Curtis Piehau Iaukea III (September 15, 1937 – December 4, 2010) was an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

better known as King Curtis Iaukea. Iaukea won championships in several of the major regional U.S. promotions, both as a single and in various tag team combinations, during the 1960s. He then competed in the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

(WWF) where he won the WWF Tag Team Championship with Baron Scicluna. He was also later The Master of the Dungeon of Doom in

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...

(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!".

Early life

He was the great grandson of Colonel Curtis P. Iaukea, a royal chamberlain and diplomat to the court of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliuokalani and son of Honolulu Police Department Inspector Curtis Iaukea II. He attended

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through 12th grade. Protestant missionaries establis ...

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 The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

from 1958-1959 and the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes ( French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Cana ...

in 1959. He was also in camp with the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

in 1960 before being cut.

Professional wrestling career

Wrestling

Iaukea came to Don Owen's Pacific Northwest territory, commonly known as Portland Wrestling in 1961, wrestling under the moniker Prince Kuhio. Teaming with Haru Sasaki, the two would capture the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Titles on January 19, 1962, holding them for two months. A year later, while traveling between

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

and the Hawaiian Islands, King Curtis would capture the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title on September 5, 1963, In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, King Curtis was a part of the

face The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

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

Heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exer ...

. 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 the seventies, King Curtis feuded against Tiger Jeet Singh and the Tojo brothers from Japan. King Curtis was also a member of an alliance known as "The People's Army."

Management

After retiring in the mid-1980s, he turned to managing. In ICW, known as King Curtis, he managed Kevin Sullivan and Mark Lewin, taking on the

gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand ou ...

of a crazed cult leader. His faction feuded with

Joe Savoldi Joseph Anthony Savoldi Jr., (born Giuseppe Antonio Savoldi; March 5, 1908 – January 25, 1974) more commonly known by his nickname "Jumping Joe" Savoldi, was an Italian-American professional wrestler, football player, and Special Ops agent f ...

and

Austin Idol Michael McCord (born October 26, 1949) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Austin Idol. He is best known for his appearances in the Mid-South with the Continental Wrestling Association, in particular his re ...

. In the 80's, he also appeared with Sullivan in Championship Wrestling from Florida as "The Chairman of the Board". Curtis Iaukea re-appeared briefly in the WWF promotion as The Wizard, a manager and mouthpiece for Kamala. The Wizard claimed to be in communion with the spirit of the late original Grand Wizard. He later teamed Kamala with Sika before selling the pair to Mr Fuji. He also appeared briefly in WCW as 'The Master' of the Dungeon of Doom stable in the mid-1990s, reuniting with both Kamala and Sullivan (who, as Dungeon leader, would address Iaukea as "my father", and he would address Sullivan as "my son") His role in the Dungeon was to conjure up new Dungeon members for Sullivan's war with Hulk Hogan.

Championships and accomplishments

* 50th State Big Time Wrestling ** NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship ( 4 times) ** NWA United States Heavyweight Championship ''(Hawaii version)'' ( 6 times) * Big Time Wrestling ''(San Francisco)'' ** NWA United States Heavyweight Championship (San Francisco version) ( 1 time) * NWA All-Star Pro Wrestling ** NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *American Wrestling Alliance ** AWA United States Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) *

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to as ...

** NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship (

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outside ...

) *

NWA Western States Sports Western States Sports (also known as the Amarillo Territory) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Amarillo, Texas in the United States. Founded by Dory Detton in 1946, the promotion enjoyed its greatest success in the 1960s and ...

** NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) *

Pacific Northwest Wrestling Pacific Northwest Wrestling (PNW) (also known as Big Time Wrestling and Portland Wrestling) is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. ...

** NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Haru Sasaki * Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum **Class of 2020 * World Championship Wrestling (Australia) ** IWA World Heavyweight Championship ( 4 times) ** IWA World Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) - with Buddy Austin (1) and Mark Lewin (2) **

World Brass Knuckles Championship The World Brass Knuckles Championship was a professional wrestling brass knuckles championship in the Australian World Championship Wrestling promotion from 1974 until 1978. Title history See also * Professional wrestling in Australia *World ...

* World Wide Wrestling Federation ** WWWF World Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) with Baron Mikel Scicluna *''

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four W ...

'' ** Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 2011)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iaukea, Curtis, King American male professional wrestlers 1937 births Native Hawaiian people Sportspeople from Honolulu 2010 deaths Native Hawaiian professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Hawaii Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum Stampede Wrestling alumni 20th-century professional wrestlers NWA Florida Heavyweight Champions NWA Southern Heavyweight Champions (Florida version) Stampede Wrestling North American Heavyweight Champions IWA World Heavyweight Champions (Australia) IWA World Tag Team Champions (Australia)