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#Post#: 21221--------------------------------------------------
Tapa Talks: Ancestry, Athletics & More
DIR By: ChrissiCalvert
Date: November 28, 2013, 4:55 pm
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Lei’D Tapa is still fairly new to the wrestling business,
but the business is not new to her. She grew up around it while
her uncle was in it. The Barbarian, who wrestled throughout the
world including WCW and the WWF (now WWE), is her uncle, and
Uncle Barbarian Sione helped her embark on a wrestling career
about three years ago.
So far, so good.
Lei’D Tapa is TNA Impact Wrestling’s newest
Knockout. An intimidating force, she could literally knock out
opponents.
The 5-11, 215-pound tower is bigger, stronger, taller — a
powerful wrestler like Awesome Kong, Beth Phoenix, Chyna and
Tamina Snuka. Tapa learned the basics from her uncle as well as
George South at his Rings wrestling training facility in
Charlotte, N.C.
Proving herself against men at Rings training sessions,
Tapa’s athleticism and upbringing helped her make the
transition to the squared circle.
“It’s an honor to work with TNA and to be a
Knockout,” Tapa said. “It’s a great
opportunity.”
As intimidating and mean as Lei’D Tapa is in the ring, she
is quite the opposite away from it — very humble and
respectful.
“I grew up around professional wrestling,” she said,
“and I know how tough it is to break through into the
business.”
Tapa received her break during TNA’s Gut Check. The TNA
Impact Wrestling TV segment gives aspiring wrestlers an
opportunity to work for TNA.
In February, Tapa had a Gut Check. She then joined Ohio Valley
Wrestling, TNA’s developmental group in Louisville. By
October, she became a TNA regular.
“I’m just really grateful that I had the opportunity
to participate in the [TNA] Gut Check. That put me on the radar
-- to get me out there and get known. It was the perfect
opportunity for me and the right moment for me to be in front of
the right people.
“For TNA to give me the opportunity to be with them and to
grow as a wrestler and as an entertainer, I’m really
honored and thankful.”
Progressing steadily, Tapa is in her third year in the business.
Already making a mark, she helped Gail Kim win the TNA Knockouts
title in October. Tapa is Kim’s enforcer.
Aligning the new star with Kim is a good move. Kim, one of the
best professional wrestlers in the world, is in her 13th year.
She also wrestled successfully for WWE and internationally. Kim
enjoys getting physical in the ring, delivering tremendous
matches when given the opportunity. Kim produced some stellar
matches with Awesome Kong during her first foray in TNA and
turned a lot of heads working gimmick matches with Taryn Terrell
in her latest TNA stint.
“It’s an honor to work with Gail Kim,” Tapa
said, “and I’m so glad I have the opportunity to be
doing what we’re doing right now. She’s a great
teacher to me. She’s helping me to keep growing and giving
me advice.
“She’s a phenomenal athlete and a great, great
talent. Before I started wrestling, I would watch her on TV to
see how she works. Not only is she a beautiful woman,
she’s a strong woman. I always believe that being a woman
stands for something, and when I look at her, that’s what
I see.”
Even though her birthplace is Germany, Tapa is of Tongan
descent. Her parents (Saimone and Ofa Tonga) were born in Tonga.
As an adult, her father joined the U.S. Army and was stationed
in Germany when she was born. With her father being moved
continually by the military from various countries and states,
the family had to adapt each time. Different culture, new
residence, school transfer, leaving friends, making new ones.
Just when you’re settled, time to pack and go.
No matter where he was stationed, two constants existed —
each other and pro wrestling.
“I grew up a wrestling fan. When I was a little girl, my
uncle [The Barbarian] lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, and my
father was in the military. So we traveled a lot,” said
Tapa, whose father is currently stationed in Hawaii. “When
we’d be able to go to the wrestling shows, we would go, or
we’d watch it on TV.”
Life and pro wrestling came full circle for Tapa in TNA.
“I had a lot of favorites growing up. Hulk Hogan, being
able to meet him and see him again, I remember when I was a
little girl, I got to see him, and now that I’m older and
I work for TNA and got to see him again...It’s a dream
come true..I look up to these great wrestlers and performers and
entertainers who are part of the business. I look up to The Rock
and a lot of people who I remember growing up. Now that
I’m doing it, it’s unforgettable.
“To be a big fan as a little girl and to be a part of it
now is amazing.”
Tapa was always athletic. In middle school, she played
basketball and volleyball and threw discus and ran some track.
During her high school years, she attended three: Leesville High
School in Leesville, Louisiana and two high schools in Charlotte
(South Mecklenburg and West Charlotte).
Tapa played basketball and starred in volleyball, making
All-State twice in North Carolina. In her junior year she was
All-State for South Meck. In her senior year, she and her
younger sisters (Carolina and Loleini) teamed to help the West
Charlotte High School volleyball team win the state title. Tapa
was MVP and again All-State. She earned a scholarship to
Southwest Missouri State where she played NCAA Division I
volleyball with her older sister. Carolina later attended
Eastern Wyoming College and Loleini NC A&T University.
“For my size, everyone looked at me like I’m this
big amazon,” said Tapa, a college graduate. “When I
was younger, it was more guys picking on me than girls. The
girls were really nice. The little boys would pick on me, saying
I had big feet; I was big.
“I really liked the way my parents raised me and my
sisters and my brother. They said that, in life, people will say
things to you, but you have to be happy with yourself. You
can’t make everybody in the world happy, but as long as
you’re happy with how you are, inside and out,
that’s all that matters. That’s something that was
always instilled in me by my parents, and I believe that for
anybody.”
Tapa’s athleticism and heart are just as big.
“I’m so aggressive. I love sports, and I love being
athletic,” she said. “I think being able to play all
these different sports helps make you a better athlete, and in
wrestling, I’m just so excited to see what I’ll be
doing in the future. With training and all the stuff I’ve
learned, I can’t wait to use it in the ring.”
Ashley Flair, another volleyball standout who is training to
become a wrestler, competed on a club volleyball team in North
Carolina with Tapa’s younger sisters. Ashley, the daughter
of two-time WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair, is with NXT, the
WWE’s developmental group based in Orlando. TNA Impact
Wrestling (9 p.m. EST Thursdays on Spike TV) is also in Orlando.
Volleyball ended with college for Tapa. She took a break from
sports, but her competitive nature still remained. It was her
core.
Before embarking in more athletic endeavors, Tapa helped her mom
who runs an elderly care agency.
Eventually Tapa turned to football — women’s tackle
football. Her husband [J.R./Royal Red] played high school
football, and his coach later coached a women’s
professional football team.
Tapa tried out and made his team, the Carolina Queens in the
Independent Women’s Football League, a full-contact
women’s American football league that was founded in 2000
and began play in 2001. It is one of three full-contact,
11-on-11 football leagues for women.
Tapa played tight end and middle linebacker for the Queens. She
spent four seasons in the IWFL, before turning to pro wrestling.
“I like to stay healthy, and I like to do something
athletic and physical,” Tapa said. “When I was done
with football, I was talking to my husband. My husband is a big
supporter of whatever I do. He said, ‘Call your uncle and
see where you can go and train.’ I did that the next day,
and my uncle sent me to George South.”
George South, who worked the indies in the Carolinas, was
enhancement talent in WCW and WWE. He did a good job in the
ring, helping put over the stars. It’s like coaching
baseball. You don’t have to be the best baseball player to
be a good coach. George South wasn’t a top star on the big
stage, but he is a good wrestling trainer.
“He took me in and taught me the basics,” Tapa said.
“I trained there for six months, and when they felt I was
ready, they put me in these independent shows. I then happened
to go to a TNA Gut Check seminar in Fayetteville, North
Carolina. A week after that, I got a call from Al Snow, and TNA
wanted to give me an opportunity to do the Gut Check Challenge,
and I went form there.”
Football and wrestling are physical sports.
“I think football prepared me for taking bumps and
falling,” Tapa said. “Some of the things we would do
in the ring kind of reminded me of football. When you’re
training to tackle someone, you’re trained to hit them,
and they fall back. So I know how it feels to get hit by another
woman on the field playing football. It’s real intense.
That kind of reminds me of a bump in wrestling. When a person
hits you, you’re going back, and there’s nothing you
can do about it. In a way it’s similar, and in a way
it’s not.
“Football is very physical.
“Everything about wrestling is very physical. It takes a
toll on your body, especially when I first learned how to take a
hip toss, learn how to bump and hit the ropes. That’s a
different feeling from any kind of sport I played. It made me
look at wrestling in a different way. After I would train, I
would have bruises, and I would wonder where I got this bruise
from and how I got it.
“With my size being so big, it’s even harder, but
once I got used to the feeling and learned what I can do and how
I can control my body to do certain things, it turned out great,
and now I’m loving it.”
Lessons in the ring is just one aspect of pro wrestling. Uncle
Barbarian told Tapa to always be humble, work hard and
don’t give up. She also gained experience and knowledge in
OVW.
“It’s a great experience to be able to learn the
technique and be able to learn the psychology and physicality of
wrestling and to be able to train with such great trainers who
pushed me to my limits to understand how to take moves and how
to give moves and how to portray your character.
“If anyone’s out there that wants to wrestle one
day, if you have the opportunity, go for it and try it, because
it’s something you won’t forget.”
Uncle Barbarian not only offered advice to his niece but also
his expertise first-hand.
“My uncle is very strong. I think that runs in our family.
I come from a family where they’re all big people,”
Tapa said. “The Polynesians and Samoans and Tongans are
known for their strength and for their size.
“Working out with my uncle is very good. He pushes me.
It’s great.”
He wasn’t the only man she wrestled.
“When I first started training, all I trained with were
guys,” Tapa said. “Some of the guys were smaller
than me. Some of the guys were bigger than me.
“Oh my goodness, we would do a lot of conditioning where
we would get a deck of cards and they would flip the card, and
if it was a 9 of diamonds, then we would do nine push-ups, until
the whole deck was gone, 10 of spades, we were doing 10 squats.
Then we would do three minutes of hitting the ropes, before we
even trained. The guys would push me to my limit, and that made
me stronger as a woman, a female, as a person.”
 
• Lei’D Tapa is into fashion. Tapa designed her
elaborate ring gear which her mother, Ofa, made.
“I wanted something to wear that symbolizes
me...especially from my culture,” she said, “and my
name Lei’D Tapa is from my culture, too.”
In Hawaiian culture, a Lei is a wreath of flowers. Tapa is a
flat bark cloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean,
primarily in Tonga.
“They use black ink on it to draw symbols of your
ancestry, the story of your family and your generation,”
she said. “My older sister helped me come up with this
name Lei’D Tapa, and Tapa represents me every time I step
into the ring to tell my story of who I am.”
Family is very important in their culture. Tapa has three
sisters and one brother. Tapa’s father has 14 siblings and
her mother nine.
“I’m used to big families, and to me our size is
normal, but when we’re all around other people, they get
intimidated. They say, ‘Man, you guys are
huge,’” Tapa chuckled. “It’s normal to
me, and family is very important.”
They support each other in whatever they do.
Tapa’s father, Saimone Tonga, is a highly decorated Chief
Warrant Officer Level 5 in the U.S. Army, serving the country 36
years and counting.
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