Sam Mokuahi

Background

Mokuahi grew up in Honolulu, attending President Theodore Roosevelt High School, where he played multiple different sports.

Career

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.

Achievements

• He won his first championship on August 5, 1956, teaming with Billy Varga to defeat Great Togo and Tosh Togo for the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship. On January 25, 1961, Steamboat defeated Dick Hutton to win the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship. In 1960, he won the WWA International Television Tag Team Championship with Dick Hutton. Steamboat went on to compete in the Atlanta, Georgia-based Georgia Championship Wrestling, where he won the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Georgia version) with Eddie Graham in 1964, and the North Carolina-based Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling, where he held the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) with Graham in 1965. Steamboat won the NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version) on five occasions between 1964 and 1967, as well as the NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) on two occasions in 1965 and the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship in 1969. He also won the NWA North American Championship (Hawaii version) on four occasions. 1Steamboat and Graham won this championship by winning a tournament held on a card promoted in the Championship Wrestling from Florida promotion.