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Samu is part of the legendary Anoai Family and the son of WWE Hall of Famer Afa Anoai, one half of The Wild Samoans. During his storied career, Samu worked for WWF, WCW, and ECW.
Samu's career took off at the beginning of the 1980s when his uncle Sika was out with an injury. Samu came in to team up with his Father Afa as a part of The Wild Samoans and helped in defending the WWF Tag Team Championships.
Samu and Fatu would form a group known as The Samoan Swat Team in WCW. After leaving WCW, Samu is known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation teaming with Fatu, aka Rikishi, as The Headshrinkers. Together, they won the WWF Tag Team Championships once.
During this portion of our interview, Samu discusses how old he was when he started training, teaming with his Father in WWF, and being just 21 when he faced Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship.
Watch the interview below:
SK: Samu, how old were you when you started training?
Samu: I started training at 14-15, but I got really serious around 16 when I decided to go live with my Dad, and I seen that cheque he made in Madison Square Garden with Bob Backlund. I knew that's what I wanted to do after that.
SK: Well, you got that opportunity in 1983 when your Uncle Sika was out on injury, and you filled in while they were the Tag Team Champions. What was it like right off the bat so early in your career to jump in and start defending a WWF Tag Team belt?
Samu: It was surreal! Every match was my dream. Sika broke his hip and couldn't participate anymore, so they (WWF) would get another Samoan. My Dad didn't want just another partner, it was his brother they were talking about, and he didn't want to tag with just anybody else. It was me or Captain Lou Albano at the time.
Captain was up there in age. He made the loop once, but he couldn't do too much after that. Andre (The Giant) put in a good word for me, and I got lucky, and the rest was sort of on the job training, so to speak.
SK: You talked seeing your Father's cheque facing Bob Backlund. At the age of 21, you got a shot at the WWF Championship against Bob Backlund. At that young of an age, what was that experience like?
Samu: Again, it was something that we all dream of, we all try to get up there and work with the top guys and hopefully represent good, especially with our family and not just the fans. We want to represent our family, our country and the fans. It was awesome.
