Sam Fatu [1] | |
---|---|
Birth name | Samuel Larry Anoa'i Fatu |
Born | [2] San Francisco, California, U.S. [1] | October 11, 1965
Spouse(s) | Theresa Fuavai-Fatu |
Family | Anoaʻi |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | The Samoan Savage [1] The Tonga Kid Tama Tama Samoa Nikozuna Wild Samoan Nick Wild Samoan Savage Sam Fatu Samoan #4 |
Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) [3] |
Billed weight | 225 lb (102 kg) [3] |
Billed from | "The Isle of Samoa" Tonga |
Trained by | Afa Anoa'i Sika Anoa'i [1] [4] [5] |
Debut | 1983 [1] |
Retired | 2019 |
Samuel Larry Anoa'i Fatu (born October 11, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names The Tonga Kid and Tama and with World Championship Wrestling as The Samoan Savage. [1] [5]
Fatu debuted as a professional wrestler in 1983, [1] after being trained by the Wild Samoans. [4] Shortly after debuting he joined the World Wrestling Federation as "Samoan No. 4," wrestling at untelevised house shows before making his television debut in the fall of 1983 as the Tonga Kid. Billed as the cousin of Superfly Jimmy Snuka, he entered into his first major feud with Snuka's rival Roddy Piper. [6] He left the WWF in early 1985 and went to other territories.
In late 1986, he returned and teamed with Tonga Fifita, who was wrestling under the name King Tonga. [1] Fatu was renamed to Tama, while Fifita was renamed to Haku. Together, they were christened The Islanders. [1] The Islanders gained several key victories, including a tag team battle royal victory over Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy, but ultimately failed to gain the interest of fans. The two were eventually repackaged as villains in April 1987 after Bobby Heenan distracted their opponents The Can-Am Connection to help the Islanders win a match; the team was now managed by Heenan, [1] and used an aggressive, savage style of wrestling as opposed to a scientific style.
When Tom Zenk of the Can-Am Express left the WWF later in 1987, the Islanders continued the feud with his partner Rick Martel and ultimately with Martel's new team Strike Force with Tito Santana and while the two teams generally traded victories during the early part of the feud, once Strike Force won the WWF Tag Team Championship, the Islanders began finding themselves on the losing end, despite having several attempts. [1] In early December 1987, the Islanders were disqualified from a match with the British Bulldogs when they kidnapped the Bulldogs' dog, Matilda. [1] The Islanders were indefinitely suspended in the storyline until Matilda was found. [1] From late January 1988 until early February, the Islanders were consistently beaten by the British Bulldogs. [1]
At a Saturday Night's Main Event XV on March 7, they beat The Killer Bees, a tag team consisting of Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell. At Wrestlemania 4, the Islanders, with Bobby Heenan, defeated the Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware, with Matilda. [1] On April 21, Heenan introduced Siva Afi as the newest member of the group, but Afi never made another appearance with the Islanders. Fatu then left the WWF.
After leaving the WWF, Fatu began performing for the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico as "Tama". On January 6, 1989, he and Dan Kroffat defeated The Batten Twins to win the WWC World Tag Team Championship. The Batten Twins regained the championship on March 4, 1989.
In 1989, Fatu joined World Championship Wrestling, where he adopted the ring name "The Samoan Savage" and began teaming with his brother Fatu and his cousin Samu of The Samoan SWAT Team. The trio were managed by "The Big Kahuna" Oliver Humperdink. In late 1989, Samu withdrew from in-ring competition and The Samoan SWAT Team was renamed "The New Wild Samoans". At Starrcade in December 1989, The New Wild Samoans competed in the Iron Team round-robin tournament, placing third in a field of four teams.
The New Wild Samoans left WCW in the summer of 1990.
After leaving WCW, Fatu (wrestling as "The Samoan Savage") journeyed to Mexico to perform for the Universal Wrestling Association along with his brother Fatu and his cousin, The Great Kokina. Billed as "The Hawaiian Beasts", the trio won the UWA World Trios Championship from Los Villanos on April 7, 1991. Los Villanos regained the championship on May 31, 1991. In 1992, his brother Fatu, Great Kokina and Samu all went to the WWF. Fatu instead did not return nor got a contract from WWF and would go on his own.
Fatu returned to the WWF as Tonga Kid for a few houses shows in 1993 against Papa Shango and 1994 teaming with Samu against The Smoking Gunns.
Fatu wrestled three matches for ECW in April 1998. [7]
Fatu defeated Vic Grimes in a hardcore match put on by All Pro Wrestling on September 9, 2000 as part of a Samoan Pride Festival at Crockett Hills Regional Park [8]
In 2005 and 2006, he wrestled in Italy with the Nu Wrestling Evolution promotion. Fatu competed on the independent circuit until retiring in 2011. [9]
He returned in 2018 working in the independents and Empire Wrestling Federation in California until 2019.
Fatu appeared as "The Tonga Kid" in the opening scene of the 1986 film Highlander , where he was involved in a six-man tag team match with Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell against The Fabulous Freebirds at the Meadowlands Arena. [10] He also starred as "Tonga Tom" in the 1987 wrestling film Body Slam , along with Dirk Benedict and Roddy Piper. [4] [11] [12]
Fatu was featured in an April 2020 documentary for Vice's Dark Side of the Ring series, revealing new information on the May 1983 homicide of Nancy Argentino.
Fatu was born to Matagaono Solofa I'aulualo and Elevera Anoaʻi Fatu. He is a member of the famous Anoaʻi family and is the nephew of Sika Anoaʻi and Afa Anoaʻi, known as the Wild Samoans. He is the twin brother of Solofa Fatu Jr. (Headshrinker Fatu/Rikishi). Samuel is the father of Jacob Fatu, who currently wrestles for Major League Wrestling (MLW) and Journey Fatu, who wrestles independently. [13] [14] In November 2008, Fatu's wife, Theresa Fuavai-Fatu, [15] went into cardiac arrest while giving birth. Her heart stopped completely before the twins, Marley and Myracle, could be delivered by Caesarean section, but she was spontaneously revived and eventually recovered. [15] [16] This type of incident is very rare, with one of the cardiac surgeons who was working on Theresa saying that he had never seen surviving mothers or babies. [15] Samuel is the older brother of Eddie Fatu (Umaga/Jamal), who died of a heart attack on December 4, 2009. [17] [18]
Other members of the family in professional wrestling include Solofa's twin sons, Jonathan and Joshua, who currently wrestle in WWE as Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso respectively, [19] [20] [21] and their younger brother Joseph Fatu who debuted in WWE NXT as Solo Sikoa at NXT: Halloween Havoc (2021). His cousins in wrestling are the late Rodney Anoaʻi (Yokozuna), Afa Anoaʻi Jr. (Headshrinker Manu), Samula Anoaʻi (Headshrinker Samu), the late Matt Anoaʻi (Rosey), Joe Anoaʻi (Roman Reigns), Reno Anoaʻi (Black Pearl), and Lloyd Anoaʻi (L.A. Smooth). Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) is also considered to be a cousin of Samuel because of the blood brothership between Samuel's great grandfather Reverend Amituana'i Anoaʻi and The Rock's grandfather Peter Maivia.
Matthew Tapunu'u Anoaʻi was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his tenure in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), under the ring name Rosey.
Agatupu Rodney Anoaʻi was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his time with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he wrestled under the ring name Yokozuna. He was also known for his appearances with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as Great Kokina.
Edward Smith Fatu was an American professional wrestler, best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Umaga. Fatu was also known for his time with All Japan Pro Wrestling in the mid-2000s, where he was a main eventer under the ring name Jamal.
Solofa Fatu Jr. is an American professional wrestler, best known under the ring names Rikishi and Fatu with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he is a one-time Intercontinental Champion, two-time World Tag Team Champion, and one-time WWE Tag Team Champion. He is a member of the Anoaʻi family of Samoan wrestlers. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his sons, wrestlers Jey and Jimmy Uso, in 2015.
WrestleMania IX was the ninth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. The event took place on April 4, 1993, at Caesars Palace in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada. It was the first WrestleMania event held outdoors.
3-Minute Warning was an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of cousins Matt Anoaʻi and Eddie Fatu, most notable for their time with WWF/E under their ring names of Rosey and Jamal, respectively. As they were the members of the prominent Anoaʻi family, Rosey was an older brother of current WWE wrestler Roman Reigns and Jamal was also a brother of Rikishi and an uncle to nephews Jimmy and Jey Uso and Solo Sikoa; the four of them used to wrestle together as The Bloodline.
Tonga ʻUliʻuli Fifita is a Tongan professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) under the ring name Haku and his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as Meng. In the WWF, he also wrestled under the names King Tonga and King Haku. Fifita appeared on multiple pay-per-view events for the WWF and WCW and is a former WWF World Tag Team Champion.
Sione Havea Vailahi is a Tongan professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, The Barbarian. He is best known for his various stints with National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and for being a part of tag teams The Powers of Pain with The Warlord and Faces of Fear with Meng.
In professional wrestling, the Samoan SWAT Team is a tag team comprising Juicy Finau, Lance Anoaʻi and Jacob Fatu, who work in Major League Wrestling (MLW), with Jacob Fatu the current MLW National Openweight Champion; Finau and Lance are former MLW World Tag Team Champions.
Samula Fred Anoaʻi is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Samu. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling in the 1980s and 1990s.
Afa Amituana'i "Arthur" Anoaʻi is a Samoan-American retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. Since retiring, he has operated the World Xtreme Wrestling promotion and trained wrestlers at the Wild Samoan Training Center.
Leati Sika Amituana'i Anoaʻi, better known as Sika Anoaʻi or simply Sika, is an American Samoan retired professional wrestler. He is best known as one-half of the tag team The Wild Samoans with his brother Afa. Championships held by Anoaʻi over the course of his career include the WWF World Tag Team Championship. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2012. He is a member of the Anoaʻi family and the father of professional wrestlers Rosey and Roman Reigns.
The Wild Samoans was the professional wrestling tag team of Afa Anoaʻi and Sika Anoaʻi in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The Samoans held 21 tag team championships around the world.
The Islanders was a professional wrestling tag team. The members were Haku and Tama, and they wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation. They were managed by Bobby Heenan and had a memorable feud with The British Bulldogs in which they kidnapped their pet mascot Matilda. They were also very briefly joined by a third islander Siva Afi.
Afa Anoaʻi Jr. is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the professional wrestling promotion WWE in the late 2000s under the ring name Manu. He now owns BattleField Pro Wrestling, a promotion based in Pennsylvania.
Lloyd Anoaʻi is an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager and producer for Qatar pro wrestling ,and World of War wrestling in South Africa. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring names Tahitian Savage, Fred Williams, and Lloyd Lanui and for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) under the ring name L.A. Smooth. Making his acting debut in the movie The Wrestler and on the trailer commercial for Brisk Tea for his cousin Dwayne Johnson's movie Hobbs & Shaw and other movies. He is one of the three sons of professional wrestling patriarch Afa Anoaʻi and a member of the Anoaʻi family.
The Anoaʻi family is a family of professional wrestlers originating from American Samoa. Family members have comprised several tag teams and stables within a variety of promotions, most notably WWE. Famous members of the family include Roman Reigns and WWE Hall of Famers Rikishi, Yokozuna, and the Wild Samoans. Other notable members include The Usos, Umaga, Rosey, Jacob Fatu, and Solo Sikoa, among others.
The Yokozuna Benefit Memorial Show was a professional wrestling event produced by World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) promotion which took place on 29 November 2001, at the Lehigh Valley Sports Zone in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was held in memory of wrestler Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoa'i, the nephew of promoter Afa Anoa'i and former two-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion, who died of pulmonary edema in Liverpool, England during a tour of Europe the previous year. The show served as a benefit show for his widow and two children, Keilani and Justin. Eleven professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card, with two including championships.
Lance Anoa'i is an American professional wrestler who recently wrestled for Major League Wrestling (MLW) under his real name. He is a former MLW World Tag Team Champion. He is married to Canesha White and he has two kids named Olivia and Peyton. He is a member of the Anoaʻi family.
Jacob Samuel Fatu is an American professional wrestler best known for his time in Major League Wrestling where he is a former MLW National Openweight Champion. He is a former one-time MLW World Heavyweight Champion and his reign is the longest in the title's history at 819 days. He also performs on the independent circuit.
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