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Papali'itele Taogaga
Biography
Papali'itele Max Amata Taogaga is a Samoan retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with WWE in the late-1980s under the ring name Sivi Afi. Early career (1974–1978)
After deciding to become a professional wrestler, Taogaga went to Steve Rickard and Peter Maivia who trained him for two years. In his debut match in 1974, Taogaga defeated one of New Zealand's top light heavyweights, Del Adams. For the next four years Taogaga continued to work his way up through the ranks, wrestling the majority of foreign visitors to the country. Finally in 1978 he earned his big break, defeating Big John Da Silva in the final of an elimination tournament to decide the new, New Zealand Heavyweight Champion. Over the next few months, Taogaga successfully defended the title before heading to the U.S. at the end of 1978.
International appearances (1978–1986)
For the next seven years Taogaga split his time between the U.S., New Zealand, Australia and Japan. However, it was in Hawaii that Taogaga would be the most successful. It was here, in 1985, where he wrestled Ric Flair to a one-hour time limit draw for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in front of 12,000 people.
WWE (1986–1988)
In January 1986, Taogaga signed with Vince McMahon's WWE, making his debut on 23 January at a house show in Anaheim, CA in a win over Tim Patterson. He would later make his debut on Prime Time Wrestling, where he was billed as "'Superfly' Afi" and deemed to be the cousin of Jimmy Snuka. On the 8 March episode of The Body Shop, Afi was introduced to viewers of WWF All Star Wrestling as Snuka's cousin. Afi was undefeated initially, albeit against lower-level competition such as Rene Goulet, Barry O, Ron Shaw, and Matt Borne. On 6 March 1986 he gained his first significant victory when he pinned Bret Hart at a house show in Buffalo, NY.
Afi's undefeated streak ended three days later when he lost to Hart's partner Jim Neidhart in Landover, MD, but he continued to be pushed. Afi gained victories in April over Hercules Hernandez and Paul Roma. However fans were unaccepting of Afi as the replacement for the departed Jimmy Snuka, and openly heckled him in matches. He began to slide down the card, losing that spring to Bret Hart, Don Muraco, and Jake Roberts. By the summer all momentum had ceased. Now billed as "Sivi Afi", he became a near enhancement talent and lost to the likes of Bret Hart, Randy Savage, Harley Race and Ted DiBiase. In the summer of 1986, he was briefly referred to as "Toma". He formed a short-lived tag-team with King Tonga, but the duo was generally unsuccessful.
Toagaga entered 1987 firmly established as an upper-level enhancement star, losing regularly to Hercules and others but continuing to gain victories against other opening-level talent such as Frenchy Martin and Terry Gibbs. He was used frequently as a substitute when other wrestlers could not make house shows, teaming with others such as Raymond Rougeau. In the summer of 1987, he entered a lengthy losing streak, falling to preliminary competition such as Steve Lombardi and Frenchy Martin. Following a loss to Ted Dibiase on 9 December at a Wrestling Challenge taping in Fort Myers, Toagaga went on a hiatus. His last match came on August 27, 1988 in Burlington, VT against S. D. Jones.
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John L. Sullivan
Biography
John L. Sullivan (born Thomas Sullivan) was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by his ring name, Johnny Valiant. He competed in The World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), which became the World Wrestling Federation during his time with the promotion. He won the WWE World Tag Team Championship two times. The first run (which lasted over a year) was with his first and most famous storyline brother Jimmy Valiant over Tony Garea and Dean Ho on May 8, 1974; his second title run was with his second storyline brother Jerry Valiant over Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko on March 6, 1979.
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Charlie McDermott
Biography
Charlie McDermott (born April 6, 1990) is an American television and film actor. Since 2004, he has worked on a wide range of television series, including The Office, Private Practice and The Middle (as a series regular). He moved to Los Angeles at the age of 16.
His biggest movie parts to date are Wild Bill in Disappearances and Troy J. 'T.J.' Eddy in Frozen River. In 2008, he received a nomination for an Independent Spirit Award as Best Supporting Actor for his Frozen River performance.
He currently plays Axl Heck in the Patricia Heaton sitcom The Middle.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Charlie McDermott, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Ed Leslie
Biography
Edward Harrison Leslie is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, best known for his work in WWE under the ring name Brutus The Barber Beefcake. He later worked for World Championship Wrestling under a variety of names, mainly as "The Disciple" of real-life best friend Hulk Hogan. He is a former WWE World Tag Team Champion. Edward Leslie began his career at the side of Hulk Hogan in the 1976-1977 time frame. At the time, the two were billed as brothers; Ed was known as either Ed Boulder or Dizzy Hogan, to match Terry's Terry Boulder and Hulk Hogan. Leslie entered the WWF as a heel under the ring name Brutus Beefcake in late 1984 with manager "Luscious" Johnny Valiant. Beefcake debuted as a vain individual who dressed in outlandish outfits. As a singles competitor, he feuded with David Sammartino and Hulk Hogan, the latter who sought revenge on Beefcake after he and Valiant injured Hogan's protege Hillbilly Jim. Brutus got some "cheap heat" when he would come uninvited to ringside during Tony Atlas's matches. During the summer of 1985, Beefcake began teaming with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, and became known as "The Dream Team". The Dream Team began challenging The US Express (Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham) for the Tag Team Championship. Initially, the US Express fought off their challengers, but the Dream Team soon gained momentum, and at an August 24, 1985, show at the Philadelphia Spectrum, the Dream Team won the tag team titles from the U.S. Express when Beefcake rubbed Valiant’s lit cigar in Windham’s eye. The Dream Team held the titles for eight months, with their primary challengers being a reformed US Express (with Dan Spivey replacing the departed Windham) and British Bulldogs. At WrestleMania 2 in Rosemont, Illinois, the British Bulldogs defeated the Dream Team to win the tag team titles. The Dream Team failed to regain the titles and soon reverted to mid-card status. Leslie made news headlines on February 8, 2004 for causing an anthrax scare at one of Boston's MBTA stations, Downtown Crossing, where he was working at the time. He had been found to be in possession of a white powder, which turned out to be cocaine. He promptly checked into a drug rehabilitation facility after admitting that the cocaine found at the station was his. As a result, no charges were filed against him. Leslie married Kirsten Georgi on July 1, 1987; the couple divorced in 1991. His second marriage was to Barbara McGondel on October 1, 1994. Together, they have one daughter named Alana. Leslie also worked as a manager at Planet Fitness in Tewksbury, Massachusetts. He became a born again Christian.
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Samantha 'Rivers' Rivera
Biography
Samantha Rivera Treviño (born August 20, 1998), better known as Samy Rivers or simply Rivers, is a Mexican Internet celebrity, streamer and YouTuber. In 2023, she positioned herself as the most viewed female streamer on Twitch worldwide, streaming under the rivers_gg tag.
Rivers began her career in the digital world in 2020 through the Facebook and YouTube platforms, where she shared about video games. Her content reached the goal of achieving one million followers, which led her to be interviewed by various magazines and newspapers and identified as one of the ten best online content creators in Mexico. Her content extends to various social networks such as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
Rivers' main platform is Twitch where it has been positioned in the top places since 2022, reaching an average of more than 12,000 viewers with peaks that exceed 75,000 viewers. In addition to standing out in the field of video games and streaming, she is also recognized for being the president of the PIO FC football team of the Kings League.
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Terry Gibbs
Biography
Manny Saine was an American wrestler known for his time in the WWF, AWA, WWC, and NWA during the 1980s.
He started his career in 1977 in the southern territories of the U.S. and quickly made a name for himself, winning the ICW Southern Heavyweight Championship in 1979. In 1980, he captured the NWA Tri-State Heavyweight Championship and toured Japan in 1981. In 1984, he won the WWC Puerto Rico Championship, although he lost the title shortly after.
Gibbs debuted in the WWF in 1984, where he had several matches against major figures such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Bret Hart, though he didn’t secure any major victories. His final match in the WWF was in 1988, where he lost to Owen Hart.
After his time in the WWF, Gibbs wrestled in the AWA in 1989, where he retired that same year, marking the end of his wrestling career.
Throughout his career, Gibbs was a recognized wrestler in the major promotions of the era before retiring from the ring.
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Barry Orton
Biography
Randal Berry Orton was an American professional wrestler and actor. He was a son of professional wrestler Bob Orton, brother of professional wrestler "Cowboy" Bob Orton Jr., and uncle of professional wrestler Randy Orton.
Randal Berry Orton was born in Amarillo, Texas, to professional wrestler Bob Orton and his wife Rita. He was named after professional wrestler Wild Red Berry. The family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, three days after his birth. He was a musician and performed in nightclubs, playing in many prominent club bands over the country. Disappointed by a "near miss" record deal in 1976, Orton switched to professional wrestling.
Orton made his professional wrestling debut in 1976, trained by Bob Orton, Bob Roop, and Tully Blanchard. During his career in wrestling he competed in WWE as Barry O (1985–1988, 1990–1991), ICW, WOW, the NWA, the IWF and Stampede Wrestling (where, while appearing as the masked Zodiac, he managed Jason the Terrible) he was mainly used as an enhancement talent. In 1984, Orton wrestled for around three months under a mask as the Assassin #3 with Jody Hamilton. Orton was a replacement for Hercules Hernandez who had recently been unmasked by Jimmy Valiant. In a 2005 interview with Slam! Sports, Orton said "I was always struggling because I wanted to be a musician. I never saw myself as a professional wrestler."
His career was affected in 1986 when he was driving under the influence and his female passenger died. WWE would not allow him to wrestle until the matter was settled, and Orton went to Stampede Wrestling in Calgary as the masked Zodiac. Then in 1988 he worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling as Barry Gasper teaming with Bob Orton as Billy Gasper. He returned to WWE in 1990 and also worked for Universal Wrestling Federation (Herb Abrams), Herb Abrams's promotion for a couple of appearances. Orton retired from wrestling in 1991.
Orton came out of retirement in 2011 for one night for Pro Wrestling Guerilla participating in a battle royal which was won by Roddy Piper.
In the 1990s, Orton made a transition from wrestling into movies, appearing in minor roles. He went to New York and began studying classical theatre, spending a year there studying with Robert Patterson. In 1991, he appeared in the role of 'Wild Thing' in the local Vegas TV show 'Vegas Rocks', which led to a local commercial along with a part in Honeymoon in Vegas. He starred in a film called 'Tweak the Heat', based on crystal meth awareness.
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Joseph Kennedy
Biography
Joseph Kennedy (born Joseph Wilson, 1 November 1981 in Oxford) is an actor, singer and musician.
Joseph was born to the actor John Bowe. He was a student at Dragon School and then Abingdon School from 1995 to 2000 where he appeared in the productions Jesus Christ Superstar and Sweeney Todd. After having obtained the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in France, he joined the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
In 2008 he played the role of the assassin Carter, in the British television programme TV series Robin Hood, the character Carter was killed by the Sheriff of Nottingham at the end of season 2 in episode 13. Episode 8 "Get Carter!" was named after his character.
More recently he appeared in the films The Incident and The Grind, and in 2014 played the character Will Scarlet in the Doctor Who episode "Robot of Sherwood".
In 2016 he appeared in Brimstone, directed by Martin Koolhoven.
In 2023, he appeared as Dr. Weathers in BBC One miniseries Boat Story.
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Byun Yo-han
Biography
Byun Yo-han (born April 29, 1986) is a South Korean actor celebrated for his depth, expressive eyes, and mastery across film, television, and even musical theater. Unlike many stars who debut in mainstream projects, he meticulously built his career on the foundation of the independent film scene.
Byun Yo-han is an alumnus of the prestigious Korea National University of Arts (KNUA), a training ground for many of Korea’s top actors. During his student years, he dedicated himself to the craft, appearing in over 30 short and independent films starting in 2011. This period gave him the experience to tackle nuanced, unconventional roles early in his career, such as his lead performance in the independent hit film Socialphobia (2015).
His professional breakthrough came in 2014 with the cable television series, Misaeng: Incomplete Life. Playing Han Seok-yool, the overly talkative, slightly eccentric, but ultimately deeply empathetic intern with long, messy hair, Byun captured the imagination of the public. He won the Best New Actor award at the APAN Star Awards, launching him from an unknown indie darling into a recognized television star.
Following Misaeng, Byun quickly cemented his status as a talented lead actor in historical dramas, a genre that demands powerful presence and technical skill.
Six Flying Dragons (2015–2016): He took on the epic role of Ddang-sae / Lee Bang-ji, a tragic figure who becomes the legendary master swordsman. The demanding physical and emotional scope of the 50-episode sageuk earned him critical praise and an Excellence Award at the SBS Drama Awards.
Mr. Sunshine (2018): In one of the highest-rated dramas in cable history, Byun starred as Kim Hee-sung, the wealthy, sensitive fiancé to the female lead. His portrayal of a man trapped by his family's dark history and the era's changing politics showcased a lighter, yet profoundly melancholic, side to his acting.
While maintaining a strong television presence, Byun Yo-han consistently returned to film to challenge himself with diverse characters.
In 2021, he starred in the black-and-white historical drama The Book of Fish, delivering a standout performance as Chang-dae, a zealous Confucian scholar. This role earned him multiple nominations for Best Actor.
His film career reached a new peak with the 2022 naval blockbuster, Hansan: Rising Dragon, where he played the pivotal antagonist, Wakizaka Yasuharu, a cunning Japanese commander and rival to Admiral Yi Sun-sin. Byun's portrayal was widely praised for its intensity, leading him to win the Best Supporting Actor prize at prestigious ceremonies including the Baeksang Arts Awards, Blue Dragon Film Awards, and Grand Bell Awards.
Most recently, Byun Yo-han has starred in the Disney+ political drama Uncle Samsik (2024) and the dark thriller series Black Out (2024), continuing to demonstrate his preference for complex, character-driven narratives.
Byun Yo-han’s career is defined by his versatility and his deep commitment to the emotional truth of every role, making him one of South Korea's most trusted and acclaimed contemporary actors.
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James Ware
Biography
James Ware, better known by his ring name "The Birdman" Koko B. Ware, is a semi-retired American professional wrestler who made his professional wrestling debut in 1978. He gained most of his popularity in the World Wrestling Federation when he was known as the Birdman. Ware came to the ring with a blue-and-yellow macaw parrot named Frankie, and would flap his arms like a bird while dancing before and after his matches. Before joining the WWF, Ware worked as a part of several tag teams, first with Bobby Eaton in Memphis and then later on with Norvell Austin as one half of the The P.Y.T. Express in several promotions.
It was not until late in 1980 that Koko’s fortune changed when he participated in a battle royal to crown the first ever Mid-American Television Champion. The crowd favorite was Jimmy Valiant, who Koko accidentally knocked into Danny Davis and eliminated Valiant. Moments later, Koko dumped Davis to the floor and won his first title. After the match, Jimmy Valiant returned to the ring and beat Koko down. Koko’s feud with Jimmy Valiant was quickly expanded to include the heel Tojo Yamamoto and Koko ally Tommy Rich. When Dutch Mantel returned to the CWA in early 1981 he quickly defeated Koko for the TV title making Koko’s first run with the gold a short one.
Koko floundered until September 1981 when he was chosen to referee a Southern Heavyweight Championship title match between Jerry Lawler and “The Dream Machine". Ware unfairly counted Lawler out to give the Dream Machine the victory, a decision that did not sit well with Lawler nor the fans in Memphis. Koko quickly aligned himself with manager Jimmy Hart and his First Family and changed his name to Sweet Brown Sugar. Sugar never got the best of Lawler but did taste tag-team success alongside Steve Keirn and then with Bobby Eaton. Eaton & Sugar won the AWA Southern Tag Team Championship. On June 8, 2008, Koko made a special appearance at TNA's Slammiversary as a groomsman in the wedding for "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal and So Cal Val, along with George "The Animal" Steele, Kamala the Ugandan Giant, and Jake "The Snake" Roberts.
On April 4, 2009, Koko was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by The Honky Tonk Man.
On September 5, 2009 Ware's wife died after a battle with cancer.
On February 15, 2011 Koko made an appearance on Tosh.0.
He is one of only three wrestlers to sport 'WWF' on his trunks.
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