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I have mentioned before that I was trained by Afa “The Wild Samoan #1” Anoai. He trained many many people including Batista and Snitsky. I was not trained in the traditional manner. In the traditional world wrestlers are put through physical training and taking bumps. I sat in a living room and watched matches and talked about finishes.
I believe that it prepared me for the business in a way that paved my future in this business. In the mid eighties The Wild Samoan’s left the WWF and Afa started running his own shows. He let me come up with all the finishes for the matches. He was very busy running the business and I think that he was relieved to have someone to help him.
I felt like I finally made it when one day as he was going to ring he said to me Sal what is my finish. I was just standing there in disbelief. I had never come up with a finish for him before. He said would you hurry up I have to get to the ring. I came up with something in the spur of the moment but at that point I knew he had confidence in me and that I had reached a new plateau.
I can tell you this, Afa was a great “finish” guy. He knew how to put things together in the ring. The Samoans were very unique individuals and when they came along they made a huge impact. If they were guilty of anything it was at times selling too much. They should have been the immoveable force but even with them sometimes giving too much in the ring they were over pretty good. I think it was because the fans could see how rough these guys really were.
It is not often when a special talent comes along. It is a blessing when one does I believe at the time The Wild Samoans came into the WWF. They were recommended by Andre the Giant and made a splash right away. The memory of them is lasting because they were unlike anyone else at the time. They were inducted into The WWE Hall of Fame and I know it was a proud moment for them. There are few Bruno Sammartino’s, Ric Flair’s and Hulk Hogan’s. All of these men are different but they will all be remembered in one way or another for bringing something unique to the ring at different times. The same can be said for The Wild Samoans my mentors Afa and Sika Anoai
They could have picked anyone and for some reason I still don’t understand. They picked me to hang around with and teach the business to. It may have been for the same thing Jimmy Hart tells me, that you can see my love for the business. I don’t know what it was and I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I was a fan like anyone else watching these guys for many years walk through opponents left and right. I got the chance to meet them in person in Allentown, PA what a surprise to find two big teddy bears. They were the nicest guys you ever want to meet. If you stay around the business for any length of time it’s mostly the heels that are the real nice guys.
The picture for this article is of Tito Santana he was the tag team partner of Ivan Putski. They were the team that Afa and Sika beat for the WWF tag team titles in The Phialdelphia Spectrum. He was a part of WrestleReunion 2 in Valley Forge,PA.
This has been a piece of my mind
