Afa Anoaʻi, Jr.

Afa Anoaʻi, Jr.

Anoaʻi in July 2009.
Birth name Afa Anoaʻi, Jr.
Born (1984-10-06) October 6, 1984[1]
Allentown, Pennsylvania, US[1]
Family Anoaʻi
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Afa
Afa Jr.
Mai Tai Anoaʻi
Manu
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2]
Billed weight 290 lb (130 kg)[2]
Billed from Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, US[2]
Trained by Afa Anoaʻi[2]
Lloyd Anoaʻi[1]
Samula Anoaʻi[1]
Debut August 28, 1998[1]

Afa Anoaʻi, Jr., (born October 6, 1984) is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the professional wrestling promotion WWE in the mid-2000s under the ring name Manu.[2][1]

Professional wrestling career

World Xtreme Wrestling (1998–2006)

Anoaʻi began training as a wrestler under his father, Afa, and brothers, Lloyd (L.A. Smooth) and Samula He made his debut on August 28, 1998 at the age of 13, winning a battle royal in Austria.[3] He attended Freedom High School, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

He wrestled for the family promotion, World Xtreme Wrestling, where he formed a stable with his brothers, Samu and L.A. Smooth, known as the Sons of Samoa. He went on to win numerous championships.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Developmental territories (2006–2007)

In October 2006, Anoaʻi received a try-out with World Wrestling Entertainment, held at the Deep South Wrestling development territory. Later that month, Anoaʻi officially signed with WWE, going under his father's ring name, "Afa". He went on to wrestle for Deep South Wrestling.[4] Initially performing as part of the Urban Assault stable, which dissolved when Afa and leader Sonny Siaki abandoned their partner Eric Perez during a match against Freakin' Deacon and former Urban Assault member G-Rilla. Siaki and Afa rechristened themselves The Samoan Fight Club.

Anoaʻi then wrestled for WWE's new developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, where he continued teaming with Siaki under their Samoan Fight Club name. Their team was disbanded, however, when Siaki was released from his contract due to family issues on September 15, 2007. In September, Afa Jr. began to work matches in Ohio Valley Wrestling, forming a tag team with fellow Samoan family member Matt Anoaʻi and their team was dubbed the Sons of Samoa; which is also a stable that Afa Jr. formed while he still wrestled in World Xtreme Wrestling. In October 2007, Afa Jr. defeated Harry Smith by countout (he was touring in the UK at the time), to become the new FCW Heavyweight Champion.[5]

Main roster (2007–2009)

On November 19, 2007, Anoaʻi made his debut on WWE television under the name Mai Tai Anoaʻi in a losing effort against Jim Duggan at the Heat tapings.[6] Anoaʻi was later suspended by WWE for 30 days, on March 20, 2008, for violating WWE's Wellness Policy.[7] At Unforgiven, Anoaʻi made his debut on the full-time roster under the name "Manu".[8] He aligned himself with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase, by attacking Cryme Tyme after their World Tag Team Championship match.[8] Later that night, the three of them helped Randy Orton attack the World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk and Kofi Kingston.[8] On the September 8 edition of Raw Manu, Rhodes and DiBiase defeated Cryme Tyme and Kofi Kingston in a six-man tag team match.[9] On the November 17 episode of Raw, he made his singles debut in a losing effort against Batista.[10] During this time, Rhodes, DiBiase and Manu entered a storyline with Randy Orton where Orton constantly criticized and insulted them, and attacked DiBiase on November 3, on Raw.[11] Manu and Rhodes accepted Orton's offer for an alliance in the following weeks, and the trio dubbed themselves "The Legacy".[12]

After Orton grew tired of The Legacy losing matches, he scheduled a test for each member on the December 29 episode of Raw; however, Manu failed to pass his test after he lost to the ECW Champion, Matt Hardy, and was kicked out as his former companions Rhodes and Sim Snuka turned their backs on him.[13] Later Snuka also got kicked out of the group, and the two quickly reunited.[14] They planned to get their revenge on Orton and Rhodes on the January 12, 2009 episode of Raw, with the aid of the returning Ted DiBiase, but DiBiase betrayed them, and joined The Legacy with Orton and Rhodes.[15]

Anoaʻi was released from his WWE contract on February 23, 2009.[16] Randy Orton later said that the reason Anoaʻi had been released "had a lot to do with his backstage attitude", and stated that Anoaʻi "didn’t feel like he had to pay his dues".[17]

Independent circuit (2009–present)

On April 18, 2009, Anoaʻi returned to the independent circuit at a World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) show. He reformed the Sons of Samoa tag team with Samu, and the pair competed as a tag team throughout the rest of 2009.[1] In late 2010, Anoaʻi also competed for the Belgian Catch Wrestling Federation and NWA Dawg Pound. On February 9, 2013, Afa Jr. and L. A. Smooth, as The Sons of Samoa, won the WWC World Tag Team Championship. They lost the titles at Camino a la Gloria, on March 30, 2013. However, the won the titles on June 29, 2013 at Summer Madness. They lost the title at WWC 40 Aniversario to Chicano and Abbad. They regained the titles again on November 16, 2013 at Crossfire.[18] However, they lost the title ar Euphoria Day 2 against Xix Xavant and Chicano.[19]

Regional Championship Wrestling event Rumblemania 9 in Reading, PA. on March 15, 2014. Manu w/RC beat Rob Noxious in a respect match. This was a hardcore match that ended up going all over the building, after match Manu shook hands with Noxious & beat up his manager RC.

Since 2014, Afa has been attached to Pennsylvania Premiere Wrestling (PPW) in Hazleton Pa capturing the promotions Heavyweight Championship and its No Limits Championship! Afa captured the PPW Title from his nephew Lance Anoa'i and retained the title against contenders like Danny Maff and Samoa Joe. Recently, Afa defeated Al Snow at the December PPW Event to retain the PPW No Limits Title.

Personal life

Main article: Anoaʻi family

Anoaʻi is a member of the Anoaʻi family, a Samoan family of wrestlers.[2] He is the son of Afa Anoaʻi and the younger brother of Samu and L.A. Smooth.[2] He is related to Roman Reigns, The Rock, The Usos, Yokozuna, Umaga, Rikishi among others. He has Samoan tattoos on his arms.[2]

Anoaʻi attended Freedom High School, where Coach Jim Morgans described him as "the best defensive lineman I've coached." As a senior, Anoaʻi was named one of the 100 best football players in the United States by analyst Tom Lemming.[1] Upon graduation from Freedom, Anoaʻi attended Fork Union Military Academy as a post-graduate to study and play football. He played in the 2003 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.[1] Upon graduating, Anoaʻi played football with the University of Connecticut Huskies for a year.[2][1][20]

In wrestling

Anoaʻi and Sonny Siaki as the Samoan Fight Club

Championships and accomplishments

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 "Manu Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "WWE Bio". WWE. Archived from the original on 2009-02-23. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
  3. ↑ Afa Jr. at WildSamoan.com
  4. ↑ WWE signs Afa's son
  5. ↑ "October 16, 2007--Florida Championship Wrestling". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-26.
  6. ↑ "WWE Raw Results - November 19, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. 2007-11-19. Archived from the original on 30 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
  7. ↑ "Developmental performer suspended for 30 days". WWE. 2008-03-20. Archived from the original on 23 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  8. 1 2 3 Bishop, Matt (2008-09-07). "Scramble matches make for wild Unforgiven". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  9. ↑ Sitterson, Aubrey (2008-09-08). "Dangerous liaisons". WWE. Archived from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
  10. ↑ Elliott, Brian (2008-11-18). "Raw: Lumberjacks bring predictable chaos". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  11. ↑ Tylwalk, Nick (2008-11-04). "Raw: Jericho's title win highlights 800th episode celebration". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  12. ↑ Sitterson, Aubrey (2008-12-08). "Slam, bam, thank you ma'am!". WWE. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  13. ↑ Tylwalk, Nick (2008-12-30). "Raw: Michaels faces tough year-end decision". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  14. ↑ Elliott, Brian (2009-01-06). "Raw: JBK-HBK storyline moves along". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  15. ↑ Tylwalk, Nick (2009-01-13). "Raw: Cena and Michaels collide in Sioux City". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  16. ↑ "Manu released". WWE. 2009-02-23. Archived from the original on 24 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-24.
  17. ↑ Rothstein, Simon (2009-05-15). "Orton: We screwed ourselves at Mania". The Sun. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
  18. ↑ http://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=81687
  19. ↑ http://www.cagematch.de/?id=1&nr=106000
  20. ↑ Recruiting: Pitt pins lineman, lures Virginia FB
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Afa Jr. at Bodyslamming.com". Archived from the original on 2007-11-15.
  22. ↑ "‘Voices: WWE The Music, Vol. 9’ available now". WWE. 2009-01-27. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  23. ↑ "Independent Wrestling Results - October 2006". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
  24. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2008". Retrieved 4 February 2015.

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