4 months ago
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Koko B. Ware is a legend of the territories and WWE, with the former AWA Southern Tag Team Champion closely identified with his pet parrot, Frankie. According to Ware, the bird was something he pitched to Vince McMahon just as Ware was considering joining WWE.
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"I had the birds on my tights. I was 'The Birdman' in Louisiana," Ware said on "Stories With Briscoe and Bradshaw," explaining that his nickname originally just referred to the parrots on his tights until he got the real thing. "I finally found [a parrot] in a pet store and took a picture of it." Ware brought the picture to his first meeting with Vince McMahon, and the wrestling impresario was impressed. "He said 'Wow, you know Koko if you come up here and work for us, you're gonna have to go all over the world with this parrot,'" Ware remembered, but the WWE Hall of Famer felt that the bird would help the diminutive wrestler make an impact amongst the giant WWE roster.
"All the kids would love me because I have something. The little "Birdman" with Frankie sitting at ringside." Ware says McMahon decided "The Birdman" would fit right in among Jake "The Snake" Roberts, The Junkyard Dog, and other animal-centric personalities in the company at the time. However, Ware recalled that traveling with Frankie could be a handful, as after one show in the Bahamas, U.S. customs stopped the duo, believing that Ware had purchased him in the country, and demanding Frankie be placed in a days-long quarantine. Ultimately, Ware was able to, with the help of the Bahamian Prime Minister, secure Frankie's passage back home. While Ware never held a title in WWE, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009, with "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase describing the longtime talent as a "solid hand" in the ring.
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