Lance Anoa'i is a

professional wrestler 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 ...

who currently wrestles for

Major League Wrestling Major League Wrestling (MLW), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in New Rochelle, New York. The promotion was founded in 2002 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by former WWE writer Court Bauer. The promotion markets its product as ...

(MLW) under his real name, and is the current MLW World Tag Team Champion, in his first reign. He is a member of the

Anoaʻi family The Anoaʻi family ( ) is a family of professional wrestlers originating from American Samoa. Family members have comprised several tag teams and stables within a variety of promotions. Famous members of the family include Rosey, WWE Hall of Fam ...

Early life

His father is Samu, who competed in the

World Wrestling Federation 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 ...

as a member 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 ...

and The Headshrinkers. His uncles are 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 ...

Professional wrestling career

Independent circuit (2010–present)

Lance debuted on April 3, 2010 in a winning effort for an event promoted by the

National Wrestling League National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

against Chrono Chris. He spent his early years in

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 ...

, which is owned by his grandfather,

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 ...

. He often was involved in matches with his relatives Samu, Afa Jr. and

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 ...

. Lance wrestled for

Maryland Championship Wrestling MCW Pro Wrestling (formerly known as Maryland Championship Wrestling) is a regional independent wrestling promotion based in Joppa, Maryland. It has regularly run events in the Mid-Atlantic region since the late 1990s. History Maryland Champions ...

(MCW), debuting in August 2012. Lance made his debut for Pro Wrestling Syndicate (PWS) in 2012. At Supercard 2013, Lance was involved in a battle royal for the #1 Contendership for the PWS Heavyweight Championship on Night 1 and on Night 2, Lance had a match with

Sonjay Dutt Retesh Bhalla (born April 7, 1982) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a producer and manager. He is best known for his time with Total Nonstop ActionImpact Wrestling under the ring name Sonja ...

. Lance competed for the PWS Tri State Championship in a Six Way Match at PWS Return to Rahway on September 20, 2013, that included Craven Varro, Starman, Facade, Pat Buck and The Drunken Swashbuckler. At the Shane Shamrock Memorial Cup 2013, he wrestled Luke Hawx on August 10, 2013 and lasted until the semi-finals. In 2013, he made his first of many appearances in

House of Hardcore House of Hardcore (HOH) is an American wrestling promotion founded by professional wrestler Tommy Dreamer. Its slogan is "No Politics, No BS, Just Wrestling." In its history, HOH has run events in twelve states and three countries. History O ...

(HOH). In April 2019, he won the 23rd annual

East Coast Wrestling Association East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded by promoter Jim Kettner. It is home to the annual ECWA Super 8 Tournament, Super 8 Tournament, one of the longest-running independent wrestling tourn ...

(ECWA)

Super 8 Tournament The Super 8 Tournament is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by the East Coast Wrestling Association. The tournament is contested by eight wrestlers in a one-night single-elimination format. History The ECWA Super 8 Tournament was f ...

WWE tryouts (2015, 2017, 2019)

On the January 2, 2015 edition of

WWE SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

, he teamed with

Rhett Titus Everett Lawrence Titus (born September 15, 1987) is an American professional wrestler working for Ring of Honor (ROH). where he is a former ROH World Television Champion, an overall two-time ROH Tag Team Champion individually, as well as winn ...

in a losing effort against The Ascension. On February 1, 2017, he competed in a losing effort at a

WWE NXT ''WWE NXT'', also known as ''NXT'', is an American professional wrestling television program. It is produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, featuring performers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The show currently ...

event against

The Authors of Pain Legion of Pain are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Sunny Dhinsa and Gzim Selmani. They are best known for their time in WWE as the Authors of Pain, under the ring names Akam and Rezar, where they are former one-time Raw Tag Tea ...

. This appearance was related to a tryout he was having with WWE. In April 2019 he competed at another WWE tryout. On the May 27, 2019, edition of ''

WWE Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television show, television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET on the USA Networ ...

'', Anoa'i faced

Shane McMahon Shane Brandon McMahon (; born January 15, 1970) is an American businessman and professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he was a wrestler, producer and minority owner. He is the founder and executive chairman of Idean ...

representing the

. He would lose the match by submission, after

Drew McIntyre Andrew McLean Galloway IV (born 6 June 1985) is a Scottish professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Drew McIntyre. McIntyre is a two-time WWE Champion, one-time WWE Int ...

attacked him. After the match he was beat down by McMahon and McIntyre, before

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 ...

made the save.

Major League Wrestling (2018–2019)

On March 3, 2018, he made his debut with

(MLW) at their event "Spring Break". In the match, he lost to

Maxwell Jacob Friedman Maxwell T. Friedman (born March 15, 1996), better known by his ring name Maxwell Jacob Friedman (often abbreviated to MJF), is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the current AE ...

. In July 2018 he participated in the first-ever

Battle Riot Battle Riot is a professional wrestling event produced by Major League Wrestling Major League Wrestling (MLW), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in New Rochelle, New York. The promotion was founded in 2002 in Philadelphia, P ...

at the namesake event, which was won by

Tom Lawlor Thomas Joseph Lawlor (born May 15, 1983) is an American professional wrestler, retired mixed martial artist and podcast host. He is best known for his time in Major League Wrestling (MLW), where he was a former one-time MLW World Heavyweight Cham ...

. In October 2018, he started teaming with his father Samu in MLW as The Samoan Island Tribe. In early 2019 he would feud with

Rich Swann Richard Allen Swann (born February 15, 1991) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling. He is a former Impact World Champion, TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Impact X Division Champion and Impact Digital Media Cha ...

resulting in losses in singles and tag team matches. In April 2019, he competed in the second Battle Riot, again unsuccessfully.

Return to Major League Wrestling (2023–present)

On January 7th, 2023, Anoa'i as a member of The Samoan SWAT Team with Juicy Finau defeated Hustle & Power ( EJ Nduka and

Calvin Tankman Christopher Heyward III is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Calvin Tankman. He is currently working as a freelancer and is best known for his tenures with Major League Wrestling and IWA Mid-South. Professional wres ...

) for the MLW World Tag Team Championships at MLW Blood and Thunder.

Championships and accomplishments

ECWA Super 8 Tournament The Super 8 Tournament is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by the East Coast Wrestling Association. The tournament is contested by eight wrestlers in a one-night single-elimination format. History The ECWA Super 8 Tournament was f ...

(2019) *

MLW World Tag Team Championship The MLW World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship which is owned by the Major League Wrestling (MLW) promotion. The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which partici ...

( 1 time, current) - with Juice Finau * ''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publish ...

'' ** Ranked No. 395 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishi ...

'' in 2019 *

**WXW Blast Television Championship **WXW Elite Tag Team Championship ** WXW Ultimate Heavyweight Championship (4 times) **WXW Ultimate Hybrid Championship (5 times, current) *

Pro Wrestling eXpress Pro Wrestling eXpress (PWX, also known as NWA East) is a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in North Versailles, Pennsylvania in 1994 by Jim Miller and Sean "Shocker" Evans. It is the longest-running promotion in the Pittsburgh met ...

**PWX Heavyweight Championship

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anoa'i, Lance Living people Sportspeople from Allentown, Pennsylvania American male professional wrestlers American professional wrestlers of Samoan descent Professional wrestlers from Pennsylvania Anoa'i family 1992 births