Jim Powers

James Manley (born January 4, 1958) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Jim Powers.

He worked for the World Wrestling Federation from 1984 to 1994, then elsewhere until 2010.

He was born in Washington Heights, Manhattan, and grew up watching the then-regional promotion at Madison Square Garden.

Powers was discovered and brought into the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in late 1984 by Big John Studd who also had a hand in training him.

He made his WWF debut on October 2, 1984, losing to Carl Fury at a house show in Lindenhurst, New York.

He then made his televised debut on the December 8, 1984, edition of Georgia Championship Wrestling, teaming with Jose Luis Rivera in a match against Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik.

He went on to lose to The Moondogs, The Spoiler, and Bob Orton Jr.. He gained his first victory when he pinned Gino Carabello at a house show in the Bronx, New York, on December 5, 1984.

That was his sole victory of the year, as the young rookie continued to register losses on television, falling to Ken Patera, the tandem of Patera and Big John Studd, and Brutus Beefcake.

In July 1985, Powers ventured outside the WWF to gain more experience, including two Texas based promotions: Texas All-Star Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling where he appeared at a couple of the federation's featured "Star Wars" events.

After gaining more experience, Powers returned to the WWF.

While still working for World Class, Powers made a one off return at a house show in Wildwood, NJ on August 3, 1985, facing Jim Neidhart.

He formally jumped back to the promotion on September 9, 1985, teaming with SD Jones in a losing effort to The Bobby Heenan Family (Big John Studd & King Kong Bundy) in a match that aired on Championship Wrestling on October 5th.

Powers would wrestle almost exclusively on television tapings for the remainder of the year, facing Adrian Adonis, Gino Carabello, The Hart Foundation, The Dream Team, and others in losing efforts.

Powers gained his first victory in his return on March 1, 1986 when he defeated Barry O on Prime Time Wrestling in Baltimore, MD. Later in the year he began to appear more on house shows, and defeated Terry Gibbs at an event in Queens, NY on June 7, 1986.

Five days later he wrestled three times on another house show in Sunbury, PA, defeating Rene Goulet and AJ Petrucci and also participating in a nine man battle royal.

However for the still learning wrestler these were the highlights of the year, as he continued to drop more prominent matches to roster members such as Sika.

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.

Powers, Roma, and Santana won 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 received their name by accident when color commentator Bruno Sammartino referred to them once as "a couple of young stallions" thus naming the team.

In October 1987 the Young Stallions became the official moniker of the Powers and Roma tag team.

A storyline playing off of their upset win over the Hart Foundation was started as they "stole" the theme song "Crank It Up" from Jimmy Hart, who had intended to use it for his team.

Later that month they faced The Hart Foundation in a rematch on Saturday Night's Main Event XII.

The Stallions were narrowly defeated and now clearly had momentum.

Along with The Killer Bees, they were also the only survivors in the elimination tag team match at the first annual Survivor Series pay-per-view on November 26, 1987.

On December 26, 1987, the Stallions were scheduled to face The Hart Foundation in Buffalo, New York.

Neidhart did not appear at the event, and the match was then switched to a singles match between Powers and Bret "Hitman" Hart.

That night Powers scored perhaps the greatest upset of his career to date when he pinned the future WWF World Champion.

Following the match, Hart complained that the loss was a fluke and volunteered to take on Paul Roma.

Another match followed, and Roma also pinned Hart.

That momentum seemed to end in January 1988 when the Stallions faced The Islanders in a best two out of three falls match in the final bout of the inaugural Royal Rumble.

Powers and Roma were defeated cleanly in two straight falls.

The team was placed in featured matches on television and at house shows, but most times ended up on the losing end to teams such as The Bolsheviks, The Brain Busters, and The Fabulous Rougeaus.

Following yet another loss, they started teaming less frequently.

Their final televised match was a loss to The Powers of Pain in July 1989.

Soon, the Young Stallions were split up off camera without an official announcement.