Samu Anoa’i confirmed on Friday afternoon that Afa Anoa’i Sr. has died and described it as a “peaceful transition and loved ones surrounded him.” This comes only two months after the passing of Afa’s brother and tag partner, Sika. Afa began wrestling in 1971 and helped train Sika where they became a touring team in Canada, the U.S., and Japan.
Their first major territory was Stampede Wrestling where the two won the territory’s tag belts twice in 1973.
They worked as The Islanders in Detroit in 1975, Tennessee in 1976, and Puerto Rico in 1977 followed by stints in Alabama and going to Japan for IWE. They made a strong name for themselves in the WWWF after arriving in 1980, paired with Captain Lou Albano as their mouthpiece, and held the tag belts on three occasions. They won the titles for the first time in April 1980 from Ivan Putski & Tito Santana. They lost the titles at Shea Stadium that summer to Bob Backlund & Pedro Morales underneath the main event of Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko. Due to Backlund holding the WWWF title, he had to vacate the tag belts with Morales and they went back to Afa & Sika a month later. They won the titles for the third and final time in March 1983 from Chief Jay & Jules Strongbow and lost to Rocky Johnson & Tony Atlas in November of that year.
In between WWWF runs, they wrestled for Mid-South in 1981, winning the promotion’s tag titles three times. The duo beat Junkyard Dog & Dick Murdoch in June 1981 and traded the belts as JYD would win the titles with Murdoch, Mike George, and Mr. Olympia (Jerry Stubbs) as his partner.
Today, all of our lives are irreparably changed. I love you so much, Dad. More than any words could ever express. Your strength was absolutely superhuman. You fought all the way to the end, and the end was peaceful. That's all I could have hoped for. I love you so very much. pic.twitter.com/0mt5blynH3
— Vale Anoa'i (@ValeAnoai) August 16, 2024
During his WWF tenure, he had several singles matches for the WWF championship including a December 13, 1983, match against Backlund in Pennsylvania. In 1984, he challenged Hulk Hogan in Utica, New York, and Hartford, Connecticut. He left the company after a match in January 1985 and would not return until 1992 when he was hired back as a manager for The Headshrinkers (Fatu & Samu).
Afa would wrestle occasionally with The Headshrinkers including six-man tags against The Quebecers & Johnny Polo (Scott Levy a.k.a. Raven) and ended his run in 1994.
Afa’s legacy in the next act of his career was running the Wild Samoan Training Center, which ceased operations last month.
With Sika, the Wild Samoans were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in April 2007 in Detroit. Afa’s last on-camera appearance in WWE occurred nearly four years ago when he appeared at the Hell in a Cell show during the Thunderdome era in October 2020 after Roman Reigns retained the Universal Championship against Jey Uso in an I Quit Match.
Afa was 81 and leaves behind his wife Lynn and had seven children.
