Mike Rapada Michael Rapada ( August 28 , 1966 ) best known as " The Colorado Kid " Mike Rapada is an American professional wrestler . Early life . Michael Rapada had worked at forever 21 as a retail merchandiser in Harrisburg , Illinois before getting into the wrestling business . Career . Mike Rapada started out in Colorado Springs , Colorado . It took three months , but eventually he convinced Jeff Jarrett to hire him . After Jarrett left for the WWF , Rapada sought out training from the likes of Kenny Wayne , Buddy Wayne and others . He also made several appearances on " WCW Monday Nitro " as a security guard during his career . In 1994 , he was named Rookie of the Year in the United States Wrestling Association promotion out of Memphis . He also had a reign as NAASW North American Heavyweight champion in Jonesboro , Arkansas , beating Cactus Jack , and as USWA Unified World Heavyweight champion , beating Jerry Lawler . Until winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in September 2000 , he had been the NWA North American Heavyweight champion , the top belt recognized by the NWA Worldwide promotion based out of Nashville . He was the first American wrestler ever to win a match in China . His son , Mike Rapada Jr . , is currently a wrestler on the independent circuit . In 2004 , Rapada started the Southwestern Alliance of Wrestling in Oceanside , CA . Dedicated to bringing quality professional wrestling back to the San Diego area , SAW ran shows at events such as street fairs , parking lot sales , and schools to raise money for good causes . In early 2006 , Rapada decided to shift the direction of his company to accommodate a more " family - friendly " audience . This original SAW crew became upset with this decision , as they felt it hindered their ability to go out and perform the way they had always dreamed . Shortly thereafter , tensions rose between Rapada and his performers and they left the company to seek out new opportunities to showcase themselves . By the middle of the year , SAW had a new batch of performers and a new direction . This new direction continued with much success , as the more athletic wrestlers weren ' t prohibited from performing in a more athletic style and the less experienced wrestlers followed a more cartoonish guideline . After gaining notoriety for his business mindset , Rapada and his SAW crew began to lease out a building off the 78 freeway and running local shows in Oceanside . The first show drew only four fans , but within weeks the weekly show began to draw crowds in excess of 160 - 200 . Deemed a success , SAW began to showcase pure wrestling matches with psychology that took fans on roller coaster rides , hence their quick rise . The social wrestling audience began to embrace this new company . The SAW fans remained faithful to the weekly show at first , but began dwindling in number until SAW ended up losing their building . With no regular venue , he decided to return to targeting charity and community events with his new marketing strategy of bringing " cartoon wrestling " to non - wrestling audiences . This continued into late 2007 as SAW ' s popularity among non - wrestling fans grew , despite the bad reputation it now garnered in the pro wrestling community . In early 2008 , some of SAW ' s more prominent wrestlers began to venture elsewhere in search of their dream . However , not before the style of Mike Rapada ' s SAW was changed yet again so that it was now " over - the - top cartoon wrestling " . After most of SAW ' s top stars left the company , Mike ' s shows became less frequent as the quality dropped . Now just a shadow of its former glory , SAW was all but disbanded in October 2008 after Rapada returned to Colorado to reunite with a long - lost daughter and her mother , although the remaining SAW wrestlers are said to be planning for a comeback . As of late 2009 Mike has returned to the San Diego area and has recently contacted some of his former wrestlers to restart SAW , abandoning the " cartoon wrestling " and going back to their former style of show .