Before Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage were the big draws in the WWF there was one guy that started to turn heads...it was The Superfly and his signature move was pretty much a first for American TV wrestling - leaping off the top rope and flattening his opponents. Although in his most memorable matches, he usually missed. Especially off the top of the 25 foot high steel cage. (That's why they're memorable.) But Snuka was great cause he could sell a punch from a baby and make it seem like he'd been hit with a sledgehammer. Face or heel, fans ate him up and no one cared if he won or lost, as long as his opponent got squashed from off the top rope.

Somewhere in my basement I still have a VHS copy of his match vs. Magnificent Don Muraco from MSG. A bloodied and battered Superfly connects from way up above the steel cage. I was 9 and it blew my mind.

The most famous Snuka incident most people remember though was the coconut bashing he received from Roddy They Live Piper. This propelled Superfly to the top of the WWF (pre-Hogan) and started one of the most famous feuds in wrestling history. (It was wrestling back then, not sports entertainment.)

(Both the Muraco cage match and the Piper's Pit video are preserved, for your viewing pleasure, after the jump.)

Today, at around 60-64 years old, Snuka is still wrestling and flying, although not with the same grandeur he once had. He's not got much left in his brain, so word is his interview skills boil down to saying "Brudda" a lot. You can check out his site or Superfly on Myspace brudda. Or in a few days (July 12th) he's wrestling in Hagerstown, MD. For a guy who's forehead looks like a cheese grater, he done okay.