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

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

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

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

-based promotion

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 Ha ...

in the late-1950s and 1960s.

Early life

Maiava was born in

Tula Tula may refer to: Geography Antarctica *Tula Mountains *Tula Point India *Tulā, a solar month in the traditional Indian calendar Iran * Tula, Iran, a village in Hormozgan Province Italy * Tula, Sardinia, municipality (''comune'') in the pr ...

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 Edward Nye "Ed Don" George Jr. (June 3, 1905 – September 18, 1985) was an American amateur and professional wrestler, and wrestling promoter. A former Olympic freestyle wrestler, George competed in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics and turned pro ...

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

as "Prince Ulu Maiava". From 1955 to 1958, he wrestled in Canada for the Calgary, Alberta-based Big Time Wrestling promotion as "Prince Maiava". In 1956, he briefly held the NWA Texas Tag Team Championship with Ray Gunkel while working for the Dallas Wrestling Club in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. In 1958, Maiava began wrestling for the

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

-based Salt Lake Wrestling Club, where he and Oni Wiki Wiki briefly held the NWA World Tag Team Championship. In late-1960, he briefly wrestled for the World Wide Wrestling Federation in

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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 ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

, walking on a

bed of nails A bed of nails is an oblong piece of wood, the size of a bed, with nails pointing upwards out of it. It appears to the spectator that anyone lying on this "bed" would be injured by the nails, but this is not so. Assuming the nails are numerous ...

, 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 capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

-based promotion

. Between 1961 and 1966, he held the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship on six occasions, trading the championship with wrestlers including King Curtis Iaukea,

Gene LeBell Ivan “Judo” Gene LeBell (October 9, 1932 – August 9, 2022) was an American martial artist, stunt performer, actor, and professional wrestler. Nicknamed "The Godfather of Grappling", he popularized grappling in professional fighting circ ...

Hard Boiled Haggerty Don Stansauk (April 2, 1925 – January 27, 2004) was an American professional wrestler and actor, known by his ring name, Hard Boiled Haggerty. He was previously a professional American football player, and became a successful character actor af ...

, and Gene Kiniski. 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-American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Pampero Firpo. Early life Kachmanian was born on April 6, 1930, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His parents were of ...

. 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 in a

hair versus hair match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

. 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. Maivia was the maternal grandfather of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, and was also part o ...

, 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 () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

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), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

Kaluka Maiava Kaluka Maiava (born December 27, 1986) is a former American football linebacker who played for the Cleveland Browns and Oakland Raiders in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fourth round of the 2009 ...

. 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 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

** NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship (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 ** NWA Texas Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ray Gunkel *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