The Anoaʻi family ( ) is a family of

professional wrestlers Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

originating from

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

. Family members have comprised several tag teams and stables within a variety of promotions. Famous members of the family include Rosey, WWE Hall of Famer

Rikishi A , or, more colloquially, , is a professional sumo wrestler. follow and live by the centuries-old rules of the sumo profession, with most coming from Japan, the only country where sumo is practiced professionally. Participation in official t ...

, Umaga, WWE Hall of Famer

Yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the on ...

Roman Reigns Leati Joseph "Joe" Anoa'i (born May 25, 1985) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former American football, football player. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WW ...

The Usos The Usos (born August 22, 1985) are an American professional wrestling tag team composed of twin brothers Joshua Samuel Fatu and Jonathan Solofa Fatu, who are known professionally by their respective ring names Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso. They are ...

(Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso),

Solo Sikoa Joseph Yokozuna Fatu (born March 18, 1993) is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE. He currently performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Solo Sikoa where he is a member of The Bloodline and a former NXT North American Ch ...

, and WWE Hall of Fame brothers the

Wild Samoans The Wild Samoans was the professional wrestling tag team of Afa and Sika in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The Samoans held 21 tag team championships around the world. Gimmick The Wild Samoans ...

( Afa and

Sika Anoaʻi Sika may refer to: * Sika (people), an ethnic group in Indonesia * Sika, Burkina Faso, a village * Sika, Iran, a village * Sika language, the language of the Sika people * Sika deer, a species of deer native to East Asia * Sika AG, a chemical ...

Peter Maivia Fanene Leifi Pita Maivia (born Fanene Pita Anderson; April 6, 1937 – June 13, 1982) better known as Peter Maivia was a Samoan-American professional wrestler. Maivia was the maternal grandfather of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and was also part o ...

and his grandson

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Dwayne Douglas Johnson (born May 2, 1972), also known by his ring name The Rock, is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he was integral to the developm ...

are considered Legend members. Reverend Amituana'i Anoaʻi and Peter Maivia were

blood brother Blood brother can refer to two or more men not related by birth who have sworn loyalty to each other. This is in modern times usually done in a ceremony, known as a blood oath, where each person makes a small cut, usually on a finger, hand or ...

s, a connection that continued with Afa and Sika, who regard Peter as their uncle. Peter married Ofelia "Lia" Fuataga, who already had a daughter named Ata, whom he adopted and raised as his own. Ata married wrestler

Rocky Johnson Rocky Johnson (born Wayde Douglas Bowles; August 24, 1944 – January 15, 2020) was a Canadian professional wrestler. Among many National Wrestling Alliance titles, he was the first Black Georgia Heavyweight Champion as well as the NWA Televisio ...

, and the couple became the parents of Dwayne Johnson, who wrestled as "Rocky Maivia" and "The Rock" before establishing himself as an actor. Peter's first cousin Joseph Fanene was the father of Savelina Fanene, who was formerly known in WWE as

Nia Jax Savelina Fanene (born May 29, 1984) is an Australian-born American professional wrestler. She is best known for her time in WWE, where she performed under the ring name Nia Jax from 2014 to 2021 and became a one-time Raw Women's Champion and tw ...

. Savelina also has a younger brother, Hin Hins Man. Trinity Fatu, known in WWE as

Naomi Naomi or Naomie may refer to: People and biblical figures * Naomi (given name), a female given name and a list of people with the name * Naomi (biblical figure), Ruth's mother-in-law in the Old Testament Book of Ruth * Naomi (Romanian singer) (bor ...

, married into the family by marrying Jimmy Uso.

Anoaʻi Family tree

Other members

Hollywood stuntman

Tanoai Reed Tanoai Reed (born February 10, 1974) is an American stuntman and actor. He is the cousin and stunt double of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Reed was born in Honolulu, Hawaii of Samoan and Norwegian, Swedish, Irish descent. After the separation of ...

(known as Toa on the new ''American Gladiators'') is the great nephew of wrestling promoter Lia Maivia (Peter Maivia's wife), while professional wrestler Lina Fanene (Nia Jax) is Dwayne Johnson's second cousin once removed. Johnson's daughter Simone performs in

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

's developmental league

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

as Ava Raine, a member of The Schism, a villainous stable led by

Joe Gacy Joseph Ruby (born August 8, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Joe Gacy. He is the leader of The Schism. Gacy is best known for his work in Combat Zo ...

Sean Maluta Sean Maluta (born September 30, 1988) is an American professional wrestler currently competing on the independent circuit. He made a number of appearances with WWE and took part in the first Cruiserweight Classic. Professional wrestling career ...

, nephew of Afa Anoaʻi, was a participant in WWE's first

Cruiserweight Classic The Cruiserweight Classic, formerly the Global Cruiserweight Series, was a professional wrestling tournament and WWE Network event produced by WWE. All participants were billed at a weight of 205 lbs or less to determine the inaugural WWE Cruis ...

tournament. Zilla Fatu, son of the late Eddie “Umaga” Fatu, has begun training at Booker T's Reality of Wrestling.

Tag teams and stables

The Wild Samoans

The Samoan SWAT Team/The Headshrinkers

3-Minute Warning

from 2002 to 2003 Matt Anoaʻi and

Eddie Fatu Edward Smith Fatu (March 28, 1973 – December 4, 2009) was an American professional wrestler, best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Umaga. Prior to Umaga, Fatu was also notable for his time with Al ...

formed a tag team using the names Rosey and Jamal, respectively. 3-Minute Warning acted as enforcers for

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Eric Bischoff Eric Aaron Bischoff (born May 27, 1955) is an American television producer, professional wrestling booker, and performer. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later Senior Vice President of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and ...

. The team was used to

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

any activity in the ring that Bischoff deemed "boring". Bischoff would often cue the team's surprise entrances by uttering the phrase "three minutes."

Samoan Gangstas

Samoan Gangstas was a

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

in the

independent promotion In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor league for pro wres ...

World Xtreme Wrestling World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) is a Florida-based independent circuit, independent professional wrestling promotion which has held events across the United States and toured in Japan, the Middle East and South Pacific region including American Sa ...

(WXW). The tag team consisted of members from the Anoaʻi family. Samoan Gangstas was a tag team made up of brothers from another mothers Matt E. Smalls and Sweet Sammy Silk (Matt and Samu Anoaʻi). Their tag team was formed in 1997 in WXW, the promotion of one half of

The Wild Samoans The Wild Samoans was the professional wrestling tag team of Afa and Sika in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). The Samoans held 21 tag team championships around the world. Gimmick The Wild Samoans ra ...

, Samu's father and Matt's uncle

Afa Anoaʻi Afa Amituana'i "Arthur" Anoa'i (born November 21, 1942) is a Samoan-American retired professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. Since retiring, he has operated the World Xtreme Wrestling promotion and trained wrestlers at the Wild ...

. The duo received success in WXW in the tag team division. On June 24, they won their first

WXW Tag Team Championship This is a chronological list of WXW Tag Team Champions. The WXW Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title created in 1996 as part of for Top Rope Productions (later renamed World Xtreme Wrestling World Xtreme Wrestling ...

by beating Love Connection (Sweet Daddy Jay Love and Georgie Love). However, they were temporarily suspended and the title was declared vacant. Matt was repackaged as Matty Smalls. They returned in the summer of 1997 and defeated Siberian Express (The Mad Russian and Russian Eliminator), on September 17 to win their second WXW Tag Team Championship. Problems began between Smalls and Smooth. The two partners began feuding with each other and could not focus properly on their tag title. On March 27, 1998, Smooth defeated Smalls in a Loser Leaves Town match. As a result of losing this match, Smalls was forced to leave the promotion. He left WXW while Smooth focused on a singles career. After a short while, Smalls returned to WXW and the two partners reunited again as Samoan Gangstas and began teaming in the tag team division. They feuded with several tag teams in WXW and focused to regain the WXW Tag Team Championship. However, due to their family disputes and problems with each other, they did not take part in the tournament for the vacated tag title, and instead feuded with each other. Samoan Gangstas feuded with each other after their splitting until Smalls left WXW and began wrestling as Kimo. He began teaming with Ekmo (Eddie Fatu) as The Island Boyz and the duo worked in

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their ...

(FMW) before signing with

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(WWE) and working in its developmental territories.

The Sons of Samoa

The Sons of Samoa are a tag team currently wrestling in the Puerto Rican wrestling promotion

World Wrestling Council The World Wrestling Council (WWC) (Spanish: "Consejo Mundial de Lucha"), is a Puerto-Rican professional wrestling promotion based in Puerto Rico. It was originally established as Capitol Sports Promotions in 1973 by Carlos Colón Sr., Victor J ...

and WXW. The team consists of Afa Jr. and

L.A. Smooth Lloyd Anoa'i (born May 7, 1971) is an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring names Tahitian Savage, Fred Williams, and Lloyd ...

. The team was formed at WXW in 1998, briefly as a stable with Samu. The team reformed in April 2009 at a WXW show with Afa Jr. and L.A. Smooth. In 2013, they began wrestling at the WWC promotion in Puerto Rico. At Euphoria 2013, they lost to Thunder and Lightning. They won the

WWC World Tag Team Championship The WWC World Tag Team Championship is the tag team title contested for in the Puerto Rican professional wrestling promotion, the World Wrestling Council. History Abroad (2017) On February 11, 2017, Thunder and Lightning defended the WWC World T ...

from Thunder and Lightning on February 9, before losing the titles back to Thunder and Lightning on March 30 at Camino a la Gloria. However, they won the titles on June 29, 2013, at Summer Madness.

The Usos

The Usos (born August 22, 1985) are a

Samoan American Samoan Americans are Americans of Samoan origin, including those who emigrated from the Independent State of Samoa or American Samoa to the United States. Samoan Americans are Pacific Islanders in the United States Census, and are the second l ...

professional wrestling tag team consisting of twin brothers Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso, who appear in WWE where they are three-time

Raw Tag Team Champions The WWE Raw Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling World Tag Team Championship, world tag team championship created and promoted by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion, promotion WWE, representing the Raw (WWE b ...

(during their first two reigns, it was called the WWE Tag Team Championship). They are also five-time

SmackDown Tag Team Champions The WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, representing the SmackDown brand division. It is one of two male tag team championships for WWE' ...

—their fifth reign is the longest reign for the title as well as the longest male tag team championship reign in WWE history.. The pair were previously managed by

Tamina Snuka Sarona Moana Marie Reiher Snuka-Polamalu (born January 10, 1978) is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Tamina. She is a one-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champ ...

and are one-time

FCW Florida Tag Team Champions Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion based on the former National Wrestling Alliance member promotion, Championship Wrestling from Florida, which operated from 1961 until ...

The Bloodline

The Bloodline is a villainous professional wrestling stable currently performing in WWE. The group is led by

, who currently is recognized as the

Undisputed WWE Universal Champion The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship exists when one wrestler holds both of the following titles simultaneously: * WWE Championship, the men's world championship of WWE's Raw brand * WWE Universal Championship, the men's world championship of ...

, as he concurrently holds both the

and Universal Championships. Also in the group are Reigns' cousins The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso), who are currently recognized as Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions, as they concurrently hold both the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships. The Usos' younger brother

joined the group in September 2022 and is a former

NXT North American Champion The NXT North American Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is primarily defended as the secondary men's championship of the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmenta ...

. The group is managed by

Paul Heyman Paul Heyman (born September 11, 1965) is an American professional wrestling manager, former promoter, photographer, and executive. He is currently signed to WWE, appearing on the SmackDown brand as manager for Undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight ...

while

Sami Zayn Rami Sebei ( ar, رامي سبعي; born July 12, 1984) is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Sami Zayn, and is a member of The Bloodline. Prior to join ...

is an honorary member.

Championship and accomplishments

References

External links

Samoan Dynasty
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anoaʻi family Professional wrestling families American families