Tamina Snuka

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Tamina Snuka
Tamina at WrestleMania 32 Axxess.jpg
Tamina in March 2016
Birth name Sarona Moana-Marie Reiher Snuka
Born (1978-01-10) January 10, 1978 (age 46)[1]
Vancouver, Washington, United States[2]
Children 2
Family Jimmy Snuka (father)
Deuce (brother)
Liana Snuka (sister)
Ata Snuka (sister)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Sarona Snuka
Tamina[3]
Tamina Snuka
Billed height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[4]
Billed weight 150 lb (68 kg)[1]
Billed from The Pacific Islands[4]
Trained by Afa Anoaʻi
Sika Anoaʻi
Debut 2009[4][5]

Sarona Snuka-Polamalu[6] (born Sarona Moana-Marie Reiher Snuka; January 10, 1978)[1] is an American professional wrestler and actress[4] currently signed with WWE under the ring name Tamina.[7]

Professional wrestling career

Wild Samoan Training Center and World Xtreme Wrestling (2009)

Snuka first became involved in professional wrestling after she received the first Lia Maivia Scholarship to train at the Wild Samoan Training Center in Minneola, Florida.[5]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE

Florida Championship Wrestling (2009–2010)

On December 26, 2009, World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW)'s Twitter account announced that World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) had signed Snuka to a developmental contract, and would report to their then-developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) for further training.[8] Reiher debuted on March 19, 2010, competing in a six-woman tag team match at an FCW house show.[9] She later began managing The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso), while remaining a competitor in the women's division, and competed in a tournament to determine the new FCW Divas Champion.

Managing The Usos (2010)

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Tamina along The Usos in 2010

On the May 24 episode of Raw, Snuka debuted as a villainous character, under the ring name Tamina, along with Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso by attacking the Unified Tag Team Champions, The Hart Dynasty (David Hart Smith, Tyson Kidd and Natalya).[3][10] The next week on the May 31 episode of Raw, Tamina and The Usos introduced themselves and stated that the Hart Dynasty were on the "wrong place at the wrong time", before again brawling with the trio. On June 20 at Fatal 4-Way, Tamina and the Usos were defeated by the Hart Dynasty in a six-person mixed tag team match, after Natalya pinned Tamina.[11] Two weeks later on the June 21 episode of Raw, Tamina made her singles debut against Natalya, but the match ended in a no contest after The Nexus interrupted the match. On the June 28 episode of Raw, Tamina and The Usos were scheduled to face The Hart Dynasty in another six-person mixed tag team match, but instead attacked them during their entrance, leading to Tamina throwing Natalya in the ring and executing the Superfly Splash on her.[12] On the July 12 episode of Raw, Tamina and The Usos won their first match by defeating The Hart Dynasty in a six-person mixed tag team match.[13] At the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Tamina accompanied The Usos to a tag team match against The Hart Dynasty, which the Usos lost. On the July 26 episode of Raw, Tamina, along with Jimmy Uso accompanied Jey Uso to a singles match against Randy Orton, but Jey was unsuccessful in defeating Orton.[14]

Relationship with Santino Marella (2010–2011)

On the August 9 episode of Raw, Tamina began flirting with Santino Marella, hinting a face turn. Two weeks later, Tamina accompanied The Usos in a tag team match against Marella and Vladimir Kozlov in a losing effort, but Tamina would then afterwards stop the Usos from attacking Marella, and blew a kiss to him as she left the ring.[15] On the September 27 episode of Raw, Tamina competed in a Divas battle royal to determine the number one contender to the WWE Divas Championship, which was ultimately won by Natalya.[16] On the October 11 episode of Raw, Tamina joined Santino Marella after his victory over Zack Ryder and celebrated with him.[17] A few weeks later on the November 8 episode of Raw, Tamina teamed with Alicia Fox and Maryse in a "Diva Cup Match" in a losing effort to Eve Torres and The Bella Twins. On the November 15 episode of Raw, Tamina accompanied The Usos to a number one contender's tag team match against Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov in a losing effort.[18] Tamina made a backstage appearance with Marella and Kozlov on the November 22 episode of Raw, when she serenaded and kissed Marella. Two weeks later on the November 29 episode of Raw, Tamina teamed with Alicia Fox and Maryse in a six-Diva tag team match against Natalya, Gail Kim and Melina, but was distracted by Marella serenading her, and she left the ring with him.

On the December 6 episode of Raw, Tamina began an on-screen relationship with Marella, beginning by accompanying him and his partner Vladimir Kozlov in a three-team elimination tag team match against the teams of The Nexus (Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater) and The Usos in a winning effort, as Tamina got into the ring and kissed Marella, officially becoming the valet of the team.[19] On the December 20 episode of Raw, Tamina teamed with Marella in a mixed tag team match in a winning effort against Maryse and Ted DiBiase Jr.. The next week on the December 27 episode of Raw, Snuka accompanied Marella to a win against Ted DiBiase. On the January 3 episode of Raw, Tamina accompanied Marella and Vladimir Kozlov in a tag team match against The Usos in a losing effort.[20]

Divas Championship pursuits (2011–2013)

After being drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2011 supplemental draft,[21] Tamina made her SmackDown debut as a villain on the May 27 episode of SmackDown, teaming with Alicia Fox to defeat the team of AJ and Kaitlyn, who were accompanied by their mentor Natalya.[22] A week later on SmackDown, Tamina and Fox again defeated AJ and Kaitlyn, with Tamina pinning AJ.[23] On the June 13 episode of Superstars, Tamina competed in a six-Diva tag team match with Alicia Fox and Rosa Mendes in a losing effort to AJ, Kaitlyn and Natalya.[24] Tamina then began appearing on the fifth season of NXT Redemption, debuting on the October 26 episode in a loss to Kaitlyn.[25] On the November 2 episode of NXT Redemption, Tamina would lose again in a rematch against Kaitlyn.[26] Tamina would then begin an on-screen relationship with JTG, becoming his valet. She accompanied him on the November 9 episode of NXT Redemption in a losing effort against Jimmy Uso.[27]

Tamina posing during a WWE house show in 2012

On the December 30 episode of SmackDown, Tamina teamed with Natalya in a losing effort to Kaitlyn and Alicia Fox, and would afterwards attack Natalya, turning face in the process, and beginning a feud between the two about their respective families.[28] Over the next two weeks on SmackDown, Tamina would defeat Natalya in singles competition.[29][30] On the February 10 episode of SmackDown, Tamina saved Alicia Fox from an attack by the WWE Divas Champion Beth Phoenix. Tamina and Beth would then have a stare down, which resulted in Snuka challenging Phoenix for her title.[31] Tamina, now billed as Tamina Snuka, received her title shot on February 19 at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, but was defeated by Phoenix.[7] On the April 25 episode of NXT Redemption, Snuka and Kaitlyn defeated the team of Maxine and Natalya.[32] On the June 6 episode of NXT Redemption, Snuka defeated Natalya.[33] At the Money In The Bank pay-per-view, Snuka teamed up with Kaitlyn and Layla, defeating the team of Beth Phoenix, Natalya and Eve Torres. Snuka appeared on the re-branded NXT three days later, where she defeated Kaitlyn. On the August 20 episode of Raw, Snuka competed in a number one contender's battle royal, but was unsuccessful in winning the match. Also during the match, Snuka suffered a legitimate back injury.[34]

After three months of inactivity, Snuka returned from injury on November 18 at the Survivor Series pay-per-view as a heel , interrupting a segment between AJ Lee and Vickie Guerrero by attacking AJ from behind.[35] Snuka made her in-ring return on the November 26 episode of Raw, defeating Alicia Fox.[36] On the January 28, 2013 episode of Raw, Snuka faced Divas Champion Kaitlyn in a non-title lumberjill match, however, the match ended in a no-contest after the lumberjills interfered.[37] On February 17 at Elimination Chamber, Snuka unsuccessfully challenged Kaitlyn for the Divas Championship.[38] On the June 5 episode of NXT, Snuka was defeated by Paige in the first round of the NXT Women's Championship tournament to crown the inaugural champion.[39]

AJ Lee's bodyguard (2013–2014)

Snuka along AJ Lee during a Raw event in April 2014

Snuka returned to WWE programming in late September 2013, taking on the role as Divas Champion AJ Lee's bodyguard.[40] Snuka helped AJ retain her Divas Championship at Battleground by attacking challenger Nikki Bella.[41] On the November 13 episode of Main Event, AJ retained her title against Natalya after Snuka interfered and attacked Natalya.[42] This led to a match between Snuka and Natalya on the November 15 episode of SmackDown, which Snuka lost.[43] AJ went on to captain a team at Survivor Series in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match against the cast of Total Divas, where Snuka eliminated The Funkadactyls (Naomi and Cameron) and was the penultimate eliminated, courtesy of Natalya.[44]

On February 23, 2014, at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view, Snuka accidentally superkicked AJ during her title match against Cameron, and eventually caused a disqualification when Cameron almost won the match.[45] This signaled tension between the two, which was followed by their back-to-back losses in tag team competition, leading to Snuka shoving AJ to the ground.[46] At WrestleMania XXX on April 6, Snuka was one of 13 Divas to challenge AJ for her title in the "Vickie Guerrero Divas Championship Invitational" match, which resulted in AJ retaining.[47] After AJ lost her Divas Championship to Paige and was subsequently granted time off from WWE, Snuka won a battle royal to become the number one contender to Paige's Divas Championship.[48] Snuka faced Paige for the title at Extreme Rules on May 4, but failed to win.[49]

Team B.A.D. (2015–present)

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Eleven months after having undergone surgery following a torn ACL on June 4, 2014,[50] Snuka returned on the May 4, 2015 episode of Raw, allying herself with her cousin-in-law Naomi, as the two attacked The Bella Twins.[51] Snuka made her in-ring return on the May 11 episode of Raw in a winning effort against Brie Bella, with Naomi in her corner.[52] Tamina and Naomi went on to defeat the Bella Twins in a tag team match at Payback.[53] The following night on Raw, Tamina interfered in Naomi's Divas Championship match against Nikki Bella, causing a disqualification. After the match, Paige returned from injury and attacked Tamina, Naomi and Nikki.[54] At The Beast in the East on July 4, Tamina failed to capture the Divas Championship from Nikki Bella in a triple threat match that also involved Paige.[55]

On the July 13 episode of Raw, after weeks of being outnumbered by Team Bella (The Bella Twins and Alicia Fox), Stephanie McMahon called for a "revolution" in the Divas division and introduced the debuting NXT Women's Champion Sasha Banks as an ally to Tamina and Naomi. Charlotte and Becky Lynch would then debut and ally with Paige, leading to a brawl between the three teams.[56] The trio of Tamina, Naomi and Banks was later dubbed Team B.A.D. (Beautiful and Dangerous). At Battleground, a triple threat match took place with Banks representing Team B.A.D., against Charlotte of PCB and Brie Bella for Team Bella in a losing effort, while Charlotte picked up victory.[57] The three teams would ultimately face off at SummerSlam in a three team elimination match, where Team B.A.D. were the first team to be eliminated courtesy of Team Bella when Tamina was pinned by Brie, and PCB would win the match.[58]

On the February 1, 2016 episode of Raw, Sasha Banks announced her departure from Team B.A.D. and Naomi and Tamina attacked her, officially ending their association.[59][60] The feud between Tamina and Naomi and Banks would continue throughout February,[61][62][63][64] and would lead to a tag team match at Fastlane, where Tamina and Naomi lost to Banks and her partner Becky Lynch.[65] In late March, Tamina and Naomi allied with Lana, Emma and Summer Rae, leading to a 10-woman tag team match on the WrestleMania 32 kick-off show, which Tamina's team lost.[66]

Other media

Reiher made her acting debut in the 2014 film Hercules.[67][68]

Snuka has appeared in two WWE video games. She made her in-game debut at WWE 2K15 and appears in WWE 2K16.[69]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2015 Hercules Cameo [67][68]

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2014–2015 Total Divas Herself Guest (Season 2, 4): 7 episodes
2015 WWE Tough Enough Guest

Personal life

Snuka is of Japanese, Fijian and Samoan descent, and is the daughter of former WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Snuka and his second wife, Sharon. Her brother, James, had wrestled for WWE under the ring names Deuce and Sim Snuka.[70] She divorced her husband in 2003, and has two daughters named Milaneta and Maleata.[71]

In wrestling

Tamina performing the Superfly Splash on Kaitlyn.

Championships and accomplishments

References

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External links