Background and career
Solofa Fatu Jr. is an American professional wrestler, best known under the ring names Rikishi and Fatu with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and under a variety of names in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He is also the owner of the independent promotion KnokX Pro Wrestling (KnokX) and the KnokX Pro Wrestling Academy. Born in San Francisco, Fatu debuted in the professional wrestling business in 1985 as Prince Alofa and later competed with the Samoan SWAT Team in Japan and multiple wrestling promotions across the United States. In 1992, Fatu made his debut for the World Wrestling Federation, employing multiple gimmicks during his early run. He returned to the WWF in 1998 where he was repackaged as a sumo wrestler character named Rikishi Phatu, in which he dropped his last name when he began teaming with the popular Too Cool tag team. During his tenure with the company, Fatu has held the WWF Intercontinental Championship (1 time), the World Tag Team Championship (2 times), and the WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time). After leaving the WWE in 2004, he would appear in the independent circuit, along with a short stint in TNA as Junior Fatu in 2007. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015. Fatu is the father of Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, and Solo Sikoa. As a prominent member of the Anoaʻi family of Samoan wrestlers, he is the brother of Sam Fatu and Umaga, uncle of Jacob Fatu and the cousin of Rosey, Yokozuna and Roman Reigns.
Solofa Fatu was born in San Francisco and grew up in the Sunnydale Projects in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood, where his maternal grandparents were preachers. He attended Balboa High School, and competed on the wrestling team. In 1982, when he was seventeen years old, Fatu was wounded in a drive-by shooting that left him with a scar on his abdomen; he claimed in a 2021 interview that he had died for three minutes in the emergency room before being revived. He spent two months in the hospital, after which his mother, fearing for his safety, sent him out of state to live with her brothers Afa and Sika Anoaʻi, with whom he trained to become a professional wrestler.
Fatu began his wrestling career in 1985, working for Gino Brito and Dino Bravo's Lutte Internationale promotion in Montreal as Prince Alofa, a high-flying babyface. He often teamed with the territory's top faces. Fatu also worked for International Championship Wrestling in New York City in that same year.
He and his cousin Samula Anoaʻi became the Samoan Swat Team (Samu and Fatu) in 1986 for New Japan Pro Wrestling. In 1987, they signed with the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico and they used the "Samoan savage" gimmick their relatives The Wild Samoans successfully used by working barefoot, never publicly speaking English, and no-selling attacks to the head. They became the new WWC Caribbean Tag Team Champions (after a long vacancy) on November 7, 1987, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico after defeating Invader I and Invader III. They held the title for just over a month before dropping it to Mark and Chris Youngblood before leaving the promotion.
Samu and Fatu next appeared in Texas, working for Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling. Storywise, Buddy Roberts brought them in to fight his fights against the Von Erich family and former Fabulous Freebirds partner Michael Hayes. The SST defeated Kerry and Kevin Von Erich for the WCWA World Tag Team Championship on August 12, 1988. They remained undefeated in WCCW until they dropped the belts to Hayes and his new partner, Steve Cox, on September 12. They recaptured the title four days later. Hayes and Cox beat them for the title again on October 15, and, two days later, lost it back again. On September 12, 1988, The Samoan Swat Team became double champions by beating "Hollywood" John Tatum and Jimmy Jack Funk for the WCWA Texas Tag Team Championship. They made their pay-per-view debut at AWA SuperClash III. In early 1989, the SST left WCCW, vacating both championships.
SST signed with World Championship Wrestling, introduced as manager Paul E. Dangerously's replacement for The Original Midnight Express (Randy Rose and Dennis Condrey), who had left the promotion. The SST took over the Express' feud with The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane), beating them at Clash of the Champions VI: Ragin' Cajun on April 2, 1989. The SST teamed with former rival Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Jimmy Garvin at the 1989 Great American Bash, losing a WarGames match to The Road Warriors, The Midnight Express, and Steve Williams. In the fall of 1989, Paul E. Dangerously was phased out and the SST took a new manager, "The Big Kahuna" Oliver Humperdink. They were also joined by Fatu's brother, The Samoan Savage. The SST lost more and more matches as 1989 drew to a close, but got a break when Sid Vicious was injured, leading his team, The Skyscrapers, to pull out of the "Iron Team Tournament" at Starrcade 1989. Fatu and The Samoan Savage, rebranded as The New Wild Samoans, replaced them. For the rest of their WCW career, Fatu and Savage teamed, while Samu only wrestled singles matches.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
