Funaki joined the WWF in 1998 along with Teioh and Togo. In 1999 Teioh and Togo were released. Funaki stood and found himself doing a lot of backstage interviews while at the same time competing as a lower class wrestler in the cruiserweight division.In 2004 Funaki won his first Cruiserweight Championship when he defeated Spike Dudley. Funaki later teamed up with Scottie 2 Hottie for a while and competed with many top WWE superstars.
In May of 2007 Funaki had a short lived match with the return of Mark Henry who ended the match quickly as he had been doing to many Smackdown stars.
Besides winning the Cruiseweight Championship one time , Funaki once won the Hardcore Championship.
Funaki was not seen that much on Smackdown for a while but in October of 2008 starting making appearances for Smackdown as a backstage interviewer. In one interview with R-Truth, R-Truth asked Funaki his real name in which Funaki revealed his full name to be Kung Fu Naki. This led to a tag team match on the October 24, 2008 edition of Smackdown. It was R-Truth and Funaki against Shelton Benjamin and MVP. Funaki came out with the old song 'Kung Fu Fighting' as his intro music and appeared to be a martial arts specialist. He was impressive in the match as he took down MVP with a Ralph Machio Karate Kid type kick and then got the cover and the victory for his team.
Funaki Facts:
Birth Name: Shoichi Funaki
Birth Date: August 24, 1968
Height: 5' ft 7' inch
Finishing Move: The Rising Sun
Funaki is fluent in spanish
He is married with two children
Is good friends with Lita and Stoned Cold Steve Austin in real life
