Prince Iaukea

For the Prince Iaukea who competed in Pacific Northwest Wrestling, see Rocky Iaukea.

Prince Iaukea
Birth nameMichael Laauli Hayner
Born (1964-08-01) August 1, 1964 (age 60)
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)The Artist[1]
Mike Hayner[2]
Prince Iaukea[2]
The Tongan Prince
Billed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[3]
Billed weight219 lb (99 kg)[3]
Billed fromHonolulu, Hawaii
"The Kingdom of Tonga"
Trained byBoris Malenko[2]
Dean Malenko[2][3]
Rico Federico[2]
Debut1995
Retired2015

Michael Laauli Hayner (born August 1, 1964) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling from 1995 to 2000 under the ring name Prince Iaukea and later The Artist Formerly Known as Prince Iaukea or simply The Artist.[4][3]

Hayner made his WCW debut in 1996 and mainly competed as a fan favorite underdog. He was utilized as an enhancement talent during the early months of his career before winning the World Television Championship in 1997 and holding the title for nearly two months.[5] Hayner then fell in the ranks due to some issues with management before being repackaged as "The Artist". He dominated the cruiserweight division during the first half of 2000, winning the company's Cruiserweight Championship twice before departing the company later that year.[6]

  1. ^ a b "Prince Iaukea profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Prince Iaukea". Cagematch.de. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d Harris M. Lentz III (2003). Biographical Dictionary of Professional Wrestling, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-4766-0505-0.
  4. ^ Bell, Amy (August 2000), "Purple Passion", WCW Magazine, no. 64, World Championship Wrestling, Inc., p. 61, ISSN 1057-1396
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference wcwtv was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference wcwcruiser was invoked but never defined (see the help page).