Rosey (wrestler)

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Rosey
Rosey in 2005
Birth nameMatthew Tapunu'u Anoaʻi[1]
Born(1970-04-07)April 7, 1970[1]
San Francisco, California, U.S.[1]
DiedApril 17, 2017(2017-04-17) (aged 47)[1]
Pensacola, Florida, U.S.
Cause of deathCongestive heart failure[2]
Spouse(s)
Mandy Vandeberg
​
​
(m. 2004; div. 2012)​
Children3
Family
Afa Anoaʻi[1][4]
Debut1995[4]

Matthew Tapunu'u Anoaʻi (April 7, 1970 – April 17, 2017)

World Wrestling Entertainment
(WWE), under the ring name Rosey.

Anoa'i was a member of the

Samoan Gangsta Party. The team had a brief stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Throughout the mid-1990s, Anoaʻi competed in various independent promotions and international promotions including World Wrestling Council and Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, winning various tag team championships. In 2001, Anoaʻi signed with the WWE and was assigned to Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA) in Cincinnati, Ohio. While situated at HWA, he was placed in tag team competition, alongside Fatu, and the duo won the HWA Tag Team Championship
.

After signing with WWE in 2002, Anoaʻi and Fatu were called up to the

enforcers for then-General Manager Eric Bischoff. Following the release of Fatu in 2003, Anoaʻi was "discovered" by The Hurricane and from there on they competed together as a team, known as The Hurricane and Rosey. After two years of teaming, they won the World Tag Team Championship
, but disbanded shortly after losing the championship. Anoaʻi then did not re-sign his WWE contract in March 2006.

Following his stint with WWE, Anoaʻi took time off to spend with his young children coaching his oldest sons teams. Anoa'i then continued his wrestling career, appearing at several independent promotions, including All Japan Pro Wrestling, Great Championship Wrestling, BAW Championship Wrestling, Appalachian Wrestling Federation, and Ohio Valley Wrestling. Aside from professional wrestling, Anoaʻi was a featured contestant on the reality television series Fat March where he lost 100 pounds but further injured his left knee.

Early life

Anoaʻi is part of the

Sika Anoaʻi, who competed as one half of the Wild Samoans.[6] His younger brother, Joe Anoaʻi, was the starting defensive tackle for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team and is also a professional wrestler who works for the WWE under the name Roman Reigns.[7] Anoaʻi inducted the Wild Samoans (his father Sika and his uncle Afa) into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2007.[7] Other cousins include The Usos, Solo Sikoa, Rikishi, Tama, Yokozuna, Akane, and Umaga.[6]

Growing up, Anoaʻi played football alongside Emmitt Smith at Escambia High School in Pensacola, Florida. He had hopes to play in the National Football League and played college football for Hawaii. He worked at various nightclubs in New Orleans before deciding to train as a professional wrestler.[8]

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1995–2001)

Anoaʻi trained with his cousin

Samoan Gangsta Party, using the name Mack Daddy Kane.[1] It was in the Samoan Gangsta Party where Anoa'i won his first title when he and Samu competed in International World Class Championship Wrestling where they won the vacant IWCCW Tag Team Championship
in a tournament on December 26, 1995, and ultimately would be the last champions before the promotion shut down.

The Samoan Gangsta Party had a brief stint in

Heat Wave, they lost to The Gangstas.[12] On August 3 at The Doctor Is In, Anoa'i and Samu took part in a four way for the ECW World Tag Team Championship against The Eliminators, The Gangstas, and The Bruise Brothers which was won by The Gangstas.[10] From August to October, The Samoan Gangsta Party continued to get shots at the Tag Team Championship but were never able to win them. On September 20, Anoa'i would take on The Sandman but came up short.[10]

Anoa'i returned to WXW in 1997, where he held the

Ricky Santana.[13] They held the titles for two months before losing them to The Youngbloods by forfeit on August 16. Anoa'i and Smooth then went to the National Wrestling League where they won the vacant NWL Tag Team Championship by defeated The Grungers on December 12, 1997. They held the belts for three months until they were vacant in March 1998[14]

In March 1999, Anoa'i traveled to Japan to wrestle for

FMW Hardcore Tag Team Championship.[17]
The two would hold the titles for a month and made two successful title defenses before dropping the titles back to Hosaka and Sasaki on July 28.

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment (2001–2006)

Island Boys (2001–2002)

Anoaʻi, along with Fatu, signed

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and were assigned to Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA), adopting the tag team name The Island Boyz, and with Anoaʻi using the ring name Kimo. They won the HWA Tag Team Championship in November 2001, by defeating Evan Karagias and Shannon Moore.[1] They also competed for Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW), holding the MCW Southern Tag Team Championship on three occasions.[18]

3-Minute Warning (2002–2003)

Main article: 3-Minute Warning
Rosey as one half of 3-Minute Warning

Kimo (renamed Rosey) and Fatu (renamed Jamal) made their WWE debut on the July 22, 2002, episode of Raw as 3-Minute Warning, a pair of villainous savages.[1][19] The name Rosey was inspired by Rosey Grier, an American football player.[20] They were "hired" as Eric Bischoff's enforcers, attacking random wrestlers each week, after Bischoff either gave people three minutes to entertain him before they were attacked or decided that three minutes of a segment was enough before the team appeared to end it.[19] They attacked numerous wrestlers at the orders of Bischoff, including D'Lo Brown and Shawn Stasiak. They also attacked non-wrestlers, including ring announcer Lilian Garcia and retired wrestlers Jimmy Snuka, Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah.[1] They also attacked two lesbians, which Anoaʻi later cited as his favorite 3-Minute Warning run-in.[20][21]

In September, 3-Minute Warning began a feud with Billy and Chuck, interfering in their storyline commitment ceremony, and defeating them at the Unforgiven pay-per-view event.[19] Rico, Billy and Chuck's former manager, also began to manage 3-Minute Warning during this time.[1] They competed regularly in Raw's tag team division until June 2003, when Jamal was released from his WWE contract.[22]

Teaming with The Hurricane (2003–2006)

Main article: The Hurricane and Rosey

Later in 2003, The Hurricane "discovered" Rosey's potential as a

Christian and Evolution.[25][26] On the July 19, 2004, episode of Raw, Rosey appeared with a new costume, seemingly graduated to a full superhero, officially turning him into a fan favorite.[27]

On May 1, 2005, at the

WWE Diva Stacy Keibler, who they referred to as Super Stacy.[1][30] Stacy, however, was then drafted to the SmackDown! brand. On September 5, 2005, Rosey and The Hurricane were defeated by Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch, during their debut match on Raw.[31] This match earned the pair a tag team title shot at Unforgiven.[32] During the title match, Murdoch delivered an elevated DDT on The Hurricane to the outside.[32] The DDT caused Hurricane to suffer a storyline "stinger" and allowed Cade and Murdoch to beat the injured Hurricane later in the match to win the World Tag Team Title from him and Rosey.[32]

The loss of the title eventually brought the team to an end, as they began a losing streak caused by Hurricane's injuries. During the October 17, 2005, episode of Raw, Hurricane was assaulted by Kurt Angle at the request of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.[33] After the beating footage was shown, Hurricane ripped off his mask and struck Rosey (who had come to the ring to his aid).[33] The following week, Hurricane did not show up for a World Tag Team Title match, leaving Rosey to face the champions Cade and Murdoch alone.[34] During the match, The Hurricane (out of costume) appeared at the top of the entrance ramp, now going by the name Gregory Helms as he watched Rosey get double teamed and defeated.[34] After the match, Helms announced that he was fed up of being funny for the crowd, and that he had been carrying Rosey as a tag team partner.[34] On the November 7, 2005, episode, Helms defeated Rosey in their first encounter since teaming together.[35]

Shortly after this turmoil, Jamal was rehired by WWE, and he and Rosey were scheduled to reunite 3-Minute Warning. The duo wrestled as a tag team during a dark match before the January 9, 2006, episode of Raw.[36] However, on March 21, 2006, Rosey was released from his WWE contract, and the hinted return of 3-Minute Warning never made it to television.[4]

All Japan Pro Wrestling (2006–2007)

Anoaʻi began competing for

T28.[47]

Independent circuit (2006–2017)

Anoaʻi as Rosey facing Brother Devon in Franklin, Pennsylvania, in 2006

During 2006 and 2007, he also competed for a number of

promotions, including Great Championship Wrestling, BAW Championship Wrestling, and the Appalachian Wrestling Federation.[4] He also returned to Heartland Wrestling Association for a few matches from 2006 to 2007 with one of the appearances being him challenging Jon Moxley for the HWA Heavyweight Championship on June 10, 2006, at HWA Road to Destiny.[48]

He wrestled a

Afa Jr. as the Sons of Samoa, before leaving the promotion.[51]

He returned to wrestling on the independent circuit, competing for companies including EWF.[52][53] On Saturday, October 31, 2009, Anoaʻi (wrestling as Rosie – Super Hero In Training) made his debut for the Dynamic Wrestling Alliance defeating "Sexy" Sean Casey at the DWA's Monster Ball event in Cincinnati, which became the promotion's first televised event.[54] His final match was on July 9, 2016, where he reunited with The Hurricane as the two teamed with Vinny Pacifico in a winning effort against Chris Benne, JGeorge, and Steve Scott.[48]

Before his death, Rosey was running a wrestling promotion called Epic Championship Wrestling in Florida with his father, Sika.

Other media

Anoaʻi was a contestant in the ABC reality series, Fat March in 2007.[55] The show featured 12 overweight people attempt to walk about 570 miles (920 km) in nine states, in order to lose weight and get fit, while competing for a prize pool of US$1.2 million.[56] A press release for the show stated that Anoaʻi was participating because "it wasn't safe for him to compete" as a professional wrestler, and he needed to "lose weight to return to his career".[56] Due to knee injuries, he quit during the fifth episode.[55]

Outside of wrestling, Anoaʻi was involved in several business ventures including a restaurant in Cincinnati[57][58] called Island Boi BBQ[8] but returned to Florida to be closer to his family[57] and was working with his father in Pensacola.[59]

Personal life and death

Anoaʻi was half-

Sika Anoaʻi. He was the brother of Joe Anoaʻi, better known in the WWE as Roman Reigns. His ex-wife, Amanda Vandeberg Schall, current wife of former MMA fighter Kerry Schall, is from Mason, Ohio. They had two sons together, Jordan Iles and Koa Rodney Anoa'i, and a daughter Madison Alani Anoa'i.[6][61]

In January 2014, Anoaʻi was hospitalized due to

congestive heart failure (with which he had been diagnosed years earlier) and atrial fibrillation.[62][57] Anoai's CHF was related to weight gain as he struggled with a chronic knee injury that also caused hip issues. He died on April 17, 2017,[57] 10 days after his 47th birthday, in Pensacola, Florida
, due to complications related to congestive heart failure.

Championships and accomplishments

See also

References

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Matt Anoa'i.

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