tag Team Championship. He was also later The Master of the Dungeon of Doom in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Under the name "Iau Kea" he appeared in the film The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze with Moe Howard declaring "That's not a man! That's a committee!".

(1938 - December 4, 2010)

Biography

He was the grandson of Colonel Curtis Iaukea, a vice chamberlain and diplomat to the court of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliuokalani ^[1] and later Sheriff of Honolulu and son of a Honolulu Police Department Captain also named Curtis Iaukea. He attended Punahou School and the University of California Berkeley as an economics major where he lettered as a lineman until he dropped out. He played as a tackle for the BC Lions from 1958-1959.^[2]
In the early mid sixties, 1963 - 1964, post football and before his pro wrestling debut with 50th State Wrestling, Curtis "the Bull" Iaukea briefly worked as a disc jockey for KUMU Radio station in Kaimuki under then station owner/manager John Wiser. Playing a "Classical Music" format, he provided the first OJT job internship cueing records and tapes as a station gopher/programing assistant for a young upcoming south-shore surfer Steve Gilbert, whom he paid out of his own pocket. As a result of necessitated chair replacement, KUMU DJ's benefitted for years getting to use the extremely solid yet comfortable steel swivel DJ chair with lumbar support, a legacy of "Da Bull's" near 300lb girth which simply demolished several prior replacement bar stool type chairs becoming a major expense of legendary proportion.

Professional wrestling career

In Australia, King Curtis was a part of the face tag team known as the People's Army with Mark Lewin and Spiros Arion.
His first sojourns to Australia were in the 1964–1965 season, where he was a villain. He was teamed with Skull Murphy. King Curtis initially wrestled as Curtis Iaukea in his first run in Australia. The King Curtis tag was the one that stuck as he feuded against Mark Lewin. After becoming a fan favorite in time for the seventies, King Curtis feuded against Tiger Singh and various Japanese "brothers." King Curtis was also a member of an alliance known as "The People's Army."
After retiring in the mid-1980s, he turned to managing. In ICW, knows as King Curtis, he managed Kevin Sullivan and Mark Lewin, taking on the gimmick of a crazed cult leader. His faction feuded with Joe Savoldi and Austin Idol. Curtis Iaukea re-appeared briefly in the WWF promotion as a manager and mouthpiece for Kamala and Sika. He also appeared briefly in WCW as 'The Master' of The Dungeon of Doom stable in the mid-90s.