Afa Anoaʻi

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Afa Anoa'i
Birth name Arthur Anoaʻi
Born (1942-11-21) November 21, 1942 (age 81)[1]
Samoa
Residence Minneola, Florida
Family Anoaʻi
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Afa
Afa the Wild Samoan
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1]
Billed weight 326 lb (148 kg; 23.3 st)[1]
Billed from The Isle of Samoa
Trained by Rocky Johnson[1]
Peter Maivia[1]
Kurt Von Steiger[1]
Debut 1971[1]
Retired 1994

Arthur "Afa" Anoaʻi Sr. (born November 21, 1942) [1] is a Samoan American retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. Since retiring in the 1990s, he has operated the World Xtreme Wrestling promotion and trained wrestlers at the Wild Samoan Training Center.

Early life

Anoaʻi was born in Samoa, and his family relocated to San Francisco, California in the United States of America when he was young. At the age of 17, Anoaʻi enlisted in the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps.[2]

Wrestling career

Upon leaving the Naval Sea Cadet Corps, Anoaʻi began training as a wrestler under family friends Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia. He later received supplementary training from Kurt Von Steiger. He wrestled his first match in 1971, in Phoenix, Arizona. He then trained his brother Sika, and the siblings formed a tag team known as The Wild Samoans.[3]

Throughout the 1970s, The Wild Samoans wrestled for the Canadian Stampede Wrestling promotion (where they received further training from Stu Hart) and for numerous National Wrestling Alliance affiliates. In 1978, The Wild Samoans traveled to Japan to wrestle for the International Wrestling Alliance, winning the IWA Tag Team Championship.[4]

World Wrestling Federation (1979–1980, 1983-1984, 1992-1995)

In 1979, The Wild Samoans joined the World Wrestling Federation, where they were managed by Lou Albano and referred to as "Albano's Wildmen". The "wild" nature of the brothers was conveyed through their unorthodox behavior (which included communicating only in unintelligible grunts and consuming unprepared raw fish, during interviews and while approaching the ring). While in the WWF, The Wild Samoans won the WWF World Tag Team Championship. Both members also challenged Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship on several occasions. They left the promotion in 1980.[5][6]

The Wild Samoans then wrestled in Mid-South Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions, before returning to the WWF (renamed from WWWF in 1979) in 1983 and regaining the WWF World Tag Team Championship. After Sika suffered an injury, the tag team was supplemented by Afa's son Samu (the relationship was not acknowledged on TV). The trio remained in the WWF until 1984.[7] According to Afa, he lost his job because a few days earlier, Afa didn't come to work because he was at the birth of his son.[8] Afa Anoaʻi returned to the WWF for a third time in 1992, as the manager and occasional tag partner of The Headshrinkers (Samu and Anoai's nephew, Fatu). He wrestled his final match on May 22, 1994, teaming with The Headshrinkers to defeat The Quebecers and Johnny Polo at the Rosemont Horizon.[9] Anoaʻi left the WWF in mid-1995.

Later career

After leaving the WWF, he began training wrestlers at his Wild Samoan Training Facility, along with Sika.[10] On March 31, 2007, the Wild Samoans were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Samu and Sika's son, Matt.[4][11] He was the wrestling trainer for Darren Aronofsky's 2008 film, The Wrestler.

Other work

In 1999, Afa and Lynn Anoaʻi started the Usos Foundation, a non-profit organization aiming to turn youth away from drugs, gangs and poverty by providing scholarships to the Wild Samoans Training Center.[12]

In wrestling

Wrestlers trained

Championships and accomplishments

Acting career

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Afa's match history, from WrestlingData.com
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Usos Foundation website
  13. ↑ 13.00 13.01 13.02 13.03 13.04 13.05 13.06 13.07 13.08 13.09 13.10 13.11 13.12 13.13 13.14 Afa's profile at WrestlingData.com
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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