The rivalry began in 1978, when Hawaii joined the Western Athletic Conference, and was played annually until 1997, shortly before Wyoming departed from the WAC and joined the newly formed Mountain West Conference.

The rivalry was renewed in 2012 when Hawaii joined the MW as a football-only affiliate member.

The teams have met 28 times, with Wyoming leading the series 17–11.

Paniolo is a Hawaiian word meaning “cowboy”,[2] and the trophy featured a bronze cowboy on horseback, twirling a lariat.

[3] However, neither team was able to locate the original Paniolo Trophy before the rivalry was reinstated;[4][5][6] this led to a new replacement trophy being created based on photographs of the original.