Former WWE superstar Siva Afi (Papali’itele Max Amata Taogaga) has died. He was 77-years-old.
The Book Pro Wrestlers X account posted the news, and his family confirmed it.
Siva Afi was trained by Steve Rickard and Peter Maivia, and before joining the WWE, his biggest match as an international superstar was wrestling Ric Flair to a one-hour time limit draw for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
When he joined the WWE in 1986, he was promoted as the cousin of Superfly Jimmy Snuka, ‘Superfly’ Afi. Fans, though, were opposed to him being Superfly 2.0. He was repackaged as just Sivi Afi. Later, he would team with The Islandaders Tama and King Tonga (Haku) and be renamed Toma.
Things went south, though, when Haku broke out on his own. Afi would quit wrestling for some time and become a stuntman and bodyguard for actor Burt Reynolds.
He officially retired from the squared circle in 1997. In the same year, he was involved in a robbery and convicted of one count of aggravated burglary, two counts of aggravated robbery and seven counts of kidnapping. He was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison.
He was released from the North Central Correctional Institution in 2007 and deported back to Samoa, where he worked with rehabilitation programs and did work for the community.
After he released his biography in 2008 called Dance With Fire.
Siva Afi’s biggest and most notable accomplishment was winning the NWA North American Heavyweight Championship.
