2 Cold Scorpio began his career in 1985. He said he grew up a wrestling fan, watching Texas wrestling and the AWA.
He said he at first wanted to be a pro football player, but when that did not pan out, he turned to the ring. Being that he was also a boxer and from an athletic background, he took to wrestling immediately.
According to Scorpio, he was self-taught at first on mattresses. His high-flying moves were natural, God-given talent.
Eventually, he competed in a few independent promotions near Denver, Colorado, where his high-flying, hardcore style began to take shape.
He had the opportunity to work with many of the stars who frequented the indies. It was in Mile High Pro Wrestling that the late Leon White, aka ‘the Mastodon’ Big Van Vader, recommended that Scorpio go to the land of the rising sun and train in the New Japan dojo.
Vader was a guest at an indy show and was impressed by Scorpio’s style. The New Japan dojo was different as they paid their students to train.
Scorpio said he was paid 500 dollars a week. I would take that as well. He compared life at the dojo to being in the military. You would wake up at 7 am, clean the dojo, and then train.
Training was about 1000 push-ups, sit-ups, and various other warm-ups. Then you would actually get in the ring, stretch, and go through spots. After that, it was typical for the dojo to go on a run around Tokyo.
NJPW was very serious about its trainees respecting wrestling. In NJPW, Scorpio became an instant hit wrestling in several of the strong style matches that the promotion had become known for.
He became a top contender for the J Cup along with several names like Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero, Chris Jericho, and Fit Finlay.
2 Cold Scorpio arrives in World Championship Wrestling
In 1992, World Championship Wrestling signed Scorpio. Once again, Vader put in a good word for the star. According to Scorpio, he was offered a 75,000 dollar a year contract, which probably should have been more.
He made his debut at Clash of the Champions XXI. He was introduced to WCW fans as the World Heavyweight Champion Ron Simmons mystery partner vs Tony Atlas, The Barbarian, and Cactus Jack, aka Mick Foley.
Not a bad way to debut, partnering with the World Heavyweight Champion. He even hit a cross body on all three of his opponents.
Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura played up the fact that they did not know the name of Simmons’ partner. 2 Cold Scorpio proved his worth as he pinned Cactus Jack after a 450 splash.
According to Scorpio, Ron Simmons is one of the guys who took him under his wing and showed him the ropes. When it comes to Mick Foley, though, Scorpio’s first impression was that he was “crazy”. Even though Mick Foley is one of the nicest guys ever in the business, he definitely had that character down.
2 Cold Scorpio was doing moves in the ring that nobody saw in 1992. One of those was his famous finisher, the 450 splash. Scorpio was a thinking man’s high flyer.
He knew when to go to the top rope in order to further the story in the ring. Unlike many matches today, who go to the top rope for no reason, Scorpios was always a high point in the match that made sense.
Scorpio also made an impact in the WCW Singles division. On June 16, 1993, he challenged NWA Heavyweight Champion Barry Windham. Although Scorpio did not win the championship.
He did win the hearts of the fans. After that, he formed a tag team with Marcus Alexander Bagwell. The duo had several good matches against teams like Harlem Heat, The Wrecking Crew, and the Hollywood Blondes.
It wasn’t long before they earned a WCW Tag Team Title Match against the Nasty Boys. Complete with their new manager, WWE Hall of Famer Teddy Long, the team upset the Nasty Boys, taking home the titles. Unfortunately, it was just one day later at Halloween Havoc that they lost the tiles back to the mayors of Nastyville.
Shortly after that loss, Scorpio was released from WCW for allegedly failing a drug test. The partnership with Marcus Alexander Bagwell fell through.
According to both, Scorpio and Bagwell did not get along with each other. Scorpio claimed Bagwell was a big talker but could not back it up.
The two did bury the hatchet recently as Scorpio was a guest on Buff Bagwell’s podcast. Bagwell said he was completely grateful for Scorpio’s influence. It was all him in that tag team as Bagwell learned the ropes.
He said in no way could he dance. He said he tried really hard, but Scorpio got that team over. He did, however, compete at When Worlds Collide and Collision in Korea.
Scorpio was allowed to participate in these events because they were a joint production of WCW and NJPW. Later on, Scorpio mentioned that he had no idea what he was getting into at that event.
What made the Collision in Korea in 1995 monumental was that it was the first time in several decades that Americans and Japanese were allowed in North Korea.
He said that they were notified they would be traveling on a North Korean plane, complete with microphones and cameras. Basically, Big Brother would be watching their every move.
He said the Koreans even took their passport “just in case .” The main event at Collision in Korea was RicFlair vs the Great Antonio Inoki.
However, many claim the match that stole the show was 2 Cold Scorpio vs The Pegasus Chris Benoit. Both athletes came up through the NJPW system.
It was during this time that Scorpio was competing in the Super J Cup tournament against Benoit, so they knew each other well. Scorpio lost after a hard-fought match.
It was also during this tour that the infamous shoot fight with Hawk, aka the late Michael Hegstrand of Legion of Doom, happened.
According to Scorpio, Ric Flair was why he was let go from WCW. He said that he warned everyone in New Japan that he was going to kick Flair’s ass. New Japan made Scorpio promise he would not.
Scorpio claims that Flair did not want to ride with boys. He would ride in his Mercedes while the boys took the bus. Hawk took exception to a comment Scorpio made. Before they knew it. It was on.
He said he tagged Hawk 20 times. Finally, they got broken up, and Scorpio went to apologize, but Hawk turned around and gave him a shot. Scorpio said it did not even faze him. He was told to let it go. Scorpio obliged.
2 Cold Scorpio takes it to the Extreme!
At first, 2 Cold Scorpio was angry about getting fired from WCW. He blamed Ric Flair. However, now he admits that his “weed habit” was out of control. It is what it is, and it wasn’t the image WCW wanted.
Scorpio says he now understands that. He also gets that when a door closes, another opens. 2 Cold Scorpio took his extreme ways to ECW. ECW was perfect for Scorpio. It added the hardcore level to his persona.
It made 2 Cold Scorpio Extreme. In ECW 2, Cold Scorpio won the World Television Championship four times. On ECW TV, Scorpio defeated Jason Knight for his first championship.
One day later, he was defeated by the Shooter Dean Malenko, who was managed by Jason Knight. Malenko was as real as it gets. He put Scorpio on the shelf with one of his first ankle injuries.
After several months, Scorpio returned to ECW. At Extreme Warfare on March 18, 1995, he challenged Malenko for the ECW TV Title. ECW was known for violence, but it also had its share of technical classics.
This is one of them. The Shooter saw a target on Scorpio’s ankle. He attacked that injured body part “like a piranha,” as Joey Styles said. Malenko viciously smashed Scorpio’s leg against the ring post.
Malenko attempted to make Scorpio submit, but Scorpio fought on. Finally, after several interferences from Taz, Scorpio rolled up the shooter, regaining the ECW Television Title.
However, at ECW Three Way Dance, another mat legend, Eddie Guerrero, defeated Scorpio, taking the title. The television title continued to rotate between Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero in a feud that was a major highlight of ECW television.
Finally, in the summer of 1995, Scorpio challenged Guerrero for the ECW Television Championship. You could tell Guerrero was a future legend. These two did not disappoint.
The crowd was chanting for Eddie even then, but Scorpio was not to be taken lightly. After trading chops, Guerrero went for a frog splash but was met with a knee to the gut. Scorpio then hit his 450 Splash wining the ECW TV Championship.
It was during this time that 2 Cold Scorpio became a double champion. On Hardcore TV, he defeated Rocco Rock, one-half of the ECW Tag Team Champions, Public Enemy, in a title vs title match.
He won the tag team championship and chose The Sandman as his partner. Scorpio said his tag team with The Sandman was just different.
“It was a big guy and a smaller, faster guy. Thats a very interesting dynamic in tag team wrestling. He said The Sandman had more balls in the ring than he had ever seen.”
The two held the ECW tag team titles until they were defeated in the same way Scorpio won the titles. In a title vs title match, Mikey Whipwreck defeated Scorpio at Holiday Hell wining the ECW tag title and the ECW Television Championship. He named Cactus Jack as his championship tag team partner, who helped him get the win.
On January 5, 1996, Scorpio won his last ECW Tv Title from Whipwreck at ECW Houseparty. He held the title until May 11, 1996, when he was defeated by The Franchise Shane Douglas.
This match was easily Shane Douglas and 2 Cold Scorpios’ finest. It was a back-and-forth contest. Even after hitting the splash, Shane still kicked out.
Finally, after a belly to belly suplex from the top rope, The Franchise defeated Scorpio wining the ECW Television Championship.
After the match, Douglas tried to shake Scorpio’s hand but instead got attacked by the former champion. This set off a rivalry for the ages.
On Shane Douglas’s Podcast The Triple Threat, he spoke very highly of Scorpio.
“Scorpio is great to work with. As soon as he goes for that top rope, you know something exciting is going to happen.
Too Cold was very professional and very gracious. He worked his ass off. Went out there and delivered the match like a professional. It’s one of the reasons why you hear chants of ECW still to this day.”
Everything was changing that year for Scorpio as word got out that he was headed to the WWF. At ECW, November to Remember, Scorpio, in true heel persona, stated that he’s not going to miss any ECW fans.
He stated his goal was to wrestle in both the WWF and ECW. It was decided that Scorpio would leave ECW for 15 days if he was defeated. Devon Storm stepped up to the plate but was defeated.
Next up was the Full Blooded Italians. Scorpio upped the ante by leaving ECW for 30 days. However, neither of the FBI could get the job done. He then upped it to 60 days.
Hack Meyers tried to take out Scorpio, but fell victim to a 450 Splash. Then 2 Cold Scorpio got cocky and upped it 1 year. Louie Spicoli arrived to check on his friend.
Scorpio said if he defeated Spicoli in 1 minute, then Spiccoli would go with him to the WWF. Spicoli defeated Scorpio.
However, Scorpio refused to leave the ring. Instead, Taz walked to the ring and confronted him. Scorpio told Taz he was going to work with bigger stars in bigger houses. The ECW fans gave Scorpio his proper sendoff. Taz threw out one last comment, “Bye-bye Flash.”
This was the best way for Scorpio to go out; that way, the ECW door was never locked. He could return with a program with Taz. Scorpio said the genius behind that night was not Paul Heyman but Todd Gordon.
Gordon does not get enough credit when it comes to ECW. Scorpio said the fans knew he was leaving, so they knew he was going to do a job.
However, ECW kind of manipulated it so the fans had no idea what to expect. He said he was honored to lose to the late Louie Spicoli.
WWF …..Flash You are So Funky
Flash Funk made his WWE Debut at the 1996 Survivor Series. This is a night that went down in history. Not only was this Flash Funk’s WWF debut, but it was also the most electrifying blue-chipper in WWE History, Rocky Maivia, aka The Rock’s debut.
It was also the return of Bret “Hitman” Hart to the WWF, facing Stone Cold Steve Austin in the first major match of their rivalry. Funk arrived dressed like a pimp from head to toe. He was accompanied by the Funkettes.
Vince McMahon even boogied down with Funk. It looked as though they were going to strap a rocket to this character. The 450 splash was renamed the funky flash splash.
Flash Funk went on to have several matches with Hunter Hearst Helmsley, aka HHH. People knew what Funk was capable of, but could he get past this character?
On Raw, Funk was able to showcase his talent against another ECW original, Sabu. Funk and Sabu were no strangers to each other. At one point in the match, Sabu was crotched on the top rope.
Funk sent Sabu to the floor after a clothesline. Funk hit a picture-perfect splash on Sabu but could not get the three-count. Sabu was counted out, but he put Funk through a table anyway. In 1997, Flash Funk was rated wrestling’s most underrated wrestler by Wrestling Observer.
Another highlight of his time as Flash Funk was facing his friend Vader on Raw. The man they call Vader was in a program with The Undertaker. He had the Undertaker’s former manager, Paul Bearer in his corner.
Vader was destroying everyone. Flash used his speed to rock the big man. Scorpio has said he was very grateful to Vader for again putting him over.
Bruce Prichard said that Flash Funk was based on a meeting Scorpio had with the WWF. During that meeting, they were looking to see what Scorpio could do. His wife said that he liked to dance.
It was just kind of a natural progression. At this time, the WWF knew what worked and what didn’t. The idea was to take Scorpio and turn the volume up, becoming Flash Funk.
Unfortunately, the Flash Funk persona was not getting over. He was decimated by Kane, Rock Bottomed by The Rock, and pedigreed by Triple H.
In 1998, Funk began to be a part of random tag teams. He tagged with Bradshaw, Tom Brandi, and Steve Blackman. Flash Funk was not working. Scorpio recounted his memories of Flash Funk.
“The whole flash funk thing was a challenge. I told Vince that I could get this character over within a year. I enjoyed it.
I would definitely have preferred to be a Scorpio, though. However, pushing me or not pushing me I still get paid the same. My thing was I was new coming in, but everyone was wanting to push their guy. “
Brawl For It All
When Flash Funk became a flash in the pan, Scorpio returned. He started tag teaming with Farooq in his battles against the Nation of Domination.
He also teamed with Legendary Terry Funk after he also dropped his chainsaw charlie gimmick. Scorpio became a contender in the Brawl for It All legitimate fighting tournament.
He defeated 8-ball of DOA. His boxing background came in handy as he outworked the big man. Unfortunately, Scorpio met his match against the Godfather.
Once known as the Supreme Fighting Machine, Kama, The Godfather, was awarded points for blocking takedowns. The event was won by Bart Gunn.
Scorpio said that
“a lot of guys who built their name on being a tough guy in the ring, then getting knocked out by Bart Gunn, were humbled.
I wanted to get in it. I just happened to be a replacement for someone who dropped out.
They asked me do you want to be in it. I was like f&%$ yeah. It was 1,000 dollars per fight. Easy Money “
In 1998, Scorpio soon found himself becoming a part of Al Snow’s J.O.B. Squad. Their motto was “pin me pay me.” This was right up Scorpio’s alley.
Unfortunately, before his time in the WWF Attitude Era could take off, he was released due to his drug issues. Scorpio’s last match was with Hardcore Holly and himself against Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett. Ironically, this was also the J.O.B. Squads’ final match.
After being released from the WWF, Scorpio returned to the land of the Extreme. Mike Awesome was now the ECW Heavyweight Champion.
On December 10, 1999, Scorpio challenged Mike Awesome for the title but came up short. His last match in ECW was against Masato Tanaka at Cyberslam.
After spending a few months in ECW, Scorpio went back to Japan to compete for Pro Wrestling Noah. He found himself teaming with Vader in his debut match.
Vader and Scorpio became the first-ever Global Honored Crown Tag Team Champions. They lost the titles to Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa.
Vader eventually left Japan and was replaced by Doug Williams. Scorpio and Williams won the GHC tag team championship. Scorpio also won the GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship.
In 2006, Flash Funk returned to the WWE. However, he was released in 2007 without ever appearing on WWE. He did, however, compete in a battle royal on Raw’s 15th Anniversary, eliminating The Lethal Weapon Steve Blackman and himself.
TNA and the Indies
In 2005 at ECW Hardcore Homecoming, he defeated Kid Kash in an amazing match. He wrestled for Booker T’s Pro Wrestling Alliance.
In 2010, he participated in TNA’s ECW reunion PPV, Hardcore Justice, against CW Anderson. During the match, the TNA fans were chanting, ” This is wrestling.”
There were also ECW chants. Scorpio looked like he had not missed a step. He pinned Anderson with the 450 leg drop across the throat. At the end of the match, he showed respect for CW Anderson.
He renewed his rivalry with Shane Douglas at Extreme Reunion in Philadelphia, PA, the home of ECW. Scorpio also went to Japan, competing in Chikara’s King of Trios with JL and Tommy Dreamer, defeating 123 Kid, Tatanka, and Aldo Montoya. Unfortunatly the Extreme team was defeated by team ROH, composed of Mike Bennett and the Young Bucks.
In 2013, Scorpio defeated ACH or Albert C. Hardie Jr. to become the Rey de Voldares. He then wrestled John Morrison at House of Hardcore 2 for the FWE Heavyweight Championship.
On February 18, 2018, he won the WPW Heavyweight Championship. He won the Rocky Mountain Pro Tag Team title along with Alex Anthony.
Scorpio also became head trainer at Rocky Mountain Pro, as this was his friend Vader’s promotion. In 2014, Scorpio was inducted into the Hardcore Hall of Fame.
Unfortunately, Scorpio was involved in an altercation on June 15, 2024, in Missouri. Allegedly, he approached a man who was smoking a cigarette in the store.
Scorpio was working as a security guard. Scorpio approached the man, and the man became violent. Scorpio allegedly stabbed the man in self-defense multiple times.
He was released on bail and entered a not guilty plea. The alleged victim claimed that he was attacked maliciously.
The hearing was scheduled for January but faced multiple delays. Due to this, Scorpio lost his security job. He has also lost several bookings due to the trial.
