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Samoan SWAT Team
The Samoan SWAT Team was a professional wrestling tag team and stable.
The original Samoan SWAT Team primarily comprised Fatu and Samu, but various iterations alternatively included Great Kokina, Big Matty Smalls, Samoan Savage, and Sione. They competed in promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling, World Wrestling Council, World Class Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The team also appeared in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE) as the Headshrinkers, in Extreme Championship Wrestling as the Samoan Gangster Party (also known as Gangstas in Paradise), and in the Universal Wrestling Association as the Hawaiian Beasts. In 2022 to 2023, a new iteration of the Samoan SWAT Team comprising Jacob Fatu, Juicy Finau, and Lance Anoa'i was active in Major League Wrestling (MLW), with Anoa'i and Finau winning the MLW World Tag Team Championship.
The original Samoan SWAT Team portrayed a pair of Samoan "savages", often displaying uncivilized behavior such as biting into a turkey carcass during a match and dragging each other by their hair. They were also billed as having hard heads that were impervious to pain; any attack that targeted a Headshrinker's head would have no effect, and an opponent who tried to headbutt one of them would end up hurting himself. Having hard heads went with typical professional wrestling portrayals of Samoan wrestlers. Most members of the team were members of the Anoaʻi family.
Samula "Samu" Anoa'i is the son of Wild Samoan Afa Anoa'i and Solofa Fatu is the nephew of Afa as well as both of them being the nephews of Sika Anoa'i and part of the Anoaʻi family. In 1985, Samu joined Gino Brito and Dino Bravo's Montreal-based Lutte Internationale promotion, which was the first time he worked in the same territory as his cousin Fatu. When the promotion closed up two years later, the two cousins signed with the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico and were packaged as the "Samoan SWAT Team": Samu and Fatu.
The team adopted the "Samoan savage" gimmick that had made their fathers so well known and feared throughout the wrestling world, working barefoot and never speaking English on camera. The team became the first ever WWC Caribbean Tag-Team Champions on November 7, 1987 when they beat Invader I and Invader III. The duo held the titles for just over a month before dropping them to Mark Youngblood and Chris Youngblood before leaving the promotion.
Samu and Fatu next appeared in Texas, working for Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling promotion. The storyline was that Buddy Roberts brought the team in to fight his fights against the Von Erich Family and former Fabulous Freebirds partners Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy. Rogers claimed that "SWAT" was an acronym for "Samoans Will Annihilate Traitors" referring to Hayes and Gordy. The team was presented as an unstoppable force, and even allowed to beat hometown heroes Kerry and Kevin Von Erich for the WCCW Tag-Team Titles on August 12, 1988.
The Samoans remained undefeated in WCCW until they came up against Roberts’ former partner Michael Hayes and Hayes new partner, "Do It To It" Steve Cox on September 12. The duo recaptured the titles four days later. Hayes and Cox would beat the Samoan SWAT Team for the titles once again on October 15, 1988, but lost it back two days later. On September 12, 1988 The Samoan SWAT Team become double champions as they beat "Hollywood" John Tatum and Jimmy Jack Funk for the WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship. The Samoan SWAT Team made their pay-per-view debut at AWA Superclash III, the first (and only) PPV that the American Wrestling Association ever presented. The Samoans successfully defended their WCCW Tag-Team titles against Michael Hayes and Steve Cox.
In the beginning of 1989, the Samoans left WCCW, forcing both tag-team titles to be vacated due to the sudden departure.
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Samoan SWAT Team
The Samoan SWAT Team was a professional wrestling tag team and stable.
The original Samoan SWAT Team primarily comprised Fatu and Samu, but various iterations alternatively included Great Kokina, Big Matty Smalls, Samoan Savage, and Sione. They competed in promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling, World Wrestling Council, World Class Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The team also appeared in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE) as the Headshrinkers, in Extreme Championship Wrestling as the Samoan Gangster Party (also known as Gangstas in Paradise), and in the Universal Wrestling Association as the Hawaiian Beasts. In 2022 to 2023, a new iteration of the Samoan SWAT Team comprising Jacob Fatu, Juicy Finau, and Lance Anoa'i was active in Major League Wrestling (MLW), with Anoa'i and Finau winning the MLW World Tag Team Championship.
The original Samoan SWAT Team portrayed a pair of Samoan "savages", often displaying uncivilized behavior such as biting into a turkey carcass during a match and dragging each other by their hair. They were also billed as having hard heads that were impervious to pain; any attack that targeted a Headshrinker's head would have no effect, and an opponent who tried to headbutt one of them would end up hurting himself. Having hard heads went with typical professional wrestling portrayals of Samoan wrestlers. Most members of the team were members of the Anoaʻi family.
Samula "Samu" Anoa'i is the son of Wild Samoan Afa Anoa'i and Solofa Fatu is the nephew of Afa as well as both of them being the nephews of Sika Anoa'i and part of the Anoaʻi family. In 1985, Samu joined Gino Brito and Dino Bravo's Montreal-based Lutte Internationale promotion, which was the first time he worked in the same territory as his cousin Fatu. When the promotion closed up two years later, the two cousins signed with the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico and were packaged as the "Samoan SWAT Team": Samu and Fatu.
The team adopted the "Samoan savage" gimmick that had made their fathers so well known and feared throughout the wrestling world, working barefoot and never speaking English on camera. The team became the first ever WWC Caribbean Tag-Team Champions on November 7, 1987 when they beat Invader I and Invader III. The duo held the titles for just over a month before dropping them to Mark Youngblood and Chris Youngblood before leaving the promotion.
Samu and Fatu next appeared in Texas, working for Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling promotion. The storyline was that Buddy Roberts brought the team in to fight his fights against the Von Erich Family and former Fabulous Freebirds partners Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy. Rogers claimed that "SWAT" was an acronym for "Samoans Will Annihilate Traitors" referring to Hayes and Gordy. The team was presented as an unstoppable force, and even allowed to beat hometown heroes Kerry and Kevin Von Erich for the WCCW Tag-Team Titles on August 12, 1988.
The Samoans remained undefeated in WCCW until they came up against Roberts’ former partner Michael Hayes and Hayes new partner, "Do It To It" Steve Cox on September 12. The duo recaptured the titles four days later. Hayes and Cox would beat the Samoan SWAT Team for the titles once again on October 15, 1988, but lost it back two days later. On September 12, 1988 The Samoan SWAT Team become double champions as they beat "Hollywood" John Tatum and Jimmy Jack Funk for the WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship. The Samoan SWAT Team made their pay-per-view debut at AWA Superclash III, the first (and only) PPV that the American Wrestling Association ever presented. The Samoans successfully defended their WCCW Tag-Team titles against Michael Hayes and Steve Cox.
In the beginning of 1989, the Samoans left WCCW, forcing both tag-team titles to be vacated due to the sudden departure.