The Barako Bull Energy were a Philippine Basketball Association team that began in 2002 as the FedEx Express. From its first season until 2005, the team was dubbed as the FedEx Express before changing to Air21 Express. From the 2009 PBA Fiesta Conference until the 2009–10 PBA Philippine Cup, it became known as the Burger King Titans. However, when manager Mikee Romero decided to pull out of the team, they were reorganized and renamed the Burger King Whoppers before returning to their original name starting the 2010 PBA Fiesta Conference. However, Air21 changed its name to Barako Bull Energy after the Lina Group bought the original Barako Bull franchise and 49 percent stake of Energy Food and Drinks Inc., the owner of the Barako Bull franchise and the exclusive distributor of Red Bull Energy Drink products in the Philippines. They added the word 'cola' to their team name in order to promote their new softdrink product. Barako Bull is owned by Energy Food and Drinks Inc., a subsidiary of the Linaheim Corporate Services, owners of the defunct Laguna Lakers of the Metropolitan Basketball Association. The franchise bought the former Tanduay team after the 2001 season. History Tanduay Rhum Masters The Tanduay Rhum Masters made its PBA return in the 1999 season, after a 12-year hiatus. This time, the team had a new ownership in Asia Brewery of Lucio Tan's son, Bong (The Tanduay team in the 1970s and 80s was owned by the Elizalde family). After a runner-up finish in the 1999 All-Filipino Conference, the Rhum Masters failed to advanced in the finals since. To add insult, the deportation of alleged fil-sham Sonny Alvarado and the indefinite suspensions of Eric Menk and Rudy Hatfield (due to lack of documents to prove themselves as a legitimate Fil-American), the management became frustrated. After the 2001 season, the firesale began as Tanduay traded Dondon Hontiveros to San Miguel, Jeffrey Cariaso to the new Coca Cola franchise and Menk to Barangay Ginebra. After this, Tanduay sold its franchise of Bert Lina and the local franchisee of FedEx for a reported sum of PHP 60–75 million. Technically, the old Tanduay franchise and the current Burger King team's lineage were pulled apart as did most of the other PBA teams (Tanduay/Purefoods, Crispa/Shell, et al.). 2002–2005: FedEx Express After the purchase, they named the team as the FedEx Express. The Express moniker was used as a reference