WWE Hall of Famer Afa Anoa’i Dead at 81
WWE Hall of Famer Afa Anoa’i, uncle of Roman Reigns, passes away at 81 years old. Afa and his brother Sika Anoa’i, were part of one of the greatest tag teams of all time, The Wild Samoans. Sika also passed away two months ago on June 25th. In the words of “The Tribal Chief” Roman Reigns, “Afa and my father, Sika were loving brothers, the greatest tag team of their generation, and now they’re reunited together in heaven. Rest in Power Wild Samoans.”
The last time we saw The Wild Samoans was at Hell in a Cell 2020 when they came out to celebrate Roman Reigns’ huge victory. They crowned Reigns with the Ula Fala around his neck to label him as “The Tribal Chief.” With Roman Reigns returning at SummerSlam to deal with the new Bloodline, everyone can’t help but think what would The Wild Samoans do in this situation? During their time, Afa and Sika have won 20 tag team championships around the world. In the World Wrestling Federation, they’ve gone toe-to-toe with huge names such as Andre the Giant, Bob Backlund, Pedro Morales, and even The Rock’s father, Rocky Johnson.
The Wild Samoans were a tag team to be feared as they intimidated their opponents with their intense prowess. Afa and Sika began teaming up in the 1970s, collecting numerous championships in Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling promotion and the National Wrestling Alliance before they debuted in the WWE in 1979. The siblings started to dominate the WWE in the 1980s, capturing the World Tag Team Championships a total of three times. Afa then returned to WWE in 1992 as the manager for The Headshrinkers, a tag team composed of Afa’s son Samu and his nephew, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi, before retiring from WWE in 1995. Afa and Sika later opened The Wild Samoan Training Facility, where they started to train the next generation of WWE superstars, one of them being “The Animal” Batista. With this training facility, The Wild Samoans have produced winners of over 50 championships. Later in 2007, The Wild Samoans had the huge honor of being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, going down in history as one of the greatest tag teams of all time.
