Samoa Joe made his main roster WWE RAW debut recently, attacking Seth Rollins and injuring him in the process. The violent domination he displayed while acting on behalf of Triple H, gave even the most jaded fan their hardcore Joe fix. You may not realize this, but Samoa Joe is Samoan (hint: there is a clue in his name). Joe joins an illustrious list of Samoan wrestlers.
The Samoan Family Tree. Everyone Is Related.
High Chief Peter Maivia was ‘blood brothers’ with Reverend Anoa’i Amituana’i, who was the father of Afa and Sika, The Wild Samoans. Afa’s son Samu was a Headshrinker, and Zika’s sons are Rosey of Three Minute Warning and Roman Reigns.
Then, there are the cousins: Yokozuna, the Tonga Kid, Umaga and Rikishi. Rikishi’s kids are The Uso’s. Confused? Good, you should be. It get’s even more confusing when you get into the ‘blood brother’ designation, meaning someone may not be related but is considered family. Go a couple of ‘blood brothers’ down the line and we can include Jimmy Snuka and his daughter Tamina into this family tree. The one person missing from all of this is Samoa Joe. He’s not related.
Samoa Joe Got His Nickname Because There Were Several Joe’s At His Gym And He Was The Only Samoan One.
On an episode of The Steve Austin Show podcast, Joe told Austin that his friends at the gym started calling him Samoa Joe in order to distinguish him from several other gym members also named Joe.
The nickname stuck and the rest is history. It is a little catchier than Joe’s full name: Nuufolau Joel Seanoa.
Headbutts Don’t Hurt Samoans.
It’s one of the most classic tropes in all of wrestling, right up there with a heel cheating then pointing to his head. This cliché gained popularity with The Wild Samoans in the ‘80’s, and then later in the ‘90’s with The Headshrinkers.
The Rock Is Half Samoan
The Rock’s grandfather is High Chief Peter Maivia, and his grandmother, Lia Maivia, was one of the only female wrestling territory owners, successfully running the Hawaiian based Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling for many years after the death of her husband.
Also, since The Rock Is Half Samoan, Headbutts Only Half Hurt Him
It makes sense if you think about it.
Go on. Think about it. I’ll wait. See? It makes sense.
Vince McMahon Loves To Make Samoans Portray Different Ethnicities
Picture this: You’re Vince McMahon. One of your best tag teams from the ‘80’s, The Wild Samoans, has a giant Samoan nephew training to be a wrestler. You take one look at the Polynesian behemoth and what do you say? If you guessed, “Make him a Japanese sumo wrestler” then congrats, you think like a McMahon (actually, you may want to go into therapy). That’s right, the Samoan Rodney Agatupu AnoaʻI portrayed the Japanese Yokozuna for his entire WWE run. Also, before he was getting down with 2 Cool, Rikishi portrayed the decidedly un-Samoan, slightly Arabic character The Sultan.
