I have had this idea for a little while, and did make a start with guys like Demolition and Rick Rude in previous article, however now it’s official, Old Skool View will be taking you back to school and having a look at the history of some of the wrestlers from days gone by.
With the recent sad passing of Matt Anoa’i aka Rosey, I thought it would be rather apt to kick off the history lessons with a look back at the career of Matt Anoa’i.
As the name would suggest, Matt is part of the Samoan Wrestling family the Anoa’i’s. His is brother to the current WWE superstar everyone loves to hate, Roman Reigns. His cousins include the likes of the late greats in Yokozuna and Umaga, and one of the greatest ever big men in the game Rikishi. Of course he then has cousins removed in the likes of current WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Usos, as well as former WWE talent Manu.
Coming from a vast wrestling background, it’s no surprise Matt ended up following the same path as his father, cousins and uncles. He was trained by his Uncle Afa alongside his cousin Eddie Fatu, who would go on to become his partner in 3 Minute Warning, and later have an excellent run as Umaga.
Matt started wrestling for Afa’s WXW promotion circa 1995, and would find himself teaming with Samu, another one of his cousins and they formed the team that went by the name of The Samoan Swat Team. Matt, alongside Samu, had a brief stint in ECW in 1996 which was their first exposure of bigger time wrestling.
For the next 5 or 6 years Matt wrestled around the world gaining valuable experience in promotions such as WWC in Peurto Rico and FMW in Japan, before Matt and Eddie got signed to a WWE Developmental deal and ended up honing their skills at HWA.
In July of 2002 Matt debuted on WWE Raw as part of 3 Minute Warning, where alongside Eddie, they formed the team that were Eric Bischoff’s enforcers. Matt was named Rosey in this duo, and Eddie was Jamal. Whilst they stayed as regulars in the tag division until Eddie’s release in 2003 they never really got anything solid running.
Later in 2003 is where Matt began getting his best run in the WWE as he was “picked up” by The Hurricane. Matt as Rosey became a Super Hero In Training, lovingly shortened to (S.H.I.T). It was as part of this team that Matt would win WWE World Tag Team gold. The team held the title for four months before they dropped the titles as part of a storyline break up, and this proved to be the beginning of the end for Matt’s WWE run.
Matt would have a brief feud with The Hurricane, who changed to Gregory Helms, before getting released in March of 2006, shortly after Eddie was rehired. There were rumours of 3 Minute Warning re-uniting but this obviously didn’t unfold.
Upon leaving the WWE he headed back to Japan, this time having a stint wrestling for AJPW wrestler under the name of Ro-Z, original huh? Matt stayed active on the independent scene for many more years before starting running his own promotion alongside his father called Epic Championship Wrestling, and this is what he was doing before his untimely death due to congestive heart failure. Matt was 47 years old.
Whilst Matt Anoa’i may not have had the best of careers in terms of accomplishments, he did more than hold his own. He provided us with many great memories during his 3 years with The Hurricane and deservedly got a run with the Tag Team titles during that time.
Matt, you will be remembered by many as the S.H.I.T, so thank you for making Raw in the early to mid 00’s entertaining. RIP.
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