Message from WWE Hall of Famer Afa the Wild Samoan

First and foremost, I want to give thanks to our Heavenly father for without him most of us would not be here to spend the holidays with our loved ones. Amen.

So as I look back through this year of 2015 and beyond I keep thinking of all the things we went through and how lucky I am to have someone in my life to cry to when things seem to stand still but yet the devil keeps pushing through or trying to convince my mind that his way was the right way all the time. There were times that we even think we know more and nothing bad ever will happen to us until something bad really HAPPENS and then we say GOD PLEASE HELP ME.

So in this wrestling world I been living in for the past 40 plus years, I have seen and met so many people, good people, bad people and those that look up to me as their hero or someone that is higher than themselves and all because I am a celebrity or this wrestling guy bigger than earth shaking their hand and even taking pictures with them. It was a life that makes me realize that I am someone really special to many fans out there and it seperates them and me. On my side I never wanted it that way. I just wanted to be just like you and not to be treated like I'm better than you. Throughout my wrestling career I learned to appreciate all that I was blessed with through wrestling, I became a coach, a teacher, a father figure and most of all I became Pops to many many of my fellow students/wrestlers. The bonds I have with my students or my kids was so strong and powerful its hard to put in words.

This brings me to what I saw last weekend in one of my WXW events in Leesburg, FL. I have seen throughout my wrestling career so many good things along with some bad things but when I became a Pops I no longer see or think I'm this tough guy that when my toes or finger got broken I just look around to find something such as lollipop stick, rub my toes or finger after I pulled them back in place and go on to the next wrestling event because I can't miss the show to disappoint my fans. But now I'm a Pops and one of my kids is laying there helpless with tears running down the side of his face and to me he is saying, pops please help me and there I was just standing there by his side nothing I could do, nothing. Just a week earlier, I felt the same helpless feeling when my son Samu was in surgery up in Pennsylvania and there was nothing I could do down here. What a feeling that was, standing at ringside while one of my students was crying in pain and there was nothing I could do. Then I hear the quiet sound from around me as the paramedics made their way toward my kid. I motion to the ring announcer to stop the show and take down the bottom rope, all this as my body starting to feel sick but then I feel the voice to gather my children and pray.

If I can only describe what went through my head at the time. So I want to take this time to say how hard it is for us wrestlers to please our fans, the love these kids go through night after night. Not only do they try to live their dreams but mostly to please you folks out there. While the air lift my Kevin to the hospital in Ocala we and all our family of wrestlers followed each other to the medical center. We were not allowed to be in the waiting room or the hospital except me and my wife. As we sat there waiting for Kevin to return from the MRI and CT scan, my mind again was praying for Kevin to be ok. I want to explain for a few moments what the wrestlers do every time they step foot in the ring. At that moment each of us thinks we are supernatural and all because we want to please our fans. There are lots of risks we all go through and some of you do not realize that. When wrestlers perform each night it's because of something they want to do and to please you fans.

Anyway I want to report first off that thanks to you all for your PRAYERS that Kevin is ok thank God. Kevin came home to us Sunday and today he is home, which is a gift and the blessing only Lord Jesus can give us. In closing I want to wish each of you a Merry Christmas and a blessed, prosperous New Year and our Lord continue to touch each and every one of us today, tomorrow and forever more. God is truly good all the time. Pops.