Professional Wrestling Career
During his career Fatu has wrestled for the World Wrestling Federation, American Wrestling Association, World Class Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling. Fatu debuted as a professional wrestler in 1983, after being trained by the Wild Samoans. He entered into a feud with Roddy Piper in the World Wrestling Federation. In late 1986, he teamed with Tonga Fifita. In February, they turned into villains, and Fatu was renamed to Tama, while Fifita was renamed to Haku. Together, they were christened The Islanders. They were managed by Bobby Heenan.
In October, they began a feud with Strike Force, the WWF Tag Team Champions, but were unable to win the titles, despite having several attempts. In early December 1987, the Islanders were disqualified from a match with the British Bulldogs when they kidnapped the Bulldogs' dog, Matilda. The Islanders were indefinitely suspended in the storyline until Matilda was found. From late January 1988 until early February, the Islanders were consistently beaten by the British Bulldogs.
At a Saturday Night's Main Event on March 7, they beat the Killer Bees, a tag team consisting of Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell. At Wrestlemania 4, the Islanders, with Bobby Heenan, defeated the Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware, with Matilda. On April 21, Heenan introduced Siva Afi as the newest member of the group, but Afi never made another appearance with the Islanders. Fatu then left the WWF. Fatu joined the National Wrestling Alliance, as a part of the Samoan Swat Team, wrestling as Samoan Savage.
During his career, he was the youngest man ever to headline a wrestling show at Madison Square Garden. He remained active until 1992. Fatu went on to work with Solofa Fatu in his promotion Nu-Wrestling Evolution.
Fatu appeared as the Tonga Kid in the opening scene of the 1986 film Highlander, where he was involved in a six-man tag team match with Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell against The Fabulous Freebirds at Madison Square Garden. He also starred as "Tonga Tom" in the 1987 wrestling film Body Slam, along with Dirk Benedict and Roddy Piper.
In 2007, Fatu once again wrestled as "The Tonga Kid", working with BAW Championship Wrestling, in a match with D-Lo Brown.
Read more about this topic: Sam Fatu
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