Lance Sterling Anoa'i (born February 15, 1992) is an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

. He is signed to

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

, where he performs on the NXT

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

. He previously wrestled in

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), where he is a former MLW World Tag Team Champion, and in Pro Wrestling Noah. He is a member of the

Anoaʻi family The Anoai family ( ) is a family of professional wrestlers originating from the Samoan Islands. Family members have comprised several tag teams and stables within a variety of promotions, most notably WWE. Famous members of the family include Roma ...

Early life

Lance Anoaʻi was born in

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, it is the List o ...

. His father Samula worked in the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

Samu as a member of

The Wild Samoans The Wild Samoans were the professional wrestling tag team of Afa Anoaʻi and Sika Anoaʻi in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). They held 20 tag team championships around the world. Gimmick The Wild ...

and

The Headshrinkers In professional wrestling, the Samoan SWAT Team was a tag team comprising Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa'i, who work in Major League Wrestling (MLW), where they are former MLW World Tag Team Champions. The original Samoan SWAT Team primarily compri ...

. His uncles are Afa Anoaʻi Jr. (better known as Manu) and

Lloyd Anoaʻi Lloyd Anoaʻi (born May 7, 1970) is an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager and producer for Qatar Pro Wrestling, and World of War Wrestling in South Africa. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrest ...

(better known as L.A. Smooth).

Professional wrestling career

Independent circuit (2010–2024)

Anoaʻi debuted on April 3, 2010 winning a match for a show promoted by the National Wrestling League vs. Chrono Chris in Martinsburg, West Virginia. He was in

World Xtreme Wrestling World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) was 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 S ...

which is owned by his grandfather,

Afa Anoaʻi Afa Amituanaʻi Anoaʻi (November 21, 1943 – August 16, 2024) was a Samoan-American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager. He is best known for performing with his brother Sika as The Wild Samoans. He operated the Wo ...

. He often was involved in matches with his kins 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. He has also made appearances for ...

. Anoaʻi 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. He made his debut for Pro Wrestling Syndicate (PWS) in 2012. At Supercard 2013, Anoaʻi was involved in a battle royal for the number-one contender for the PWS Heavyweight Championship on Night 1 and on Night 2, he had a match with

Sonjay Dutt Retesh Bhalla (born April 7, 1982) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a Glossary of professional wrestling terms#agent, producer and Glossary of professional wrestling terms#manage ...

. Anoaʻi 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 fought 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) was an American wrestling promotion founded by Professional wrestling, professional wrestler Tommy Dreamer. Its slogan is "No Politics, No BS, Just Wrestling." In its history, HOH has run events in twelve states and thre ...

(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 in 1967 by promoter Jim Kettner. It is home to the annual Super 8 Tournament, one of the longest-running independent wrestling tournaments in the co ...

(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 ...

Major League Wrestling (2018–2023)

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 Tyler Friedman (born March 15, 1996), better known by the ring name Maxwell Jacob Friedman and the shortened epithet MJF, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor. , he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW ...

. In July 2018 he participated in the first-ever Battle Riot 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 signed to both New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was the inaugural and longest reigning NJPW Strong Openw ...

. 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 Anthony Swann (born February 15, 1991) is an American professional wrestler. he is best known for his tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He is a former Impact World Champion, TNA World Heavyweight Championship (2020–2021), ...

resulting in losses in singles and tag team matches. In April 2019, he competed in the second Battle Riot, again unsuccessfully. On January 7, 2023, Anoa'i as a member of

The Samoan SWAT Team In professional wrestling, the Samoan SWAT Team was a tag team comprising Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa'i, who work in Major League Wrestling (MLW), where they are former MLW World Tag Team Champions. The original Samoan SWAT Team primarily compris ...

with Juicy Finau defeated Hustle & Power ( EJ Nduka and Calvin Tankman) for the

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 particip ...

s at MLW Blood and Thunder. On July 8 at Never Say Never, Anoa'i and Finau lost the titles to The Calling ( Akira and

Rickey Shane Page Rickey Shane Page (born March 1, 1984) is an American professional wrestler. He currently wrestles on the independent circuit. Page started out as a backyard wrestler before making the transition to professional wrestling, where he was trained ...

), ending their reign at 182 days. On October 29, Anoa'i announced on X that he was granted his release from MLW.

Pro Wrestling Noah (2023)

On June 22, 2023, Anoa'i was announced as participant in the N-1 Victory 2023.

WWE

Sporadic appearances (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. It airs Live television, live every Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on USA Netwo ...

, Anoaʻi made his

debut as an enhancement talent, teaming

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 winning ...

in a losing effort against The Ascension. On February 1, 2017, he and Titus appeared at a

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

event against

The Authors of Pain ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

, where he would lose. This appearance was related to a tryout he was having with WWE. In April 2019, he fought at another WWE tryout. Anoaʻi made another appearance on the May 27, 2019, show of ''

WWE Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It currently airs Live television, live every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Netflix. The show fe ...

'', where he faced

Shane McMahon Shane Brandon McMahon ( ; born January 15, 1970) is an American businessman and retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler best known for his tenures in WWE. The son of Vince McMahon, he is a fourth-generation wrestling promoter as a ...

, and eventually losing the match by submission after

Drew McIntyre Andrew McLean Galloway IV (born 6 June, 1985) is a Scottish Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown brand under the ring name Drew McIntyre. Galloway began ...

attacked him outside the ring, and was subsequently beaten down by McMahon and McIntyre after the match, until his cousin

Roman Reigns Leati Joseph Anoaʻi ( ; born May 25, 1985), better known by his ring name Roman Reigns, is an American professional wrestler and former gridiron football, football player. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he performs on the Sm ...

made the save.

NXT (2025–present)

It was reported that Anoa'i has signed with WWE in the Summer of 2024 and has been assigned to its NXT brand. He has yet to make his debut due to an injury. In January 2025, Anoa'i will be in the list of

WWE ID WWE Recruit is a developmental system created by American professional wrestling promotion WWE. It includes the WWE Independent Development (WWE ID) and WWE Next in Line (WWE NIL) programs. The system supports the training and development of a ...

talents and he'll be part of the

WWE Evolve ''WWE Evolve'', also known simply as ''Evolve'' (stylized as ''EVOLVE''), is an American professional wrestling streaming television program produced by the American company WWE. It features wrestlers from the promotion's Evolve brand divisi ...

roster.

Championships and accomplishments

*Battleground Championship Wrestling **BCW Championship (1 time) *

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 tournament, single-elimination format. History T ...

(2019) *

( 1 time) - with Juicy Finau *National Wrestling League **NWL Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *''

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

'' **Ranked No. 324 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''

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

'' in 2024 *Atomic Championship Wrestling **ACW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time) *American Championship Entertainment **ACE Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *Belgian Wrestling School **BWS Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *Pennsylvania Premiere Wrestling **PPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *

**WXW Blast Television Championship (1 time, inaugural) **WXW Elite Tag Team Championship (1 time) with - Bo Nekoda ** WXW Ultimate Heavyweight Championship (4 times) **WXW Ultimate Hybrid Championship (5 times) **WXW Television Champion (1 time) **Samoan Legacy Cup Tournament (2018) *

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

**PWX Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

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 Anoaʻi family 1992 births MLW World Tag Team Champions