Background
Mokuahi grew up in Honolulu, attending President Theodore Roosevelt High School, where he played multiple different sports.
Mokuahi grew up in Honolulu, attending President Theodore Roosevelt High School, where he played multiple different sports.
Mokuahi was trained to wrestle by Lord James Blears and Lou Thesz. He debuted in the 1950s, adopting the ring name "Sam Steamboat", the English translation of his birth name. Steamboat began his career with the Honolulu-based NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions.
He lost the championship to Luigi Macera on April 15, 1961.
In the early 1960s, Steamboat relocated to the contiguous United States, where he competed for the Los Angeles, California-based promotion Worldwide Wrestling Associates. In the mid-1960s, Steamboat began wrestling for Championship Wrestling from Florida, where he reformed his alliance with Eddie Graham.
Steamboat returned to Hawaii in the late 1960s, winning the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship on three further occasions and the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship on four further occasions. He retired in the late 1970s.
Mokuahi died in Hawaii from complications from Alzheimer"s disease on May 2, 2006.
Championship Wrestling from Florida
NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Ciclon Negro
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (5 times) – with Eddie Graham (3 times), Ron Etchison (1 time), and Jose Lothario (1 time)
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (1 time) – with Eddie Graham1
Georgia Championship Wrestling
NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) (4 times) – with Eddie Graham
Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling
NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) (1 time) – with Eddie Graham
NWA Mid-Pacific Promotions
NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Billy Varga (1 time), Bearcat Wright (1 time), Peter Maivia (2 times), and Billy White Wolf (1 time)
NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (Hawaii version) (4 times)
Worldwide Wrestling Associates
WWA International Television Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Dick Hutton.