Afa Anoaʻi
| Afa Anoa'i | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Arthur Anoaʻi |
| Born |
November 21, 1942 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) |
| Billed weight | 326 lb (148 kg; 23.3 st) |
| Billed from | The Isle of Samoa |
| Trained by |
Rocky Johnson Peter Maivia Kurt Von Steiger |
| Debut | 1971 |
| Retired | 1994 |
Arthur "Afa" Anoaʻi Sr. (born November 21, 1942) 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.
Anoaʻi was born in Samoa, and his family relocated to San Francisco, California in the United States when he was young. At the age of 17, Anoaʻi enlisted in the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps.
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.
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.
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.
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