
Snuka was active in amateur bodybuilding in Hawaii in the 1960s. As a child, Snuka moved with his family to the Marshall Islands and then to Hawaii. Before Snuka was born, his mother married Reiher. Thomas was married to another woman, and Smith was engaged to Bernard Reiher. Snuka was born in the British colony of Fiji on May 18, 1943, to Louisa Smith and Charles Thomas. Snuka died twelve days later at the age of 73. As his health declined, the charges were dismissed on January 3, 2017. Snuka pleaded not guilty, but was ultimately found unfit to stand trial in June 2016 due to being diagnosed with dementia. Snuka was indicted and arrested in September 2015 on third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter charges in relation to the May 1983 death of his girlfriend, Nancy Argentino, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His children, Sim Snuka and Tamina Snuka, are both professional wrestlers. Snuka was the inaugural ECW World Heavyweight Champion (a title he held twice) in Eastern Championship Wrestling (later Extreme Championship Wrestling). He was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1996.

He was best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in the 1980s and was credited with introducing the high-flying style of wrestling to the WWF. Snuka wrestled for several promotions from the 1970s to 2010s. He is better known by the ring name Jimmy " Superfly" Snuka. James Reiher Snuka (born James Wiley Smith – January 15, 2017) was a Fijian and American professional wrestler.
