Gataivasā Afa Amituanaʻi Anoaʻi[4][5] was born in Leone, American Samoa, on November 21, 1943, to Reverend Amituana'i Anoa'i and Tovaleomanaia Ripley-Anoa'i.

[6] When he was young, his family relocated to San Francisco, California, in the United States, where his father established the First Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa.

[7][8] Upon leaving the Marine Corps, Anoaʻi began training as a wrestler under his uncle Peter Maivia and cousin-in-law Rocky Johnson.

The "wild" nature of the brothers was conveyed through their unorthodox behavior (which included communicating only in unintelligible grunts and consuming unprepared raw fish, during interviews and while approaching the wrestling ring).

[15] Anoaʻi returned to the WWF for a third time in 1992, as the manager and occasional tag partner of The Headshrinkers (Samu and Anoai's nephew, Fatu).

[21] In 1999, Afa and Lynn Anoaʻi started the Usos Foundation, a non-profit organization aiming to turn youth away from drugs, gangs, and poverty by providing scholarships to the Wild Samoans Training Center.