Siva afi
| Birth name | Papaliitele Max Amata Taogaga |
|---|---|
| Born |
28 April 1949 Samoa |
| Residence | Apia, Samoa |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | High Chief Afi Jimmy Afi Max Tamboola Siva Afi Sivi Afi Superfly Afi |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Billed weight | 240 lb (110 kg) |
| Billed from | Samoa |
| Trained by |
Steve Rickard Peter Maivia |
| Debut | 1974 |
| Retired | 1997 |
Papaliitele Max Amata Taogaga (born 28 April 1949) is a retired Samoan professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation as Siva Afi.
Taogaga, born in Samoa, raised in New Zealand, where he began amateur wrestling at an early age. After deciding to turn pro he went to Steve Rickard and Peter Maivia who trained him for two years on the nuances of the professional game. In his first match Taogaga defeated one of New Zealand's top light heavyweights, Del Adams.
For the next four years Taogaga continued to work his way up through the ranks, wrestling the majority of foreign visitors to the country. Finally in 1978 he earned his big break, defeating Big John Da Silva in the final of an elimination tournament to decide the new, New Zealand Heavyweight Champion. Over the next few months, Taogaga successfully defended the title before heading to the U.S. at the end of 1978.
For the next seven years Taogaga split his time between the U.S., New Zealand, Australia and Japan. However, it was in Hawaii that Taogaga would be the most successful. It was here, in 1985, where he wrestled Ric Flair to a one-hour time limit draw for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in front of 12,000 people.
In 1986, Taogaga signed with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Taogaga wrestled consistently for two years, against the likes of Bret Hart, Randy Savage, Harley Race and Ted DiBiase as an enhancement talent wrestler. Initially, he was billed as "Superfly" Afi, and deemed to be the cousin of Jimmy Snuka, and as Sivi Afi. In 1988, after teaming for a short time with Haku as one half of The Islanders, he also wrestled in six man tags with the original Islanders, Haku and Tama. He debuted a new gimmick, that of "High Chief Afi", a Samoan chieftain. As part of his gimmick, Taogaga had gotten his legs and abdomen heavily tattooed (ala High Chief Peter Maivia). Unfortunately for Taogaga, it was all for naught; Tama would shortly thereafter depart from the WWF and Haku was repackaged as "King Haku" to replace the injured Harley Race, leaving Taogaga without a team or manager. Taogaga left the WWF and went on to work for Burt Reynolds as a stuntman and bodyguard.
...
Wikipedia