Rosey

Professional wrestling career Early career (1995–2001) Anoaʻi trained with his cousin Eddie Fatu at the Wild Samoan professional wrestling school operated by members of their family. When their training was completed, they debuted in their uncle Afa's World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) promotion. He later began teaming with Samu as the Samoan Gangsta Party, using the name Mack Daddy Kane. The following night at Heat Wave, they lost to The Gangstas. 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.

In March 1999, Anoa'i traveled to Japan to wrestle for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). After scoring one-on-one wins over Hosaka and Fuji, Anoa'i took part in a round robin tournament for the FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship but only finished with 2 points. In May 2000, Anoa'i and Fatu would drop the Armageddon gimmick and began competing as "The Samoans" with Anoa'i changing his name to Matty Samu while Fatu became Eddie Fatu. On June 21, Anoa'i and Fatu defeated Hosaka and Yoshinori Sasaki to win the FMW Hardcore Tag Team Championship. 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 developmental contracts with 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.

3-Minute Warning (2002–2003)

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. The name Rosey was inspired by Rosey Grier, an American football player. 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.

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.

Teaming with The Hurricane (2003–2006)

Later in 2003, The Hurricane "discovered" Rosey's potential as a superhero and christened him as "Rosey, the Super Hero in Training" (the S.H.I.T.). Rosey and The Hurricane teamed regularly together during this time, wrestling against teams including Chris Jericho and Christian and Evolution. 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.

On May 1, 2005, at the Backlash pay-per-view, Rosey and Hurricane defeated La Résistance in the finals of a Tag Team Turmoil match to win the World Tag Team Championship. They were joined for a short while by WWE Diva Stacy Keibler, who they referred to as Super Stacy. 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. This match earned the pair a tag team title shot at Unforgiven. During the title match, Murdoch delivered an elevated DDT on The Hurricane to the outside. After the beating footage was shown, Hurricane ripped off his mask and struck Rosey (who had come to the ring to his aid). 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.

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. 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. Two months later, Anoa'i betrayed RO&D and defected to the Voodoo Murders. On September 17, Anoa'i teamed with Taru, Suwama, and "brother" Yasshi against Taka Michinoku, Taiyo Kea, D-Lo Brown, and Buchanan in a "losing team must disband" match where Anoa'i pinned Kea after Brown and Buchanan turned on Michinoku and Kea. In October, Anoa'i began pursuing Minoru Suzuki and the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. On October 29, Anoa'i challenged Suzuki for the Triple Crown Championship but was defeated. He teamed up with Suwama to wrestle in the 2006 World's Strongest Tag Determination League where they placed first with nine points and Anao'i even scored a win over Keiji Mutoh along the way. Due to placing first, they made it to the finals where they were defeated by Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan. He continued to compete for AJPW throughout 2007, including in the 2007 January 4 Dome Show at the Tokyo Dome, where he teamed with Taru, Suwama, and Giant Bernard to defeat Riki Choshu, Manabu Nakanishi, Takashi Iizuka, and Naofumi Yamamoto. On February 17 at Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 2, Anoa'i teamed with Suwama to take on Taiyo Kea and Toshiaki Kawada for the vacant World Tag Team Championship but came up short. Anoaʻi participated in the AJPW 2007 Champion Carnival tournament as a member of Block B, but he finished with two points in the series, coming last in Block B though he did score a win over Kawada. His last match was on March 30 teaming with TARU and Suwama in a winning effort over Akira Raijin, Kiyonari Sanada, and T28.

Later career (2006–2017)

During 2006 and 2007, he also competed for a number of independent promotions, including Great Championship Wrestling, BAW Championship Wrestling, and the Appalachian Wrestling Federation.

He wrestled a dark match being billed under his real name for WWE on August 20, 2007, before an episode of Raw; he was defeated by Johnny Jeter. He returned the following day for the August 21 SmackDown! taping, where he was again defeated by Jeter. Anoaʻi began wrestling in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in September 2007, WWE's developmental territory, although he was not under contract with WWE.

He returned to wrestling on the independent circuit, competing for companies including EWF. 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. 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. The show featured 12 overweight people attempting to walk about in nine states, in order to lose weight and get fit, while competing for a prize pool of US$1.2 million. 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". called Island Boi BBQ

Personal life and death Anoaʻi's father was Samoan professional wrestler Sika Anoa‘i and his mother was Patricia Hooker. 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.

In January 2014, Anoaʻi was hospitalized due to congestive heart failure (with which he had been diagnosed years earlier) and atrial fibrillation. Anoa’i’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, Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling / World Entertainment Wrestling FMW/WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Eddie Fatu World Wrestling Council WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Tahiti World Wrestling Entertainment World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Hurricane