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Name: Wild Samoans
Year Inducted: 2012
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Wild Samoans
Born
and raised in the island of Samoa, Afa came
to San Francisco and joined the Marines at age 17. In the early 1970s, Afa began
training for pro wrestling with High Chief Peter Maivia and
Rocky Johnson. Another worker, Ricky Thompson, took him to Arizona where he
furthered his training under Kurt von Steiger and
began competing. Once established as a wrestling attraction, Afa sent
for his older brother Sika,
and the Wild Samoans were born.
In
Calgary, their first title came quickly in 1973, followed by a reign in
Vancouver the same year. Championships followed in Detroit (1975) and
Georgia (1982), but it was their WWWF runs that resulted in three different
championships that most defined the Samoans. “They were, as we used to say
in the magazines ‘a well oiled tag team machine!’ ” said journalist
Bill Apter. “They
were excellent but even better when ‘Captain’ Lou Albano became their
manager in the WWWF.”
“They
were vicious type people. When I saw vicious, I don’t mean in personality, I
mean inside of the ring,” said Albano, who considered the Samoans his
favorite team. “They really loved to get in there and battle. They’d whack
each other. In fact, as brothers sometimes, they’d get in the ring and just
start arguing and have a battle.”
“My
brother and I were so good because we knew what the other was thinking all
the time,” said Sika in
an interview on the Wild Samoan training camp website. “We also had an
advantage since we spoke Samoan and no one knew what we were saying. We were
the best because we put our heart and soul into every match.”
One of
the teams the Samoans beat for the WWWF titles were the Strongbows.
Jules Strongbow (Frank
Hill) recalled his initial foray into the ring against them. “The first
time, it was kind of intimidating because I had only seen tapes of them and
watched them wrestle. I really didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “I kind
of got the feeling that they were there to have fun. They were there to make
the money and enjoy what they were doing at the same time, because that’s
what they had been doing all of their life.”
As the
1980s progressed, Afa and Sika dropped
out of active wrestling and turned their attention to training the next
generation of Samoan warriors and managing. Afa took
the Headshrinkers (Samu & Fatu)
to WWF tag team gold in 1994. Through their Wild Samoan Training Centers,
one in Whitehall, Pennsylvania, one in Pensacola, Florida, they worked with
Dave Bastista, Yokozuna, Rikishi,
Three-Minute Warning (Rosie and Jamal), and others.
Afa laughed
at their continued popularity. “I get hundreds and hundreds of emails every
day wanting to know when we’re coming back in the ring. People don’t just
accept the fact that our days are over.” He credits part of it to the way
they have aged. “They say that we still look the same. We don’t age, that’s
easy for them to say. It’s in the bones. The bones tell us different.”
- Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson
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