Jimmy Snuka

Jimmy Snuka is a classic example of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) (formerly known as World Wrestling Federation (WWF)) bad guy who became a baby-face (a good guy) without trying. Originally a “heel”, he came into the WWE under the guidance of heel manager Capt. Lou Albano. After receiving many title shots at the WWE Championship, which he never won, the final match between he and then-WWE Champion Bob Backlund was in Madison Square Garden in the famous “Steel Cage Match”, in which Snuka did his trademark “Superfly Splash” off the top of the steel cage.Snuka attracted many fans with his acrobatic wrestling style. Soon he broke away from Albano and became a face. However, this wouldn’t be the last time Snuka would see Albano, who brought in Snuka’s former Mid-Atlantic tag team partner Ray Stevens to feud with him. With Albano in Stevens’ corner, Snuka brought in former WWE Champion and WWE competitor “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers as his manager.At the top of his game after a year in the WWE, Snuka would face a personal crisis that haunted him for the next few years. In 1983, after he finished his last match, his girlfriend Nancy Argentino was found semi-conscious next to a sleeping Snuka. Argentino died at the nearby hospital. In court it was ruled that the death was accidental.After recovering from his girlfriend’s death, Snuka’s real shot at fame was when he feuded with Don Muraco, a former WWE Champion. In another famous “Steel Cage Match”, Snuka faced Muraco but lost. However, he had gotten the last laugh by dragging Muraco back inside the cage, and that’s when Superfly’s proudest moment came. He climbed up to the top of the 20-foot steel cage and executed his “Superfly Splash”. This became one of the most memorable moments in WWE history. Both wrestling veterans Mick Foley and Tommy Dreamer were there when it happened. Both also shot to fame in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), which Superfly first started and he later became the first ECW Champ (during that time it was formerly known as Eastern Championship Wrestling).Another fan favorite highlight came along when Snuka started feuding with “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, which Piper called Snuka a “big shot” and a “monkey”. After Snuka came out confronting Piper, Piper smashed Superfly’s head with an actual coconut. The story line went through the first WrestleMania when Snuka was managing Hulk Hogan and TV veteran Mr. T in the main even against Piper and Paul Orndorff. With Snuka in Hogan and Mr. T’s corner, Piper and Orndoff had Bob Orton.After a stint of alcohol/drugs rehab, Snuka went back into wrestling, but this time, in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) where he became a tag team partner with another wrestling veteran, Verne Gagne.After AWA, he went back into the WWE in 1989, to help younger wrestlers who would also become legends such as “Mr. Perfect” ‘Curt Cunning’ and “Ravishing” Rick Rude. Then 1991, he started to feud with a much younger Mark Calaway (aka “The Undertaker) and lost to ‘Taker at Wrestlemania VII, marking Snuka the first victim of Undertaker’s 14-0 winning streak. After leaving WWE the same year, Snuka started touring with smaller wrestling promotions and also began working again with ECW, alongside Don Muraco and wrestling legend, Terry Funk.Then in 1996, Snuka’s biggest moment of his life came. He became part of the class of 1996 to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. He also was inducted with legends such as his former manager, Lou Albano, ‘Killer Kowaski’, and ‘Pat Patterson’. He was inducted by former rival, Don Muraco.Recently, Superfly showed up at the WWE Homecoming, and was chosen by the fans that he would team up with newcomer Eugene (Nick Dinsmore), on Taboo Tuesday in a non-title tag team match against Rob Conway and Chris Master. Both Superfly and Eugene won by pin-fall when Snuka did his signature “Superfly Splash”.When he was inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame back in 1996, Snuka said that even though he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, it doesn’t mean he will retire from wrestling. Today, even though in his 60s, Snuka still wrestles in the independent circuit and appears on WWE, occasionally.