Afa Anoaʻi

Gataivasa Afa Anoaʻi
Data
Ring name	Afa Afa The Wild Samoan
height	186 cm
Fighting weight	139 kg
birth	November 21, 1942 Samoa
Announced from	Samoa
Trained by	Rocky Johnson Peter Maivia Kurt von Steiger
debut	1971
retirement	1990 last match: March 2, 2014

Gataivasa Afa Anoaʻi (born November 21, 1942 in Samoa ) is a Samoan-American former wrestler and wrestling manager, now a successful wrestling trainer and promoter. Together with his brother Leati "Sika" Anoaʻi as "The Wild Samoans" he formed one of the most successful tag teams in wrestling. Both have been members of the WWE Hall of Fame since 2007 .

Beginnings

Anoaʻi was born in Samoa in 1942, but his family soon moved to San Francisco , California . At the age of 17 he enlisted for military service and became a member of the United States Marine Corps . After leaving the military, he was brought into wrestling by Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia and received his first training through them. Peter Maivia was a blood brother of his father, and Johnson was Maivia's son-in-law. He made his Phoenix debut in 1971 .

In 1973, after further training by the wrestler Kurt von Steiger, he also trained his brother Polaivao Leati Sika, who became known as "Sika the Wild Samoan". The two brothers then appeared as the tag team "The Wild Samoans" and were active in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling Promotion, as well as in the wrestling umbrella association NWA .

Career

Active wrestler

In 1978 the brothers competed in Japan and won the tag team title of the International Wrestling Alliance there. In 1979 they finally came to WWWF with Lou Albano as manager. Their "wildness" was underlined again in interviews by the fact that they only made grunts and ate raw fish. They finally received the WWF Tag Team title on April 12, 1980 , lost it again to Bob Backlund and Pedro Morales at short notice on August 9 , before they got the title again on September 9.

On November 8th they lost the title again to Tony Garea and Rick Martel and left the organization for the NWA . In 1983 they returned to WWF and received the tag team title for the third time, this time against the Strongbow Brothers. When Sika was injured at short notice, Afa's son Samula, alias Samu, joined them and they also competed as a trio. They mainly feuded with Andre the Giant , Jimmy Snuka , Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas . In 1984 they left the WWF and competed on an independent level until the end of the eighties.

Manager, trainer and promoter

In 1992 Afa came back to WWF as manager of the tag team "The Headshrinkers". The team was formed from his son Samu and his nephew Fatu. The team also won the tag team title under his management, before Afa left the WWF in 1994 and opened his own wrestling school with his brother. But even before that, he had worked as a wrestling trainer and produced such well-known names as his nephew Yokozuna or Batista . Since 1996 he has been running the wrestling promotion "World Xtreme Wrestling" (WXW), which has already served as a stepping stone to some wrestlers in the major leagues.

In 1999 he finally opened the "Wild Samoan Training Center" in Allentown , Pennsylvania . In 2007, Afa and his brother were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by their oldest sons . On March 2, 2014, he got into the ring again for one last match in his promotion.

title

Championship Wrestling from Florida

• 1 × NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (with Sika)

Continental Wrestling Association

• 1 × AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (with Sika)

Georgia Championship Wrestling

• 1 × NWA National Tag Team Championship (with Sika)

Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling

• 2 × NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship (with Sika)

International Wrestling Alliance

• 1 × IWA Tag Team Championship (with Sika)

Universal Wrestling Federation (Bill Watts)

• 5 × UWF Tag Team Championship (with Sika)

NWA All-Star Wrestling

• 1 × NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver Version) (with Sika)

NWA Detroit

• 2 × NWA Detroit World Tag Team Championship (with Sika)

Continental Championship Wrestling

• 2 × NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (with Sika)

Stampede wrestling

• 2 × Stampede International Tag Team Championship (with Sika)

World Wrestling Federation

• 3 × WWWF / WWF World Tag Team Champion (with Sika)

Others

Filmography (supporting roles)

• 1987: Miami Vice (TV series, one episode)
• 1987: Sweaty Bodies (Body Slam)
• 1993: Mr. Babysitter (Mr. Nanny)

Private / family

Afa's family is as complex as it is large. One can say that the "Samoan Family" is one of the dominant and largest in wrestling:

• The wrestler Peter Maivia, also father-in-law of Rocky Johnson , formed a blood brotherhood with Afa's father and brought Afa to wrestling.
• Afa himself trained his younger brother Leati (Sika). In the meantime, Jimmy Snuka married a sister-in-law of Rocky Johnson.
• Afa's sons Samuel (Samu), Lloyd (Alofa) and Afa Jr. (Manu) all became wrestlers, plus he has a daughter, Monica, who was married to the late wrestler Gary Albright.
• Afa has three siblings, whose children also became wrestlers: Matthew "Rosey" Anoaʻi and Roman Reigns (Sika's sons), Rodney and Reno Anoaʻi alias Yokozuna and Black Pearl (sons of his brother Junior), as well as the brothers Edward , Samuel and Solofa Fatu , also known as Umaga, Tonga Kid and Rikishi (sons of his sister Vera).
• Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso are his great nephews.
• Rocky Johnson's son is The Rock , Jimmy Snuka's son is Deuce .
• Afa is married to Lynn to this day and is a born again Christian .

Web links

• Official website
• WWE Hall of Fame Profile

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wrestlers accompany brother home - taleini.com ( Memento from March 24, 2014 in the web archive archive.today )
2. ↑ wxwc4.com Afa's last match