Forgotten Members of Famous WWE Families: Afa Anoa'i Jr.

The WWE spotlight only flashed on Afa Anoa'i Jr. for an instant.

Wrestling as Manu, the wild-haired, thumping powerhouse joined Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes seven years ago, but the alliance quickly evaporated. Afa Jr. went from the WWE developmental system to Raw to obscurity in just two years.

At just 30 years old, his story is far from over. The narrative that has unfolded thus far, though, has been a cyclical one. Afa Jr. began his wrestling journey performing in high school gyms in Pennsylvania and now finds himself back in that same spot today.

A large number of wrestlers would gladly take the resume he has amassed. Multiple championships in his hometown promotion, a brief flirtation with the big time and a list of prestigious opponents isn't good enough, though, for a member of the famed Anoa'i family.

Afa Jr.'s father and Uncle Sika formed the Hall of Fame team The Wild Samoans. His cousin, Yokozuna, once carried the WWE title to the ring, clashed with Hulk Hogan and was the company's top heel.

The rest of the family tree is filled with memorable characters of various eras: The Tonga Kid, Roman Reigns, Umaga, The Usos, Rikishi. That clan's collection of triumphs include the Intercontinental Championship, the WWE tag belts, the All Japan tag titles, winning the Royal Rumble and gaining entry into the WWE Hall of Fame.

The Tonga Kid headlined Madison Square Garden. Reigns locked horns with Brock Lesnar in the marquee match at WrestleMania 31.

How did Afa Jr. not clean up like his more famous family members? It wasn't his physical gifts that held him back. He bounds around the ring with far more agility than one would expect for his size. A combination of fierceness and fluidity marks his ring work.

A lesser stock of intangibles than the other Anoa'is, however, has shifted his career arc. 

Afa Jr. does not boast the action-figure look of his cousin, Reigns. He has not managed to be as imposing as Umaga. His cousin, Rikishi, has him beat in terms of charisma. Afa Sr. surpasses in presence.

And at first, it didn't look like any of that matter. Afa Jr. looked poised to thrive on the gridiron instead.

From Football to Fighting

Armed with broad shoulders, explosiveness and a bevy of inherited physical gifts from a family of athletes, Afa Jr. emerged as a standout football player in high school. It's hard to imagine a teenage offensive lineman looking up at him with his hand in the dirt, wearing that trademark Anoa'i snarl and not being intimidated.

Per his University of Connecticut profile, Afa Jr. left Freedom High School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with 214 tackles, 23 sacks and 12 recovered fumbles.

His efforts earned him all-conference status three times. The promising defensive tackle committed to UConn, but as noted on Yahoo Sports, "since his grades were not up to par," he would first enroll at Fork Union Military Academy.

Afa Jr. then played his way onto the U.S. Army All-American Bowl roster, per Rivals.com, in 2003. In that game, future NFLers surrounded him. Reggie Bush, Vernon Davis and Joe Thomas were among those who shared the field with the Samoan-American.

There was a buzz around the son of the WWE Hall of Famer. "He's as good technically and knows how to use his hands as well as any prep defensive linemen I've ever seen," one college recruiter told ESPN The Magazine.

That promise didn't blossom, however.

Afa Jr. didn't see much action after he strapped on a helmet for the Huskies. In his sophomore season, he played in just one game.

With football not panning out, the family business waited for him.

His father owned Pennsylvania-based World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW). Afa Jr. began to compete there more regularly, where he had already spent plenty of time in the ring as a teenager.

At just 16, he took on Perfect Creation at Sportsfest 2000, where his opponent drove him through a table.

Returning to the ring must have felt like returning home. When he increased his workload for WXW, Afa Jr. found himself surrounded by fellow Anoa'is in the in-ring battles that came his way. His brother, Samu, teamed with him. So did his cousins, LA Smooth and Rosey.

Afa Jr. stayed in the Northeast where he took on notable names like Low Ki, Claudio Castagnoli (now Cesaro) and Balls Mahoney. It wasn't long before the WWE noticed. 

The Major League Stint

Beginning in late 2006, Afa Jr. experienced three of WWE's incarnations of its developmental system: Deep South Wrestling, Ohio Valley Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling.

At DSW, he and Sonny Siaki formed The Samoan Fight Club. Unlike with how they handled his cousin Reigns, WWE made sure to highlight Afa Jr.'s Samoan heritage and make full use of his family name.

He and Siaki collided with The Major Brothers at both DSW and OVW. Brett and Brian Majors would go on to become Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins in WWE. They remained a pair once WWE called them up. 

Afa Jr.'s partnership didn't last nearly as long.

WWE moved him into singles competition. He was booked as a nasty bruiser much like his father.

The company awarded him the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship at the end of 2007, a title he held onto for two months.

Tyson Kidd (working as TJ Wilson) dethroned him on Dec. 1 of that year at the Jewish Community Center in New Port Richey, Florida. Less than a year after that defeat, Afa Jr. was moving on to bigger venues and a brighter lights. 

WWE called him up to the main roster as Manu, aligning with him Orton, Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. At Unforgiven 2008, he and his new crew attacked CM Punk and Kofi Kingston backstage.

The idea made sense. Afa Jr., like Orton and the rest of his allies, all had famous fathers. Their group, which would eventually be called The Legacy, was a posse of second-generation stars looking to make their own impact on WWE history by any means necessary.

Afa Jr. never fit in, though. 

He was a monster among men, the one burly powerhouse among a group of sleeker athletes. The difference in race was hard to ignore, as well. In that way, he was the equivalent of Owen Hart in The Nation of Domination.

He teamed with these men a few times, but the partnership was over in a hurry. Just a month after Afa Jr. battled Batista on Raw with Legacy in his corner, Orton ousted him from the stable. Orton forced all his underlings to pass a test to prove they belonged.

Manu failed his, losing to Matt Hardy on Raw.

Not long after his role in the faction ended, so did his WWE career. The company released him on Feb. 23, 2009.

One possible reason emerged for why WWE had been so quick to let him go. In an interview with the Sun (h/t PWInsider), Orton said of his former partner, "Manu had some respect issues. There are a lot of different reasons he wasn't good for Legacy, but the reason he's not with the company anymore had a lot to do with his backstage attitude."

It couldn't have helped either that Afa Jr. had violated the Wellness Policy in 2008, earning himself a 30-day suspension.

Regardless of the company's reasoning behind cutting him, he left WWE without wrestling a single pay-per-view match. He didn't win any titles and wasn't around long enough to be more than a footnote.

Returning Home, the Spotlight a World Away

Like with his football career, early success in the squared circle preceded him hitting a wall. Only in his mid-20s, he was already out of wrestling's majors. 

It looked more than unlikely that he would carve a path to the Hall of Fame as other Anoa'i family members had. His wrestling days were not yet over, though. Afa Jr. walked a different, less glamorous path than his father and cousins.

Returning home to Pennsylvania, he traded WWE for WXW, stadiums for assembly halls. With a dimmer spotlight pointed at him, Afa Jr. would go on to compile a sustained career in the Northeast.

He has been one of WXW's most prominent names, winning just about every title in that promotion. In 2011, he captured the WXW Ultra Heavyweight Championship in his hometown. 

Gold came frequently for him. So did main event bouts for his father's promotion. Along the way, he took on names like Homicide, Sabu and 2 Cold Scorpio. His nephew was on that list as well, as Afa Jr. and Lance Anoa'i met at Sportsfest 2011.

And unlike his pre-WWE career, he didn't just stick to his home state. He stepped into wrestling rings in Germany, Belgium, New York and Puerto Rico where he teamed with his LA Smooth for the World Wrestling Council.

The Sons of Samoa won the WWC World Tag Team Championships three times in 2013.

Pennsylvania remains the center for him, though. The last few years have seen him compete for Keystone State promotions Battlefield Pro Wrestling, Pennsylvania Premiere Wrestling, in addition to heavy doses of appearances for WXW.

Competing in a main event in a front of half-filled bleachers at Holy Family Academy in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, is a far cry from where Afa Jr. was, however briefly, years ago. Still, the art remains the same. Villains fall to heroes; superkicks crack against jaws.

In many ways, Afa Jr. is most certainly his father's son. Their resemblance is unmistakable. And when Afa Jr. starts headbutting his enemies, it looks eerily like a repeat of the past. It's no surprise then that in an interview with Behind the Barricade, Afa Jr. said, "I learned a lot from my father so I try to mimic him and my brothers as much as possible, I'm creating my own twist to it."

He just hasn't been able to accomplish as much as Afa, Sika, Yokuzuna, Umaga, etc.

The Anoa'i family has produced an impossible number of stars. It's clear that some of those, from Afa to Reigns, are the kind who blaze in the sky. Some of them are a bit harder to see, faint orbs lost in the massiveness of space.

This is the final article in a four-part series. Be sure to check out these previous editions:

• Kendall Windham
• Barry Orton
• Brett DiBiase

Match information courtesy of CageMatch.net. Championship information from Wrestling-Titles.com.