17 August 2024<\/time>\n<\/p>\nWWE icon Roman Reigns has paid tribute to his late wrestling hero uncle Afa Anoa\u2019i.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WWE icon Roman Reigns has paid tribute to his late wrestling hero uncle Afa Anoa\u2019i<\/p>\n
\nThe retired wrestler\u2019s iconic relative competed as one half of the legendary Wild Samoans \u2013 still one of the most successful tag teams in WWE history \u2013 and his passing aged 81, which comes two months after his brother Sika\u2019s death, was announced on Friday (16.08.24) by his son.<\/p>\n
\nHours after the announcement, Roman, 39, said on X: \u201cOur family has suffered another great loss with the passing of my uncle and WWE Hall of Famer, Gataivas\u0101 Afa Amituana\u2019i Anoa\u2019i.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nRoman \u2013 born Leati Joseph \u2018Joe\u2019 Anoa\u2019i \u2013 added he wanted to thank \u201ceveryone for their support\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nHe added he and his family \u201care comforted by the fact (Afa) now rests in peace\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nRoman went on: \u201cAfa and my father, Pola\u2019ivao Leati Sika Anoa\u2019i, were loving brothers, the greatest tag team of their generation, and now they\u2019re reunited together in heaven.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cRest in Power Wild Samoans.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAfa\u2019s son Samu Anoa\u2019i announced his death on Facebook with the statement: \u201cIt is with deepest regret that we announce the passing of my father Afa Anoa\u2019i Sr. <\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt was a peaceful transition and he was surrounded by loved ones. Please respect our privacy as we morn our father.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nFans have flooded social media with tributes to the fighter, with many telling his family \u201cgod bless\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nOne said online: \u201cWe love you all. Know your father loved you all more than anything else as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nFightful said Afa was admitted to hospital with pneumonia and a mild heart attack on January 12. <\/p>\n
\nAfa had his first match in 1971 after receiving training from Rocky Johnson and Peter Maivia \u2013 and then started teaming with his brother Sika. <\/p>\n
\nThe two formed The Wild Samoans and by the late 1970s the pair signed up to WWF. <\/p>\n
\nIn April 1980, they defeated Ivan Putski and Tito Santana to capture their first WWF Tag Team Championship.<\/p>\n
\nAfter leaving WWF, The Wild Samoans returned in 1983 and quickly regained the tag gold by defeating Chief Jay Strongbow and Jules Strongbow in a two-out-of-three falls bout. <\/p>\n
\nDuring his third stint that kicked off in 1992, Afa managed The Headshrinkers, Samu and Rikishi. <\/p>\n
\nAfa\u2019s final WWF match was held in 1994, and The Wild Samoans were eventually inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.<\/p>\n
\nHe and his brother have been credited for training wrestling heroes including Hulk Hogan, Roman and the Usos.<\/p>\n
\nIn June, Sika Anoa\u2019i died aged 79.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"17 August 2024 WWE icon Roman Reigns has paid tribute to his late wrestling hero uncle Afa Anoa\u2019i. WWE icon Roman Reigns has paid tribute to his late wrestling hero uncle Afa Anoa\u2019i The retired wrestler\u2019s iconic relative competed as one half of the legendary Wild Samoans \u2013 still one of the most successful tag […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[9196,9199,9195,9197,6328,9198,9200],"class_list":{"0":"post-118992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-make-up","8":"tag-afa-anoai","9":"tag-ivan-putski","10":"tag-leati-joseph-joe-anoai","11":"tag-polaivao-leati-sika-anoai","12":"tag-roman-reigns","13":"tag-samu-anoai","14":"tag-tito-santana"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}