Ray Canty (December 3, 1951 – May 23, 1994), better known by the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

Ray Candy, was an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

who worked for a variety of different wrestling promotions in the United States, Japan and Puerto Rico such as

Jim Crockett Promotions Jim Crockett Promotions, at times branded as Eastern States Championship Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, is a Family business, family-owned professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United Sta ...

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on October 21, 1972, by Giant Baba after he left the Japanese Wrestling Association to create his own promotion. Ma ...

World Wrestling Council The World Wrestling Council (WWC; Spanish: "Consejo Mundial de Lucha") is a professional wrestling promotion based in Puerto Rico. It was originally established as Capitol Sports Promotions in 1973 by Carlos Colón, Victor Jovica, and Goril ...

and others. He also competed as Blackstud Williams, Super Mario Man, Commando Ray, Masked Superfly and Kareem Muhammad. As Kareem Muhammad he formed a tag team with Elijah Akeem as the

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 establis ...

"The Zambuie Express". He also spent time as part of

Skandor Akbar Jimmy Saied Wehba (September 29, 1934 – August 19, 2010) was an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager better known by his ring name Skandor Akbar (which translates as "Alexander the Great"). Akbar led the villaino ...

's Devastation Inc. group as well as a team known as "The Shock Troops" with

Ed Gantner Edward James Gantner Jr. (February 4, 1959 – December 31, 1990) was an American professional wrestler and football player who was nicknamed "the Bull". Early life Edward James Ganter Jr. was born in Orlando, Florida, the youngest of four chil ...

and "The Commandos" with Commando Boone. Canty was responsible for training

New Jack Jerome Young (January 3, 1963 – May 14, 2021) was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name New Jack. He was best known for his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), where he became notorious for his willingn ...

for his professional wrestling career.

Professional wrestling career

Ray Canty was trained for his professional wrestling career by former

NWA World Heavyweight Championship The NWA World's Heavyweight Championship is a men's professional wrestling Professional wrestling championship#World championships, world heavyweight championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professiona ...

holder Dory Funk Jr. before making his in-ring debut in 1973. Starting out he adopted the

"Ray Candy", a modified version of his birth name. To start with Candy worked for the local All-South Wrestling Alliance (ASWA) based out of

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. In the ASWA he won the ASWA United States Championship early in his career. He later worked for Dory Funk Sr.'s

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA be ...

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 ...

(WWS) promotion. In WWS he won both the

NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship The NWA Western States Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling title in the National Wrestling Alliance's Amarillo, Texas territory, Western States Sports. The title was in use from 1969, when it replaced Amarillo's version of the ...

and the

NWA Western States Tag Team Championship The NWA International Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling title, originally created as the NWA Western States Tag Team Championship in the National Wrestling Alliance's Amarillo, Texas territory, Western States Sports. The title w ...

, teaming with his mentor Dory Funk Jr. By 1976 he was a regular worker for

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida professional wrestling promotion, wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it close ...

(CWF), but also worked for the nearby

NWA Mid-America NWA Mid-America was a professional wrestling promotion territory under the umbrella of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that promoted shows in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama from 1940 until 1981. The company was founded in 1940 by Nick Gulas ...

promotion where he held the

NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship The NWA Mid-America Tag Team championship was a tag team title promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion NWA Mid-America that ran more or less exclusively in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, United States, from the 1940s until ...

twice while teaming with

Pez Whatley Pezavan Whatley (January 10, 1951 – January 18, 2005) was an American professional wrestler best known for his time with NWA Mid-America. Professional wrestling career Whatley played football and wrestled for Notre Dame High School in Chat ...

. In 1979 Candy was invited to work for

(AJPW), touring Japan several times. On October 12, 1979, Candy and

Abdullah the Butcher Lawrence Robert Shreve (born January 11, 1941), better known by the ring name Abdullah the Butcher, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He has a reputation for being involved in some of the most violent and bloody hardcore wrestling mat ...

won the

NWA International Tag Team Championship ''This was a regional NWA championship based in Japan. For the version of this title that was promoted in NWA All Star Wrestling in Canada, see NWA International Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version).'' The NWA International Tag Team Champio ...

, defeating

Giant Baba , best known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter, and professional baseball player. He is best known as a co-founder of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), a promotion he founded in 1972 along with Mitsuo Momota ...

and

Jumbo Tsuruta , better known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) for most of his career, and is well known for being the first ever Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, having won the PWF Heavy ...

. The duo only held the championship for a week before Baba and Tsuruta regained them. Candy competed in the 1980

Champion Carnival The is a professional wrestling tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). The tournament is also known by the nickname and is sometimes abbreviated to CC. Created by AJPW founder Giant Baba, the tournament has been held annually since ...

, where he defeated Motoshi Okumura,

Carl Fergie Carl Fergie (born April 25, 1953) is an American retired professional wrestler who competed in Memphis in the 1980s for Continental Wrestling Association, Jim Crockett Promotions, Mid-South and other National Wrestling Alliance territories. Wre ...

, the Mysterious Assassin and Rocky Hata to earn a total of eight points, enough for eight place.

Zambuie Express/Muslim Connection

In 1983 the Florida bookers came up with the idea to team up Candy with the , , Leroy Brown. Candy took the

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

name "Kareem Muhammad" while Brown was billed as "Elijah Akeem". Together they formed "the Zambuie Express", which was at times billed as "The Muslim Connection" in some promotions. The duo began to wear camouflage pants and shirts to the ring, adopting militaristic Muslim in ring characters, based to some extent on the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

. The two toured mainly in the southern parts of the United States where their racially charged characters made them very hated. The team was often managed by Sir Oliver Humperdink and was part of the "House of Humperdink". In Florida the duo defeated Mike Graham and Scott McGhee to win the

NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship The NWA Florida Global Tag Team Championship was a major tag team title in Florida Championship Wrestling from 1982 until fall 1983, when it was replaced by the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship. Title history See also *List of ...

on July 31, 1983. The duo held the championship until September of that year, when it was replaced by the Florida version of the

NWA United States Tag Team Championship The NWA United States Tag Team Championship is a name used for several secondary tag team championship used by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) members since 1958. There are eleven different versions of the NWA United States Tag Team Champ ...

. The Zambuie Express were declared the United States Champions, with the storyline being that they won a tournament. Two months later the Zambuie Express lost the championship to the team of

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who worked for the National Wrestling Alliance ...

and

Blackjack Mulligan Robert Deroy Windham (November 25, 1942 – April 7, 2016), better known by his ring name Blackjack Mulligan, was an American professional wrestler and American football player. He was the father of wrestlers Barry and Kendall Windham, father- ...

on November 5, 1983 From Florida the team traveled to Memphis to compete for the

Continental Wrestling Association Continental Wrestling Association (later the Championship Wrestling Association) was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett. The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually ...

(CWA) where they were immediately pitted against the top face team of the territory

The Fabulous Ones The Fabulous Ones were a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Stan Lane and Steve Keirn who was active between 1982 and 1991 with brief reunions during the 1990s. The Fabulous Ones competed primarily in North American territories such as ...

(

Stan Lane Wallace Stanfield Lane (born August 5, 1953) is an American former professional wrestler and color commentator. He is best known for his appearances with the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA), Jim Crockett Promotions and World Championship ...

and

Steve Keirn Stephen Paul Keirn (born September 10, 1951) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in multiple National Wrestling Alliance territories as Steve Keirn as one-half of the tag team The Fabulous Ones, as ...

). On January 24, 1984, the Zambuie Express were awarded the

AWA Southern Tag Team Championship The AWA Southern Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the Tennessee area from the 1940s through the late 1980s. It was originally named the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' from its ince ...

when the Fabulous Ones failed to show up for a match, but the titles were declared vacant instead of giving them to Akeem and Muhammad. The CWA held a tournament for the vacant championship, a tournament won by the Zambuie Express as they defeated the Pretty Young Things ( Koko B. Ware and

Norvell Austin Norvell Austin (born March 9, 1951) is an American retired professional wrestler. Austin worked for most of his career in the Southern United States, most often in tag team competition. Norvell Austin is most famous for teaming with Sputnik Monr ...

) in the final match. The Pretty Young Things won the championship only a week later, defeating the Zambuie Express on CWA's weekly show at the Mid-South Coliseum. Eight days later the Zambuie Express regained the championship. The duo held on to the belts until March 12, 1984, when they lost to

Jerry Lawler Jerry O'Neil Lawler (born November 29, 1949), better known as Jerry "the King" Lawler, is an American retired color commentator and professional wrestler signed to WWE under a Legends contract. Prior to joining the World Wrestling Federati ...

and

Jos LeDuc Michel Pigeon (August 31, 1944 – May 1, 1999) was a Canadian professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Jos LeDuc. Wrestling with a lumberjack gimmick, he debuted in Stampede Wrestling with his kayfabe brother, Paul LeDuc. The pair l ...

. The team toured with New Japan Pro-Wrestling in the spring of 1984 and then ended up working for

based in the Carolinas by the summer of 1984. The team sided with Paul Jones and became part of

Paul Jones' Army Paul Jones' Army was a professional wrestling heel stable in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in the mid-1980s led by manager Paul Jones. The group's primary storyline was against "The Boogie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant in a long running storyli ...

as they fought against

Jimmy Valiant James Harold Fanning (born August 6, 1942) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name "Handsome" Jimmy Valiant. Early life Fanning was born in Tullahoma, Tennessee as the youngest of five children of James and Effie Fann ...

and Valiant's friends. The Express competed on the 1984 version of

Starrcade Starrcade was a recurring professional wrestling event, originally broadcast via closed-circuit television and eventually broadcast via pay-per-view. It was originally held from 1983 to 2000, first by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from ...

, where they lost to the team of Buzz Tyler and The Masked Assassin #1. The loss to Tyler and the Assassin was one of the last matches the Zambuie Express worked together, splitting up a short time later. He later formed a duo with

, known as the Shock Troops, working for the CWF. On November 25, 1986, Canty, while still working as Kareem Muhammad, defeated

Barry Windham Barry Clinton Windham (born July 4, 1960) is an American retired professional wrestler. The son of wrestler Blackjack Mulligan, he is best known for his appearances with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the World Wrestling Federation (W ...

to win the

NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship The NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship was a major title in Championship Wrestling from Florida and is now the major title in NWA Florida Wrestling Alliance. It started in 1937 and was abandoned in 1949. It was picked back up in 1966 by CWF an ...

, holding it until December 2 where he lost it to

Ron Simmons Ronald K. Simmons (born May 15, 1958) is an American former professional wrestler and Gridiron football, football player. He is best known for his tenures in WWE and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Prior to becoming a professional wrestler ...

. He later teamed up with Hacksaw Higgins to win the NWA United States Tag Team Championship, although the duo only held it for a day. In late 1986 Candy worked a tour with

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

under the ring name "Super Mario Man", a moniker that seemed more appropriate for an Italian plumber than a , African American wrestler. In 1987 he travelled to

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, working for the

(WWC) where he won the

WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship The WWC Puerto Rico Championship is the secondary professional wrestling championship that is defended by the World Wrestling Council based in Puerto Rico. The title was created in January 1974 and, as its name suggests, is defended exclusively wi ...

on June 6from

Mighty Igor Richard Joseph "Dick" Garza (July 16, 1931 – January 7, 2002), better known as Mighty Igor Vodik, or simply Mighty Igor, was an American professional wrestler. He is a one-time American Wrestling Association World champion. As Mighty Igor, he w ...

, holding it for about six months before losing it to

Miguel Perez, Jr. --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disam ...

In 1988 he took the ring name "Commando Ray", teaming with "Commando Boone" (AKA Grizzly Boone) to for a team known as "The Commandos. Candy's last major match was at the 1988

, where he was a part of a Bunkhouse

Battle royal Battle royal (, also battle royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules, where the winner is the one who registers the most wins. In recent times, the term has been ...

, a match that was only seen by the audience in the

Norfolk Scope Norfolk Scope is a multi-function complex in Norfolk, Virginia, comprising the 11,000-seat Scope Arena, a 2,500-seat theater known as Chrysler Hall, a modular exhibition hall, and a 600-car parking garage. The arena was designed by Italian arch ...

Personal life

After his retirement from professional wrestling in 1990, Canty returned to Decatur to work as a dispatcher and supervisor for a local transport firm. He was also responsible for training

Glenn Jacobs Glenn Thomas Jacobs (born April 26, 1967), also known by his ring name Kane, is an American politician, actor and professional wrestler. He rose to fame in WWE and is regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. In 2018 ...

(Kane in

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

) and

Death

On May 23, 1994, he died at his home in Decatur, after suffering a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

Championships and accomplishments

( 1 time) – with

*All-South Wrestling Alliance **ASWA Georgia Championship (1 time) **ASWA United States Championship (1 time) *

( 1 time) – with Elijah Akeem **

( 1 time) ** NWA United States Tag Team Championship ''(Florida version)'' (

2 times "2 Times" is the debut single of English singer Ann Lee. It was released in Italy in December 1998 by X-Energy as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999), and was issued worldwide the following year. The single peaked at number tw ...

) – with Elijah Akeem (1) and Hacksaw Higgins (1) *

Georgia Championship Wrestling Georgia Championship Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The promotion was affiliated with what had been the world's top sanctioning body of championship titles for decades b ...

NWA Georgia Television Championship The NWA National Television Championship was a secondary singles championship in the National Wrestling Alliance's Georgia Championship Wrestling territory. It started as the NWA Georgia Television Championship before becoming the National Televis ...

(

) *

( 3 times) – with Elijah Akeem **

(

) – with

NWA Tri-State The Universal Wrestling Federation was a 1986 re-branding of wrestler-turned-owner Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Watts' goal was to elevate his promotion from a relatively smaller, regional-level business, to a national-level riv ...

** NWA Arkansas Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time) ** NWA North American Heavyweight Championship ''(Tri-State version)'' ( 1 time) ** NWA United States Tag Team Championship ''(Tri-State version)'' (

) – with Steven Little Bear *Oregon Wrestling Federation **OWF Championship (1 time) *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' **PWI ranked him # 334 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in 1991 *

Southeastern Championship Wrestling Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Dothan, Alabama, from 1985 until 1989, owned by Ron Fuller. The promotion evolved out of the NWA-affiliated Southeastern Championship W ...

NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship The NWA Alabama Heavyweight Championship was created in October, 1962. Since its creation, the championship has been defended in a number of NWA territories throughout the decades. Initially, the title was a part of Gulf Coast Championship Wrestl ...

( 1 time) ** NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship ''(Northern Division)'' ( 1 time) *

( 1 time) **

( 1 time) – with Dory Funk Jr. *

NWA Louisiana Tag Team Championship The NWA Louisiana Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship in NWA Tri-State. A secondary title after NWA Tri-State Tag Team Championship, and complementing the NWA Louisiana Heavyweight Championship, it was one of ...

(1 time) with Steven Little Bear *

( 1 time)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Candy, Ray 1951 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American male actors 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century American professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers African-American professional wrestlers Masked wrestlers Sportspeople from Decatur, Georgia Professional wrestlers from Georgia (U.S. state) American professional wrestling trainers Sportspeople from DeKalb County, Georgia WWC Puerto Rico Champions NWA Florida Global Tag Team Champions NWA Florida Heavyweight Champions NWA United States Tag Team Champions (Florida version) NWA International Tag Team Champions NWA National Television Champions