What’s the Story?
The WWE publicly acknowledged the passing of WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka on this past episode of Monday Night Raw.
This came after years of the company purposefully distancing themselves from him and removing him from the Hall of Fame section of the WWE website after he was brought to trial on charges involving the death of Nancy Argentino in 1983.
In case you didn’t know...
Snuka’s case involving the death of Nancy Argentino was cold for over thirty years until it was reopened in 2014. Snuka was arrested on September 2nd, 2015 and was charged with involuntary manslaughter and third-degree murder.
Also read: 5 things you may have forgotten about Jimmy 'Superfly' Snuka
Snuka pleaded not guilty and was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial. This resulted in the charges getting dropped two weeks ago on January 4th, 2017. Snuka died in hospice yesterday on January 15th, after losing his battle with stomach cancer. He was 73-years-old.
The heart of the matter
Snuka’s murder charges resulted in some bad press for the WWE and were the primary reason he was removed from the WWE’s Hall of Fame page.
With the charges dropped and Snuka now deceased, it appears the WWE don’t mind being associated with the formerly accused and have made their press releases and video packages on Snuka like several other news and sports outlets have in the past few days.
What’s Next?
Now that the WWE have associated themselves with Snuka following his passing, it is likely that his likeness will be incorporated into more video packages and segments in the future.
Sportskeeda’s Take
This decision to honour the memory of Snuka as a legendary wrestler this close to his charges being dropped for murder comes off as a bit despicable.
The idea that a wrestler who possibly murdered a woman is now being hailed as a hero by the WWE is a bit contradictory considering the complete erasing of Chris Benoit from WWE history.
Chris Benoit has been completely forgotten by the WWE despite the evidence of CTE having been found in his brain, a disease that many people believed had caused Benoit to snap and act out of his own accord.
However, the fact remains that it is only speculation that Snuka killed that woman or that he did it with malicious intent. With it being a 30-year-old case, and the only witness now dead, the WWE has nothing to fear by paying homage to the legend of The Superfly.
Tweet Speak:
Several members of the A’noai family took to twitter to express their grief on the death of Jimmy Snuka including The Rock, Roman Reigns, and his daughter, Tamina Snuka.
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