Sika Anoa’i, WWE Hall of Famer, father of Roman Reigns and member of The Wild Samoans, dies at 79

Sika Anoa’i, known in the world of professional wrestling as Sika, has died at the age of 79. The news was announced by Jaharas Anoa’i on Tuesday.

Anoa’i rose to fame as a member of the tag team The Wild Samoans with his older brother Afa, who was also their trainer. The pair wrestled for nearly every notable wrestling territory in the 1970s and ’80s, gaining notoriety for wild behavior that included eating raw fish in the ring.

The Wild Samoans debuted in the WWF in 1980, where they were managed by “Captain” Lou Albano. That April they won the WWF Tag Team Championship by defeating Ivan Putski and Tito Santana. They lost the titles in August and won them back in September. After losing the belts a second time, they returned to various territories and won several championships, including Mid-South Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance.

The Samoans had one more try as WWF tag team champions in 1983, ultimately losing to the team of Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas. Johnson, the father of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, was on another branch of the large Anoa’i wrestling family tree.

Anoa’i retired in 1988 but continued to make occasional appearances in the WWF/WWE, where The Wild Samoans were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.

Anoa’i was also the father of Roman Reigns and returned to WWE briefly in 2020 to play a role in Reigns’ rise as “The Head of the Table.” Both he and Afa appeared at that year’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view to help Reigns win the title of “The Tribal Chief”, and were later referred to as the “elder” of the family in some of Reigns’ storylines.