|
By Les Honig
Today you’ll see him creating holy havoc in the ring, usually with Native Blood partner and younger brother Ghostwalker, but as natural as his durable Indian gimmick seems today, there is lots of back story in the real life of Steve “Navajo Warrior” Islas to justify its proud adoption.
Born on a reserve in Northern Arizona, the young Islas soon found himself leaving those familiar surroundings when his folks separated and he moved to nearby Gilbert. As a kid, Navajo describes himself as “keeping to myself socially” but being an early-on athletic fanatic. “My mom got me into every imaginable sport from little league football to soccer”, he recalls now, but also remembers that despite several successful years playing high school football, “I preferred competing on an individual, rather than a team basis,” a factor that drew him to amateur wrestling.
Also a large factor in his entrée into the mat world was a great love of the pro ranks; kindled originally when his granddad took him to see an AWA show where a 22 man battle royal featuring all the big stars of the time were featured, (including an early 80s Hulk Hogan as well as Andre the Giant). “What really turned me on to it was watching how the stars could get the crowd to do anything they wanted. It wasn’t even so much the physicality as the showmanship they put into it.”
Wrestling first in kid’s programs, then in junior high and finally in high school, (where he won three state freestyle championships in his weight class before a knee injury sidelined him in his senior year), Islas dreamed of someday becoming a pro star himself, but really had no idea how to pursue that elusive goal, till one day, while working as assistant manager at a Mesa movie theater he recognized one of the patrons as native American WWE preliminary grappler Steve Gatorwolf. “I worked up the courage to approach him and asked him many questions about the business and he was nice enough to answer them all.” Running his own promotion he invited Islas to come watch the next scheduled show, and as fate fortunately had it, a failure of the ring announcer to appear resulted in Gatorwolf requesting the young fan’s services; a request that he not only readily accepted but which soon led to Gatorwolf offering to train him personally to become a future matman.
Running shows on reservations throughout Arizona and New Mexico, Steve found his best training to be “appearing in front of real crowds and also being able to question the more experienced pros,” with the ring novice soaking up as much information and experience as he possibly could.
Remembering his first gimmick with amusement, that of a “Vanilla Ice”-wannabe dubbed the “Iceman” who would “dance around the ring a lot”, Islas was at first prevented from creating the Native American character he so wished to introduce, because Gatorwolf was already assuming that role; that is, until the WWF’er agreed to wrestle under a mask and allow his trainee to reach down into his native roots and become the Navajo Kid.
(“In those days I only wore a traditional headband and concho belt”, he explains, not really adopting the full-on current headdress and Navajo Warrior name until some years later).
Developing a reputation already which led him to get booked on more and more indy shows throughout the nation and Europe, including considerable work at Billy Anderson and Jesse Hernandez’ EWF So-Cal organization as well as a memorable stint at Las Vegas fed, NWC, which featured past, present and future marquis names like Sabu, Rob Van Dam, Mick Foley, Honkytonk Man, Junkyard Dog and Virgil, Steve’s chances to make it to the next level seemed possible as he was called in to do TV tapings for the WWF when they would come into town. Describing himself as the “raw meat” on these shows fed to the main stars, he recalls a bumpy intro to the big time as his first match was a tag encounter against the Head Shrinkers followed quickly by bouts facing the likes of Razor Ramon, Yokozuna and Owen Hart. Still, these experiences have proven some of the more memorable in the local legend’s already very memorable career.
Today Steve Islas has moved on and has involved himself in a whole new successful aspect of the business, complementing his re-ascending mat aspirations. Running his own Arizona school, he currently trains a number of future hopefuls; some of whom he is hoping to introduce to UPW audiences in the not too distant future. Begun originally when he was asked to teach a newcomer named Horshu the ropes; (Horshu soon moved on to the Power Plant and late 90s WCW fame and most recently to a signing by WWE),
Navajo also went on to train Mike Knox as well as his younger brother, Robert, aka Ghostwalker, who he was soon to team with as Native Blood.
Coming to Ultimate Pro Wrestling in its earliest days, Navajo Warrior remembers his favorite mat moment as the one where he captured our fed’s then www.upw.com belt after turning heel and joining the Schwag Army. He also relishes many of the great subsequent tag encounters against the Outlaws and other standout tandems here in UPW.
With several new successful dark match encounters for WWE this year and the prospect of more in upcoming months, Navajo naturally is setting his career goal once again towards a future run with America’s number one national promotion. Yet, if that takes awhile, this seasoned but still young squared-circle veteran still savors where he has been over the past decade. “I have already seen more of the world than I ever thought I would and considering the love I have for this business, what I have already been able to experience is really plenty for me,” he admits with appreciation.
Maybe so, but somehow it seems that for UPW fan favorite and this month’s Wrestler of the Month, The Navajo Warrior, the best must surely be yet to come!
|
