Ted DiBiase on the Passing of Sika Anoa'i

'The Million Dollar Man' Ted DiBiase looks back at his Hall of Fame career, from Mid-South, to Japan, to WCW, to WWF, and everywhere in-between! Join Ted and Marcus every Friday at 6am ET on all podcast platforms or if you want early access, get it commercial free on Premier+ with Premier Streaming Network!

[@Holden308]

Tonga Fifita's dad wasn't the King of Tonga (they actually do have a Royal Family). His connection to the King is that when he (Haku) was a teenager, King Tāufaʻāhau Tupou IV (1918-2006) sent a group of 6 youths to Japan to study Sumo, and Tonga was one of those boys. His Sumo name was Fukunoshima. One of the other 5 boys was named Sione Havea Vailahi. His Sumo name was Sachinoshima. We all know him better as professional wrestler The Barbarian. That happened in 1974 ... the same year the future Million Dollar Man made his professional wrestling debut.

[@jaybarnes8034]

The Samoans were outstanding

[@tonyaeheman2499]

May he Rest In Peace.

[@claymathewselevator8121]

Rest In Peace Sika ❤️

[@clivet3252]

I think of all the Samoans or Pacific islanders Sika was the most scary looking. He had the biggest build and the meanest face.

[@jd9119]

Meng and The Barbarian were probably the most dangerous though.

[@clivet3252]

@@jd9119 yeah but Haku has quite a friendly face

[@willieholmes1483]

Was it Sika who had the match against Bob Backlund that was shown in the movie “Creepshow”?

[@willieholmes1483]

I just looked it up: it was Afa who wrestled Backlund.

[@theriddler8695]

I thought it was Samoan # 3. 🤔

[@pooddescrewch8718]

Afa

[@willieholmes1483]

@@theriddler8695, there was a third one? What was his name?

[@theriddler8695]

@@willieholmes1483 Afa’s son Samula was Samoan # 3. Originally just a replacement for an injured Sika, he hung around a tad after the return. This is circa early 80s. I remember him.

[@philiptamer8995]

ALL OF THE Samoans ARE SOME TOUGHEST CATS YOU EVER SEEN !!!!!!

[@jd9119]

I don't think Ted actually worked with the Wild Samoans. I know Sika had a short stint as a singles wrestler while Ted was there, but he would've been a heel and I can't remember if they ever even did a tag match together.

[@pooddescrewch8718]

Ted and The Samoans worked Midsouth .

[@luciano-km7mq]

One half of the wild Samoans

[@jaythor70]

The Samoans got in the business because they had to be smartened up to keep them from destroying the heels in San Francisco by running in the ring to "help" the baby-faces getting cheated. I remember Ted teaming up with JYD during his feud with the Samoans. Ted was feuding with Paul Orndorff, Bob Roop, and Bob Orton, but got to help his best friend Dog in one of the loops around the territory.

[@PatBrooks-u6w]

I found it interesting that Afa & Sika did their own promos in places like Gulf Coast and SF. But it was WWF who turned them "wild". They made wild animal noises while Albano babbled away (in an era where there were no captions to figure out what the hell he was saying.) In other words, buffoonery was the key to WWF even before Junior took over.

[@jaythor70]

Ernie Ladd, then Skandar Akbar, did the talking for them in Mid-South.

[@jabrockobiden9434]

Im beyond sick of that family in wrestling

[@pooddescrewch8718]

Its their moment . It will pass but it was a long tome in coming .

[@jaythor70]

The do what I do- Don't watch. I haven't watched any of it since it became "sports entertainment". I never liked the WWF, and always preferred the NWA territories and Mid-South. When WCW turned into a version of WWF, I quit that as well. Basically, when Hogan came South.

[@pooddescrewch8718]

@@jaythor70 Southerners prefer everything with Southern flavor . But fir ne its too late ti go home again . I got into other things and do not think it can ever be the same for me .