WWE Superstar Kung Fu Naki was born Shoichi Funaki in August of 1968.  This professional wrestler is currently part of the WWE Smackdown brand, where he uses the name Kung Fu Naki.  He has held the WWE Hardcore championship and the WWE Cruiserweight championship one time each.

Naki began his wrestling career with Fujiwara Gumi and then moved to various other Japanese wrestling promotions, including BattlARTS and Michinoku Pro Wresting.  In March of 1998, he was offered a contract with the WWE.  There, he and his allies Teioh and Togo feuded with Taka Michinoku but later joined forces to form Kai En Tai. Eventually, Teioh and Togo were released from the WWE, and Naki became more of a comedic relief than a serious wrestler.

Naki participated in several battle royals in 2000, including one at WrestleMania.  When his tag team partner Michinoku left WWE, Naki soon found himself with fewer matches.  Instead, he began doing backstage interviews, which became a fan favorite.  In 2002, Naki began appearing mostly on Velocity.

Starting with 2003, Naki began wresting as a cruiserweight.  He would win the WWE cruiserweight title at Armageddon 2004, but he lost it to Chavo Guerrero at No Way Out 2005.

In early 2008, Naki broke his nose while participating in a dark match. He took some time off to recover and then returned to Smackdown.  In October, he took on the name Kung Fu Naki and started using more theatrical martial arts mixed in with wrestling moves. He still continued to use this gimmick.