Snuka Jimmy - Superfly: the Jimmy Snuka story

Foreword by Rowdy Roddy Piper

I met Jimmy Snuka back in Portland, but we only became close many years later. I was a rookie at the time, and he was about to leave. We would meet up again down the road and become brothers. Jimmy had gotten his big break in Portland, and they just loved him there. If that place could singholy cow! Jimmy learned how to wrestle and expanded on everything he was taught. The package was already put together by the time he debuted in Portlandthe look and everything.

He wore the lei and seashells around his neck because he knew where he came from. This was a man who danced on fire and dove off cliffs. With his island look, he was like a real-life Tarzan. Leap-frogging off the top of the rope was nothing for him. It was like taking a step off the curb is for the rest of us.

Jimmy always studied everything and made it his own. Wrestling was the Wild West back then, not what it is today. Jimmy was going pretty hard, and when we were in Charlotte we would bang out seven or eight towns a week. It was a brutal territory. All the bruddas, as Jimmy would say, would do 90 interviews each Tuesday there. Wed be running in all these towns, and all of us would have to do these interviews for each market, and each one had to be different. So, heres Jimmy with Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, Andre the Giant, the Briscos, and Jimmy Valiant, and those guys were pretty good on the mic. But even with his limited vocabulary, Jimmy was able to get over using his eyes and his emotions. It wasnt what he said; the whole magic of Jimmy was his heart and his soul. Thats why cameramen needed to zoom in on his eyes during promos. For Jimmy, it was all in the eyes. His eyes are the window to his soul. And when he goes out there, Jimmy opens up his soul. When he was in the Carolinas, he and Ricky The Dragon Steamboat had so many classic matches. Jimmy had a lot of classic matches with a lot of guyshe just went so hard in that territory and really came into his own.

By the time Jimmy got to New York, he was on fire. He was primed and ready. He was rolling with the big dogs and drawing a lot of money. But they did a dirty thing to him: they made him a heel. They tried him as a bad guy, but the fans just loved him anyway. Jimmy was getting over so much that a guy who came into New York got angry when he couldnt get over Jimmy.

When Hulk Hogan came in, Jimmy and Don Muraco had been carrying the entire New York territory. When they put Jimmy in a cage match against Muraco.holy cow! It was amazing when Jimmy climbed up where no one dared to go. What a moment that was. When he looked at Muraco and brought those hands up, the flashbulbs went off. Muraco was lying on his back, and Jimmy didnt just dive off. He did a half-squat and swan- dove out there. He gave Muraco the charley horse of a lifetime. Muraco won the match, but that was done on purpose. There was no underhandedness on Muracos part at all. That was done to make room for someone new.

I was the one Jimmy feuded with next. As a heel, working with someone like Jimmy is a dream. The Pipers Pit we made almost instantly brought wrestling into a new age. Everybody was just like, What just happened? After it aired, it was like a bomb went off. It was hard to get around. I thought people were going to stab me after I hit him with the coconut. Id been stabbed before.

I love Jimmy, but the reason I brought in the coconuts, bananas, and pineapples was he only could say, like, three words. This was the second time I had him on the Pit, and he wouldnt talk. The first time, he didnt talk, and the second time, we just stared at each other. I was like, Oh man, Ive got two minutes and 54 seconds and this guy is not going to say anything. What am I going to do? So, I just asked him to get me something from Fiji, and two hours later, we filmed it again. I was trying to figure out what to do. I dont know how many guys wouldve stood for that.

I dont think Id ever had a coconut in my hand before that day. It just came up when a coconut dropped out of a paper bag. There were six or seven coconuts in there, and Im trying to fill the three minutes we had but I had nothing to say. I was looking at Jimmy as if to say, Are you sure about this? He told me to hit him with it. He didnt run over in slow motion and say, Yeah, lets do that. It was an idea, and in my mind, he had given me permission. I wouldnt have done it otherwise.

People have called it the greatest angle in the history of professional wrestling. There have been a lot of great angles, but this one is hard to beat. I do think it took something out of Jimmy. I dont know. I was wrestling him every night to big crowds. There was tension there all the time because of what I did on TV. We got into it in Chicago in a hotel hallway one night, but I was not mad at him. It took me a while to realize it, but he sacrificed his whole career for me. What do I say about a man who did that? From there, we became brothers, and I started watching out for him.

I think Jimmys career was cut short in the WWF. I feel there were four or five years where he could have been on top. After he was in Hogans corner at the first WrestleMania, something snapped with Jimmy. He just left. It was a brutal, vicious business back then, and Jimmy was hurt by it. There was a lot of pressure on a guy who didnt really know who to trust, and he was always dependent on somebody else because English isnt his first language. He hooked up with some wicked white people. He was trained under territorial rules, and all of a sudden there was a new world order in New York, and there were no rules.

Im proud any time someone mentions my name alongside Jimmy Superfly Snukas name. Hes perfect in every way. The best word to describe him is organic . Everything about Jimmy is so real; his words in this book are no different. Its Jimmylaying his soul on the line, for the fans, just like he always has.

Rowdy Roddy Piper

Epilogue

I just recently wrestled at an indie show and there he wasnearly 70 years old, and he still looks good. He still works really hard.

Tommy Dreamer

Hello again, all you people in TV wonderland! It is March of 2012, and I have just had my cast removed. I am walking around with a boot on my foot and am able to get around on my own. My ankle is not quite healed yet, brudda, but its getting there. I can put pressure on it, and I am getting closer to seeing you all in that ring again. The doctor said I am going to need to keep the boot on until I start training to get back in the ring. I can see the finish line, brudda. As soon as this heals up and the doctors give me the go-ahead, the Superfly will be ready to enter the ring and see all you lovely people again. My ankle is doing better than even I thought it would be. There is no pain.

Brudda, I was in such pain before I had my ankle done. I was grumpy, because I could not even work in my yard. Remember, I like to be outside in the beautiful nature! I put the surgery off for so long, but the body tells you when its ready, and my ankle quit on me. My brudda Dr. Raikin from the Rothman Institute is the very best there is. I had my surgery at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia, and he worked his magic on my ankle. I go to therapy three times a week now and work with Dr. Charles Sacco. He is working me pretty hard, but it feels so good. I love that feeling, brudda. I told him that I plan on getting back into the ring, and he said, I dont know, Jimmy. But I know what this body can do, and I feel better than ever. I quit smoking and drinking, and thank the good Lord for helping me quit. I pray every day that He will help me stay this way. Its still hard to be around someone who smokeswhen I smell that smell, I want to grab a smoke myself, but I have to fight it. But my whole life has been a fight, hasnt it?