The Jung Dragons were a

professional wrestling 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 ...

faction Faction or factionalism may refer to: Politics * Political faction, a group of people with a common political purpose * Free and Independent Faction, a Romanian political party * Faction (''Planescape''), a political faction in the game ''Planes ...

and

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 ...

. Originally formed 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 Nation ...

, the Dragons consisted of

Kaz Hayashi is a Japanese professional wrestler known simply as . He is best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where in addition to being a wrestler for the promotion, he also served as the head booker for the company's junior heavyweight ...

Yang Yang may refer to: * Yang, in yin and yang, one half of the two symbolic polarities in Chinese philosophy * Korean yang, former unit of currency of Korea from 1892 to 1902 * YANG, a data modeling language for the NETCONF network configuration pr ...

and Jamie-San, and their

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Leia Meow. The Jung Dragons were notable for their high-flying, cruiserweight wrestling style and somewhat humorous

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

n theme. However, Jamie-San, the only

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

in the group, was given the Japanese title of " San" and wore a black

mask A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment and often they have been employed for rituals and rights. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practic ...

in order to conceal the fact that he was not Asian.

History

The group was put together in early 2000 by

Jimmy Hart James Ray Hart (born January 1, 1944) is an American professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician currently signed with WWE in a Legends deal. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World ...

. He wanted to give the young talents a chance to tighten their skills in a

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

with

3 Count 3 Count was a professional wrestling stable in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) which formed in 1999. The group consisted of Shane Helms, Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias and they were given a boy band gimmick. For a brief time, Tank Abbott was a ...

, another young group formed by Hart, on WCW's lower rate program '' Saturday Night''. According to Hart, he also bought the Jung Dragon ring attire and worked with WCW's seamstress to give them their logo. Booker Kevin Sullivan was so impressed with the group that he immediately put them on WCW's prime program, ''

Nitro Nitro may refer to: Chemistry *Nitrogen, a chemical element and a gas except at very low temperatures, with which many compounds are formed: **Nitro compound, an organic compound containing one or more nitro functional groups, -NO2 **Nitroalkene, ...

''.Rose, Shanno
Jimmy Hart interview
''Pro Wrestling Daily'' (July 2000). Retrieved February 26, 2008. The Jung Dragons made their

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...

debut at

New Blood Rising New Blood Rising was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It took place on August 13, 2000 from the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia. The name is a reference to the New ...

, losing a

ladder match A ladder match is a type of match in professional wrestling, most commonly one in which an item (usually a title belt) is hung above the ring, and the winner is the contestant who climbs a ladder and retrieves the item. The ladder itself becom ...

against 3 Count. From there, they participated in various

match types at

Mayhem Mayhem most commonly refers to: * Mayhem (crime), a type of crime Mayhem may also refer to: People * Monica Mayhem (born 1978), Australian pornographic actress * Jason "Mayhem" Miller, American mixed martial arts fighter * Mayhem Miller (dra ...

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 1 ...

Sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

, and

SuperBrawl Revenge SuperBrawl Revenge was the eleventh and final SuperBrawl professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and the penultimate pay-per-view event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW). It took place on February 18, 2001 from the Nashville M ...

and added a manager in Leia Meow. While the Dragons only scored one victory throughout these major events, the stable remained relatively popular up until the closure of WCW in 2001.

Split

By late 2000, both the Jung Dragons and 3 Count had begun falling apart. Jamie-San departed from the Jung Dragons, during which he unmasked and was renamed to Jamie Knoble, and formed a tag team with ex-3 Count member

Evan Karagias Evan Karagias (born November 27, 1973) is an American professional wrestler and actor. Acting career Evan moved to New York City to pursue an acting and modeling career. He also became the spokesmodel for the 1996 Calvin Klein and US Olympic Comm ...

. The two competed with the remaining members of 3 Count and the Jung Dragons. Finally, in early 2001, WCW was purchased by top competitor

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 vario ...

, ultimately ending the Jung Dragons. Following the closure of WCW, Jamie-San and Yang went on to work for World Wrestling Entertainment (the former World Wrestling Federation) as Jamie Noble and Akio, respectively. Noble won the Cruiserweight Championship shortly after his WWE debut and Akio found partial success as an ally of Tajiri before both were released in 2004 and 2005, respectively. After being released, Noble competed in

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

before being rehired in 2005, while Yang and Hayashi reformed the Jung Dragons before Yang was rehired in 2006 under the ring name Jimmy Wang Yang. Hayashi returned to Japan and has since become a staple of

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba, ...

's junior heavyweight division while Leia retired from wrestling in 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jung Dragons, The World Championship Wrestling teams and stables