411’s Tales from The Territories Episode 6 Report: ‘Polynesian: Wrestling’s Island Dynasty’

-This week we head to Hawaii and a territory that you knew would be covered as it is close to The Rock’s heart. Let’s get to it!

-Round Table: Rocky Iaukea, Kevin Sullivan, Bruno Lauer (Harvey Wippleman), and Lars Anderson

-Sullivan tells us that people don’t understand how influential Polynesian Pro Wrestling. Rocky says in the 60s they didn’t have many stations in Hawaii for TV and it meant you watch wrestling or nothing. Sullivan had 3 idols in wrestling and he got to work with all 3 of them in Hawaii.

-King Curtis Iaukea liked violence and liked it as bloody and nasty as it could be. Polynesian Pacific Pro Wrestling was founded by High Chief Peter Maivia. He was born in Samoa and trained in New Zealand before settling in Hawaii. He married and created a dynasty that continues to this day.

-Billy’s Eye: Sullivan says it all came from Peter and he was a super nice guy that was tough as nails. They tell the story of Billy Robinson who was one of the best shooters. He was jealous of Peter who had the looks. Billy and Peter were eating in a restaurant and Billy called Peter a savage for eating with his hands. That lead to a fight and Peter pulled Robin’s eye out and threw him out the restaurant window. Apparently, that is why Billy always had a crooked eye.

-Havoc in Honolulu: The story of a massive riot in the mid 60s involving King Curtis. Curtis went on TV and cut a promo on Neff Maiava saying his forehead was thicker than normal which made him a neanderthal and calling him feminine for wearing a “skirt/dress.” This sets up their match and King Curtis was in charge of picking the police officers. On one side was Samoan officers and on the other were Hawaiian officers. Neff dominates most of the match and is going for the finish, but Curtis pulls the cover off the buckle and Neff splits his head open and is pouring blood. Curtis puts an Alka Seltzer in Neff’s mouth and hangs him from the ropes by his hair. Neff is bleeding and foaming from the mouth while having a seizure and the crowd was losing it. Peter Maivia was going to run in and make the save with all the baby faces, but it’s too late as a chunk of concrete gets tossed and hits a police officer. Rocky was scared being there and was afraid for his dead. A full-on riot is happening, and Peter grabs the mic and is able to calm the Samoan fans down.

-Peter dies at the age of 45 from cancer and leaves the promotion to his wife. She realized she inherited more than a wrestling company. It was a strategic goldmine that everyone wanted a piece of and would kill for it.

-Commercials!

-Queen Lia: Anderson calls her Samoan Royalty and she traces her lineage back to a famous Samoan King Malietoa, who united the Islands. They all agree that The Samoans are the toughest wrestlers and Lia was the toughest of them all. Sullivan jokes that he always said Lia would kill him in a fight. Bruno showed up in Hawaii and cut a promo outside against the Samoan People and he thought he was doing a good job until Lia told him to leave for talking bad about her people.

-The Sullivan Screw Job: Sullivan tells us they were driving to a rugby stadium in American Samoa on a dirt road. He noticed a bunch of 300lb guys carrying around large bananas and pulling meat off of smoked pigs. He had a match that night for The Title against Siva Afi and Lia had him cut a promo about smashing coconuts. Lia told Sullivan he was winning the title that night and all Sullivan wanted to know who was going to protect him. She pointed to the Samoans around that Sullivan noticed were drinking some kind of psychedelic substance. Sullivan knew he was a dead man as the audience was 99.9% Samoan and they were all tuned up. Sullivan told the ref to ring the bell and pulled Siva on top of him and ordered the ref to count or he would kill him. Sullivan flew back to the dressing room and was drinking a beer. Lia tried to get him to go back out, but it wasn’t happening as he had never had been so scared in his life.

-Commercials!

-Hot Summer Night: Hawaii puts on their biggest show ever and brings in people from Japan, WWE, Crockett, and the normal people that worked for Lia and Anderson. We get some good footage from the show and Andre The Giant was there as a featured attraction. They drew 22,000 people and Sullivan wonders who they got that many egos to work together. Anderson says they worked well because the various sides all wanted to get in good with Lia. Crockett did stipulate they would bail if any of their guys were filmed so they don’t have footage from Flair vs. Siva Afi. Lia knew she had to watch her back as people from the mainland were trying to steal her territory.

-Hostile Takeover: Lars Anderson was Lia’s booker but started as a star in Florida and The Carolinas before going to The AWA. He is off to Winnipeg to do some promoting and it’s -30 and he heard there was an opening in Hawaii. He couldn’t get to a phone fast enough. Sullivan jokes that Anderson wasn’t the easiest guy to get along with. There was a problem with one of the stock holders and employees as a bar. They felt they could do Anderson’s job so they attack him from behind at a bar. Anderson says he was knocked out from behind and he was swallowing his tongue. The guys were going to throw him in the ocean to drown him, but the police show up to stop it.

-Commercials!

-Everyone wanted a piece of Hawaii and it lead to a lawsuit against Dunbar Wakayama, commentator for the company. He wanted to start his own promotion and was annoyed when he found out that he had to pay to use talent. Booking fees were a thing in the territories and Dunbar felt it was extortion. Dunbar received threats that they would cut off his balls and stick them in his mouth. Dunbar goes to the FBI and they wire him for a meeting with Anderson and Lia. They exchange money and 2 FBI agents draw guys on them. Lia and Anderson spent two days in a Honolulu Jail. They went to trial that took 13 weeks and even got Gordon Solie involved as Florida wanted to expand to Hawaii. Bob Geigel, NWA President, testified and explained to the jury what a booking fee was and that got them off the hook. It may not have been standard practice outside of pro-wrestling, but was something that was always done. They are found not guilty and Lia was deported back to Samoa since she was not a citizen. She even though she wasn’t guilty of anything, she was still punished.

-Commercials!

-King of The Beach: Rocky tells us that everything to his dad (King Curtis) was a shoot. He saw the white sands and felt there was a lot of potential. He would rent out beach necessities and it angered the hotels who weren’t getting money. It was all public land and people wanted to bid for the right to the land. Curtis was getting tickets every day and the police didn’t want to arrest him, but were going to take all his stuff. Curtis gets a tip they police are coming and a friend sends the news out to catch everything. Curtis pretends to fall and hardway splits his head open on a wooden box. So the lead story on the news was a bloodied Curtis being stretchered out and forced off his land by the police. That went over as you would expect and Curtis got to keep his spot and stayed there until he died. Now everyone has beach rental on Waikiki.

-Bruno and The Johnsons: Rocky Johnson was a dear friend with Bruno and they worked together in Kansas City. Rocky told Bruno to come out to Hawaii with him. Rocky then came to Memphis in 1987 and brought his son, Dewey. Rocky had to hit the road and asked Bruno if Dewey could live with him for a bit. We get some classic teenage Rock pictures here…you know the ones. Bruno and Dewey were out in Memphis and someone was trying to sale a piece of crap car and Dewey wants it. All Bruno can offer is $40 and the guys agree. The car has no tags and no headlights and as Rocky drives it away he stops as someone wakes up in the back seat. Rocky lets the guy out and when they get back to the hotel the car stops and never starts again. Bruno is amazed that kid ended up being one of the top guys in the business and the biggest movie star in the world. Bruno loves that family and notes he still gets texts from Rock’s mom that refer to him as her other son. He considers Rock a brother and gets a little choked up talking about his relationship with the family.

-Commercials!

-There is another episode next week: Pacific Northwest! PIPER! SWEET!

-The ran Hot Summer Night II the following year and it drew a crowd of 1900 which shows how far the territory had fallen. Sullivan notes that what happened to Hawaii was the same thing that happened to all the territories. They all had a great run and then petered out. Sullivan notes without Lia there is no Rock and credits Lars for booking the run the company had. Lars enjoyed his time there and would do it again. Rocky was always proud of it and Sullivan loves hearing the stories about King Curtis. Bruno credits Lars for giving him a place to live and is honored to sit around with these men. He is glad he survived to become an old-timer. Sullivan compares the promotion to a comet as it came quickly and burned out out just as quickly.

-Bruno mentions how they had a shirt of The Islands on a Globe with HAWAII in big letters and Polynesia Pacific Championship Wrestling on the outside and The Rock always wanted one, but they were impossible to find. Bruno dug through all his stuff and found an old one that was stained and sent it to The Rock. We see the picture Rock sent back as he has the shirt framed and hanging on a wall in his office. Bruno pays his respect to Lia, Rocky Johnson and The High Chief as we close this episode.

-I enjoyed this one as I didn’t know much about the Hawaii Territory. I kind of want to know more and I tried to look up as much as I could while this show was airing to get names and back stories checked, but if anything they said seems off, I will admit I am not well versed on Samoan History. I know this show isn’t doing the numbers Dark Side did, but I am enjoying this series. It’s an easy watch and I have always enjoyed wrestlers just sitting around telling stories. It’s also nice to get a little levity and not have all the heavy stuff that makes you sad to be a fan or feel dirty for being a fan. Thanks for reading!