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Jimmy Snuka

Is Jimmy Snuka the biggest star with the shortest time on top?  He was only a big star in the WWF for 3 years before he left and once he came back in that weird Wrestlemania 5 appearance, he was just a name.  Was he real well-known prior to joining Vince and co.?  Because you never hear anything about him pre-WWF.

Snuka was a giant star for nearly a decade!  He was all over the territories and drew tons of money before he even got to the WWF.  In fact the WWF stuff where he was on TV as a featured guy was basically the tail end of his run due to the drugs and murder and all.  

Did you know that he has a daughter named Tamina, though?  

Comments

  1. JeffHardysInnerDialogueNovember 17, 2012 at 8:45 AM

    I wonder if Jimmy Snuka still has a coke hook up? Gotta remember to tell Matt the next time he sees him at a convention to try and get a number.

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  2. Very good question on biggest star with shortest time on top. Ted Dibiase went from main eventing wrestlemania 4 to fighting virgil at wrestlemania 7 to being in a tag team at wrestlemania 8.

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  3. I hope there's a Twitter account to go with this gimmick.

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  4. JeffHardysInnerDialogueNovember 17, 2012 at 9:12 AM

    Man that's a great idea!...wait a minute, wasn't it one of the conditions of my parole that I have to stop trying to DM the creatures of the nIGHT! for oxys?

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  5. Dibiase's kind of the same deal, as he was a pretty big star in Mid-South, and I want to say even held the WWF National title, which is vaguely tied into the mythos of the Intercontinental title, as I seem to remember he and Patterson having a match before the 128 man tournament in Rio where Patterson won the title fair and square.

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  6. I wouldn't put DiBiase is that group. The Virgil feud was a big deal and Money Inc was the top tag team for awhile.

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  7. I think both the question and the response are exaggerated a bit on both directions. Snuka was part of a successful tag-team with Orndorff in Mid-Atlantic but I think it's a stretch to say he "drew tons of money all over the territories." His biggest roles prior to the Backlund run were always in tag teams, either with Orndorff, Stevens, Gordy, or Brody. That said, if you've "never heard anything about him pre-WWF" then you're not looking hard enough.

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  8. So, are you saying that tag teams can't draw money? Cause if you think that than Vince may want to hire you as the booker for the tag division any day now.

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  9. Um...no. Mid-Atlantic was a tag team territory. That or the fact that tags "can't" draw money was never denied. However, drawing in Mid-Atlantic as part of a tag team and getting a token run in Georgia as part of the Freebirds break-up doesn't quite equate to "drawing money all over the territories," either. He and Brody were big in All-Japan that was almost all Brody--Snuka was little more than a warm body.

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  10. It depends how you define 'on top.' Tommy Rich was NWA champion for a week. The likes of Bundy/Big Bossman/Earthquake fought Hogan in the main events of house shows for six-month spans, but those guys weren't really "on top," just programmed against the real main eventer.

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  11. You mis-read the post. It says "you never hear anything about him pre-WWF". As in when Jimmy Snuka is mentioned, 99% of the conversation involves Piper's Pit, jumping off the cage, allegedly murdering his girlfriend, or his daughter.

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  12. I'm really hoping Ryback wins this poll in a few years with these two PPV mains as his peak.

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  13. Yeah....Snuka drew money in pretty much every territory he was in in the early 80s (Georgia, WWF, Mid-Atlantic). For those who never saw him outside the WWF, ESPN Classic has the AWA shows on ESPN....though he was on the downside at this point

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  14. Still beats Kozlov's run.

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  15. He allegedly murdered his daughter?!?!?!?!

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  16. How about the Ultimate Warrior? If you combine all of his WWF stuff, we're talking maybe 2 years max on top.

    How about Mick Foley? He even commented a few weeks ago on RAW that he was champion for only 23 days if you combine his all his title reigns.

    Are we just talking main eventers? If you want to include non-main eventers how about Honky Tonk Man? He was IC champion for year before becoming a jobber.

    Kane has had some main events, but he's never really been the top guy for any real length of time.

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  17. I guess we're not going to see Amanda Ultimate Warrior in action. :-(

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