10 Things To Know About Roman Reigns' Uncle & Father

May 2024 · 8 minute read

UPDATE: 2024/01/28 14:30 EST BY BENJAMIN VIEIRA

There is no doubt that Roman Reigns has been one, if not the biggest WWE superstars of this century. With a title reign that hasn't been seen for decades, fans have acknowledged him. Regins is a member of the legendary Anoa'i Family, which has seen numerous iconic wrestlers come from it, including Reigns' own father and uncle. Let's get to learn more about the former WWE Tag Team Champions, Afa and Sika, better known as The Wild Samoans, here.

As anyone watching WWE these days will be able to glean, top star Roman Reigns hails from a big wrestling family — one that includes not only his cousins The Usos and Solo Sikoa, but also The Rock, Yokozuna, and others. But then there are the Anoa’i family members who are credited for starting it all: Afa and Sika, otherwise known as The Wild Samoans.

Afa is Reigns’ uncle and Sika is Reign’s father, but modern fans might not know much about these tag team legends. Let’s take a look at their career in wrestling, from their origins to which Anoa’i family members they’re personally responsible for creating.

10 They Were Trained By The Rock’s Father and Grandfather

Rocky Johnson And High Chief Peter Maivia Brought Them Into Pro Wrestling

The Rock’s grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, was blood brothers with Afa and Sika’s father, Amituanai Anoa'i, thus intimately linking the two families. On top of that, Maivia and his son-in-law Rocky Johnson (The Rock’s father) also had a role in bringing the Anoa’i family into pro wrestling when they trained Afa in the sport after he left the US Navy Sea Cadet Corps. A former Merchant Marine, Sika soon followed his older brother into the business, and received training from Afa.

9 Afa & Sika Started Out In Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling

They Became Stampede International Tag Team Champions

While they debuted in the United States, Afa and Sika got their first big break north of the border when they made their way to Calgary to perform for Stu Hart’s promotion, the influential Stampede Wrestling. Receiving additional training from the Hart family patriarch, Afa and Sika proved successful in Stampede, capturing the Stampede International Tag Team Championship on two occasions, with their first reign being the result of a 10-team tournament for the vacant belt.

8 Afa & Sika Wrestled In The NWA Territories

They Wrestled In Puerto Rico And Japan

The Wild Samoans’ pre-WWE days weren’t limited to Stampede Wrestling, however. Afa and Sika traveled all over, capturing tag titles in NWA territories like Vancouver, Gulf Coast, and Detroit. They even ventured outside the continent, capturing belts in Puerto Rico and Japan.

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Between stints in WWE (see below), The Wild Samoans returned to the NWA, wrestling for Georgia Championship Wrestling. There, they defeated The Fabulous Freebirds to capture the NWA National Tag Team Championship, holding the belts for 125 days before vacating them to return to WWE.

7 Three-Time WWE World Tag Team Champions

They Were Managed By Captain Lou Albano

The year 1979 saw Afa and Sika make their debut for WWE. Managed by Captain Lou Albano, The Wild Samoans defeated Tito Santana and Ivan Putski to capture their first WWE Tag Team Championship. Their 119-day run came to an end at the hands of Bob Backlund and Pedro Morales in Shea Stadium, but the titles were vacated because Backlund was already the WWE Champion. As a result, The Wild Samoans won a tournament for the vacant belts, kicking off a 60-day run. In 1983, they won the belts for a third and final time in 1983, dropping them after 252 days to the team of Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas.

6 Three-Time Mid-South Tag Team Champions

They Were Managed By "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd

After leaving WWE in 1980, Afa and Sika made their way to Bill Watts’ Oklahoma-based Mid-South Wrestling, where they gained a new manager in the form of the legendary “Big Cat” Ernie Ladd. Once again, The Wild Samoans were successful in the tag team division, enjoying three runs with the Mid-South Tag Team Championship, often feuding with The Junkyard Dog and various partners. Eventually, they turned on Ernie Ladd in favor of manager Skandor Ackbar, feuding with Ladd before they left the territory in 1982.

5 Afa Became A Manager In WWE

He Was Aligned With The Headshrinkers

The Wild Samoans’s outings as a duo began to dwindle by the early 1990s, with team-ups being infrequent, but neither brother were by any means done with wrestling. Afa returned to WWE in 1992, this time as a manager for The Headshrinkers (otherwise known as The Samoan Swat Team), consisting of his son Samu and his nephew Fatu, better known as Rikishi. But Afa was still able to step into the ring and often joined Fatu and Samu in tag team matches until he retired from competition in 1994 and left the company the following year.

4 Sika Had A Run In WWE Without Afa

He Was In A Tag Team With Kamala

Before Afa’s 1990s stint in WWE, Sika had a run without him in the previous decade. In 1986, Sika returned to WWE on his own as a singles wrestler — first managed by The Wizard (a.k.a. King Curtis Iaukea) and later by Mr. Fuji — although he didn’t gain much traction on his own.

Aligning with Mr. Fuji resulted in Sika forming a tag team with one of Fuji’s other clients, Kamala. Teaming up in the spring of 1987, the pairing didn’t last long, as Kamala left the company by the end of the summer, with Sika following suit in 1988.

3 They Run Their Own Wrestling School

They Trained Future Champions Of The Business

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The Wild Samoans wrestled their last match in 1997, but by that point they had already been working as trainers for a couple of decades. In the late ‘70s, Afa and Sika established The Wild Samoan Training Center, which moved around the country over the years from Florida to Connecticut to Pennsylvania and back to Florida. Some of the talent trained by Afa and Sika include Billy Kidman, Chris Kanyon, Batista, Virgil, and several Anoa’i family members including Yokozuna and Rikishi.

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2 Three Of Afa’s Children Became Wrestlers

Manu Was A Member Of Legacy In WWE

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Given the size of the Anoa’i family tree, it should surprise no one to find out that both Wild Samoans had several kids that ended up becoming pro wrestlers themselves. The first of Afa’s sons to become a wrestler was the aforementioned Samu, but he was by no means the last. Following him was L.A. Smooth of ECW’s Samoan Gangster Party as well as Manu, who had a 2007-2009 run in WWE where he was most famously a member of the faction Legacy. The trend has continued with the grandkids as well — Samu’s son, Lance Anoa’i, became a wrestler as well.

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1 Two Of Sika’s Children Became Wrestlers

Both Roman Reigns And Rosey Have Wrestled In WWE

As established, Sika arguably fathered one of the biggest stars of the Anoa’i family in four-time WWE Champion Roman Reigns, but he wasn’t the first of Sika’s kids to enter the family business. Sika’s other son, Matthew, made his in-ring debut in 1994 and wrestled for WWE from 2002 to 2006 as Rosey of the faction Three Minute Warning as well as being The Hurricane’s “Super Hero In Training.” Sadly, he died of heart failure in April of 2017.

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