Neff Alfred Maiava (May 1, 1924 – April 21, 2018) was an American Samoan

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

. He is best known for his appearances in the United States with the

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

-based

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

50th State Big Time Wrestling 50th State Big Time Wrestling (sometimes referred to as NWA Hawaii or Mid-Pacific Promotions) was a professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii in the United States that promoted professional wrestling matches throughout Haw ...

in the late-1950s and 1960s.

Early life

Maiava was born in Tula in American Samoa on May 1, 1924. When he was two years old, his family relocated to Laie, Hawaii, in the United States.

Professional wrestling career

Maiava was trained to wrestle by Al Karasik, debuting in 1952. In 1955, he wrestled for Ed Don George in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

, as "Prince Ulu Maiava". From 1955 to 1958, he wrestled in Canada for the

Calgary, Alberta Calgary () is a major city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a Metropolitan area, metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the List of ...

-based Big Time Wrestling promotion as "Prince Maiava". In 1956, he briefly held the

NWA Texas Tag Team Championship The WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship was the secondary professional wrestling tag team championship promoted by the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex area-based World Class Wrestling Association (WCWA). The championship was originally known as the NWA ...

with

Ray Gunkel Raymond Fred Gunkel (February 16, 1924 - August 1, 1972) was an American amateur and professional wrestler and promoter in the state of Georgia. Gunkel was a two-time AAU national champion and, as a professional, a three-time NWA Texas Heavywei ...

while working for the Dallas Wrestling Club in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. In 1958, Maiava began wrestling for the

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

-based Salt Lake Wrestling Club, where he and Oni Wiki Wiki briefly held the

NWA World Tag Team Championship The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling World Tag Team Championship, world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed List of National Wrestling Alliance territories ...

. In late-1960, he briefly wrestled for the

World Wide Wrestling Federation Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC) was an American sports promotion company. Run by Vincent J. McMahon from the 1950s until the 1980s, the company was originally a professional wrestling and boxing promotion and later became the holding company ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Maiava became a highly popular wrestler due to his "combination of athletic ability, comedy and exotic flair". Playing on his Samoan origin, Maiava developed a "colorful and charismatic" character. He became known for antics such as performing fire knife dances, playing a

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

, walking on a

bed of nails A bed of nails is an rectangle, oblong piece of wood, the size of a bed, with Nail (fastener), nails pointing upwards out of it. While it appears at first glance that anyone lying on such a "bed" would be injured by the nails, if the nails are ...

, breaking wooden boards over his head, and wearing a necklace made from boar's teeth. During his matches, Maiava would use his wild hair to entrap and "cut" opponents' hands. His finishing move, the "Coconut Head-butt", gave rise to the professional wrestling trope that Samoan wrestlers have "hard heads". He was managed by Coconut Willie, who supposedly issued orders to Maiava by beating a drum. On one occasion, he wrestled a bear. To preserve the mystique of his character, Maiava did not speak English in public while travelling outside of Hawaii. In the late-1950s, Maiava began appearing regularly with the

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

-based promotion

. Between 1961 and 1966, he held the

NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship The NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and was defended in the US state of Hawaii. The title, which began in 1935. From February 1940 through 1942 the titl ...

on six occasions, trading the championship with wrestlers including

King Curtis Iaukea Curtis Piehau Iaukea III (September 15, 1937 – December 4, 2010) was an American professional wrestler better known as King Curtis Iaukea. Iaukea won championships in several of the major regional U.S. promotions, both as a single and in vari ...

Gene LeBell Ivan Gene LeBell (October 9, 1932 – August 9, 2022) was an American actor, judoka, stuntman and professional wrestler. Nicknamed "Judo Gene" and "The Godfather of Grappling", he is credited with popularizing grappling in professional fighti ...

, Hard Boiled Haggerty, and

Gene Kiniski Eugene Nicholas Kiniski (November 23, 1928 – April 14, 2010) was a Canadian athlete who played football for the Edmonton Eskimos and then became a three-time professional wrestling world heavyweight champion. "Canada's Greatest Athlete", as he ...

. He also held the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship on six occasions, teaming with Billy White Wolf, Lord James Blears, and

Pampero Firpo Juan Kachmanian (April 6, 1930 – January 9, 2020) was an Argentine-born Armenian-American professional wrestling, professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Pampero Firpo. Early life Kachmanian was born on April 6, 1930, in Buenos ...

. On August 16, 1961, Maiava defended his NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship in a bout with King Curtis Iaukea at the Civic Auditorium in front of approximately 3,000 people. After Iaukea won, members of the audience began rioting, with eight people ultimately arrested and nine people (including four police officers) injured. In October 1961, Maiava defeated

Maurice Vachon Joseph Maurice Régis Vachon (September 14, 1929 − November 21, 2013) was a Canadian professional wrestler, best known by his ring name Mad Dog Vachon. He was the older brother of wrestlers Paul and Vivian Vachon, and the uncle of wrestl ...

in a hair versus hair match. Fellow American Samoan professional wrestler Fanene Anderson took his ring name,

Peter Maivia Fanene Leifi Pita Maivia (born Fanene Pita Anderson; April 6, 1937 – June 13, 1982), better known as Peter Maivia, was a Samoan-American professional wrestler, actor and stunt coordinator. Maivia was the grandfather of Dwayne Johnson, Dwayne ...

, from Maiava. In 1968, Maiava and Maivia formed a tag team in 50th State Big Time Wrestling. Maiava retired from professional wrestling in 1974. He went on to run a tree-trimming company and purchased a portfolio of rental properties on

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

Personal life

Maiava had five sons and four daughters. His grandchildren included

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

Kaluka Maiava. In 1997, Maiava published "Da Grouchy Moocher Boogie Man", a children's book.

Death

Maiava died in his sleep on April 21, 2018, in Honolulu at the age of 93. At the time of his death he was reckoned by journalist

Dave Meltzer David Allen Meltzer (born October 24, 1959) is an American journalist, author, and historian who reports on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Since 1983, he has been the publisher and editor of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter' ...

to be the world's second oldest living professional wrestler. He was inurned with

military honors A military funeral is a memorial or burial rite given by a country's military for a soldier, sailor, marine or airman who died in battle, a veteran, or other prominent military figures or heads of state. A military funeral may feature guards ...

at the Diamond Head Mortuary.

Bibliography

* ''Da Grouchy Moocher Boogie Man'' (1997)

Championships and accomplishments

(6 times) ** NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (6 times) – with Billy White Wolf (1 time), Lord James Blears (4 times), and

(1 time) *Dallas Wrestling Club **

(1 time) – with

*Salt Lake Wrestling Club ** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Salt Lake Wrestling Club version)'' (1 time) – with Oni Wiki Wiki

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maiava, Neff 1924 births 2018 deaths American Samoan male professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Hawaii Stampede Wrestling alumni