James Manley Biography
James Manley better known by his ring name Jim Powers, is an American retiredprofessional 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. better known by his ring name Jim Powers, is an American retired professional wrestler.
He most notably wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s. He also wrestled for World Championship Wrestling in the mid-1990s. The high point of his career was teaming with Paul Roma as The Young Stallions. Main article: The Young Stallions He arguably reached the peak of his career in the WWF when Powers, on March 11, 1987, along with another preliminary wrestler Paul Roma, formed a tag team called The Young Stallions.
At first the team had no name, and the original pairing saw Roma and Powers teamed with Tito Santana in a six-man tag team match against the team of Don Muraco, Bob Orton, Jr., and Tiger Chung Lee on Wrestling Challenge. Surprisingly the team of Powers, Roma, and Santana were victorious when Santana pinned Lee, after Muraco and Orton walked away from the match.
Following the win, the team lost twice to Demolition, as well as an eight-man tag team match against members of The Heenan Family in June 1987. Powers and Roma finally gained their first televised victory in regular tag team action in late July 1987 when they faced another preliminary team, Barry Horowitz and Steve Lombardi. The team was dominant and announcer Bobby Heenan was stunned when Roma unleashed an off the top rope sunset flip.
Fresh off of their first win, Powers and Roma were scheduled to face The Hart Foundation on an August 8, 1987 episode of Superstars (taped August 4), they scored an upset disqualification victory over WWF Tag Team Champions The Hart Foundation. 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.
On February 3, 2010, Powers announced his retirement. In 2012, Powers was hospitalized, and had two hip surgeries. In July 2016, Manley was named part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit is litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE.
