This story aired in the March 18, 2025 episode of Crosscurrents.
Pro-wrestling is DRAMATIC. A combination of storytelling, live theater, sports and entertainment. And Wrestling has a lot of sub-groups… with individual lore, fandoms, and legacies.
In the Bay Area’s world of pro-wrestling, Polynesian wrestlers are a small but influential group. And they have a rich history. Today, we meet a wrestler from a Samoan pro-wrestling dynasty.
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In the heart of Vacaville, at the Journey Downtown Theater, two Polynesian wrestlers stand in a spotlight. Different colored lights flash throughout the arena. Fans pack in close to the ring, which is covered with blood, thumbtacks, and broken glass. Wrestler Journey Fatu grabs the mic and addresses the crowd. “There was something deep down inside of me that was born on March 12, 1996, in Sacramento California.”
As the crowd listens intently, Journey acknowledges someone special in the audience. “Shout out to my mom, she’s up there in the corner.” The crowd erupts in chants of “Thank you, Mama!” Journey, speaking in his first language, Samoan, thanks his mother for loving him, his brothers, his sister, and his father. Then, with raw emotion, Journey delivers a powerful statement: “One more thing, without my Mom, there wouldn’t be a Smackdown!” Welcome to the family business.
A Wrestling Legacy
In the professional wrestling industry, only a few families have achieved legendary status. The Harts, the Rhodes, the Flairs, the McMahons. But among them, the Samoan Dynasty stands tall.
To learn more about Journey’s lineage, I met up with him at the Oasis Pro Wrestling gym in Albany. There, he explained that the Samoan Dynasty consists of the Anoa’i and Fatu families. “It starts all the way up top from the OGs, it’s Afa and Sika, the Wild Samoans, and the High Chief Peter Maivia.”
The High Chief Peter Maivia left the islands of Western Samoa for New Zealand at an early age and began traveling the world as a wrestler. He even starred opposite Sean Connery in the James Bond film “You Only Live Twice.” Maivia later founded a wrestling school in Hawaii and promoted wrestling throughout the Pacific Islands before joining the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in 1977, before it became the WWE. The Samoan Dynasty runs deep. “You got the Usos, Lance Anoa’i, Jacob, Roman Reigns, myself, Zilla Fatu, Trinity Fatu, that’s Jimmy’s wife. Shoot, do you know of any?”
There are so many family members in this dynasty that Journey even forgot a few like Nia Jax and even The People’s Champ himself, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
But for Journey, his most personal connection is to his father, Sam Fatu who made his name in the ring under different monikers. First as the Tonga Kid, then later as the Samoan Savage.
Growing Up in the Business
Journey didn’t always understand what his father did for a living. “When I was little, I didn’t know what my dad’s occupation was. We watched wrestling, but I never knew. I had no clue of it. I was a very bad kid, one of those snot-nosed kids running around, flipping you off and messing with you.”
A big part of professional wrestling is the constant travel from one show to another. “Traveling from state to state, like Arizona to LA, LA to Vegas, Vegas to Sacramento, San Francisco, back to LA, back to Arizona. We were in the car for Lord knows how long.”
Journey remembers the people in the car with them looking a little unusual. “You know, there’s a lady with a mohawk, this guy who has slick blonde hair, and this other guy who has a big mustache.” He later realized he had been riding alongside wrestling legends like Luna Vachon, George The Animal Steele, and Ox Baker.
Growing up in the wrestling world, it was almost inevitable that Journey would step into the ring. But it wasn’t until 2015 that he finally did and it took one phone call.
The Call That Changed Everything
That call came from his brother, Jacob Fatu. The Samoan Werewolf who was recently signed by WWE. “He was asking me, what are you doing this weekend? I’m gonna be out there for some wrestling. I need a tag partner. It’s either now or never.”
That was it. Journey had his first match, and his father watched from the sidelines. “My dad said, you know, you were having fun in there for your first match.” Journey’s dad praised his selling, his ability to react convincingly to an opponent’s moves.
Finding His Own Path: Deathmatch Wrestling
Journey wanted to carry on the family legacy but also be his own kind of wrestler. He found his identity in Deathmatch Wrestling.
A Deathmatch is violent and brutal. Wrestlers use dangerous weapons and graphic violence to combat the idea that wrestling is fake. For Journey, though, it’s not just about smashing another wrestler with fluorescent lights and splashing blood in the ring. “The legacy that I would love to leave behind is somebody who truly cared about Deathmatch wrestling. People used to call these guys marks and idiots that just swing stuff. We’re idiots that do art, and we make this beautiful, absolutely gorgeous.”
Every time Journey steps into the ring, he carries the legacy of Samoa, his family, and the Polynesian culture.
