Suma Te Woke La grew up dreaming of being a professional wrestler. He saw it on the television, and ever since then, he was hooked. He saw his favorite wrestlers, Bruiser Brody, Davey Boy, and Vader, perform in the ring.
One day, a professional wrestling company asked him to join their company in California. Since then, Suma went on to wrestle for companies. Such as Lucia Extreme, UPW, MAW, SPW, WCWA, NCLW, Vancouver Island Pro, and New Wrestling.
Suma Te Woke – The Warrior of Wrestling
He has won many belts along the way. For example, he is the Native American Heavy Weight Champion and Texas Heavy Weight Champion, and he has a Death Match Tournament belt.
Growing up, he didn’t see anyone that looked like him on television, and if he did, it would be represented in a wrong way. He didn’t understand why his people would be treated this way. He added his Native American culture to his character in the ring.
He is the only full-blooded Native American pro wrestler. He wants his Native American heritage to be known throughout the world. Important things celebrated in the Native American culture are dance and music.
In Indigenous American culture, dances have several meanings used to express themselves. Music is based on stories and feelings, such as sadness and pain. Music is used for spiritual guidance to help the Indigenous Americans with what they are going through. Suma Te Woke La is traveling to different states and countries to preserve his culture for future generations to learn about.
Suma Te Woke is doing a lot for the Native American culture to have it represented the correct way in wrestling. Many other wrestlers have done a Native American gimmick, but it was not meant correctly.
He also gets kids that come to his wrestling shows and have them be involved with his Native American heritage. Suma makes belts for the kids that come to his performances. So they can feel part of the show and do the proper traditional dance.
Explain the importance of preserving Indigenous American culture.
We’re the original people if that’s not preserved in any other racial background. Why it’s important to be who you are. If you don’t hold onto it distinguishes. There are so many different sides of genocide, and we are still here.
Any Indigenous Americans that have inspired you and why?
Indigenous wrestlers are the lack of representation and lack of authentic representation. Always someone whoops and hollers, and they wear headdresses. A lot of tribes and nations don’t wear headdresses.
What tribe do you belong to? Explain the Indigenous American heritage.
My tribe that I belong to is the Chiricahua Apache Native American tribe. It’s very family-oriented and very tight-knit. Our traditions and stories are passed through our generations.
That we use to live and the way we should continue to live. We believe where here on earth for a certain amount of time, and we move on to the next. We don’t own land, but we belong to the land. We’re here to take care of it.
Suma Te Woke is traveling around the world and will be teaming up with the new Pitbulls led by ECW original Pitbull # 1 Gary Wolf. That pro wrestling faction will include former WWE women’s Champion Jazz, former WWE superstar Rodney Mack, ECW original Angel Orsini, and former NWA New England Brass Knuckles Champion Christopher Annino, aka Pitbull 3.
Suma, along with his tag team partners Robby Phoenix and Pitbull # 3 Christopher Annino. All three won the inaugural United States of America Six-person tag team championship belts.
It was the first ever six-person tag team ever with any gender that could compete in this match. The free bird rule applies meaning at any place and at any time; a person can defend it against any winners.
Their opponents were called “Smoke Signals,” and his tag team was called “The War Party.” Suma and his tag team partner, Robby Phoenix, won the WAW Tag Team championship belts.
Explain your partnership with the Pitbulls.
I have known them for a while. I know Chris, and I talked to him about working together for two years now. Angel, I haven’t known that long. With Gary, I have known for a while. We discussed the six-man tag team championships and talked about working in the states and what would be comfortable for both and beneficial.
What do you think about going for the first-ever world six-person United States tag team championship with Angel Orsini and Pitbull 3 Chris Annino?
I think that it will be the first of many for me. It’s just another platform for me to represent. My people should be treated in the best of light. I want people to see what we have to offer.
Suma’s mission outside of the ring is to spread awareness of what Native American people went through back then and how they still go through the same things today. He also wants this current generation to be taught Indigenous American cultures so that they can teach future generations about their heritage.
He wants people to know why keeping his heritage alive for years is essential.
Suma has so many goals in his wrestling career that he wants to do. He said to me that he does not have a favorite match that he has done so far because he has so much more planned cause he is not sure what’s to come.
For Suma Te Woke, wrestling is about engaging with every fan, whether they love or hate him; if the fans appreciate it, that’s all that matters to him. Suma has been to so many different countries to wrestle, such as Canada and Japan.
He said going to Canada is gorgeous, and everyone is kind there. He said someday he wants to wrestle in front of the Hart family. In Japan, he said he took thousands of photos with fans, which was an incredible experience for him.
There’s so much more Suma is excited to do in his wrestling career, like in South Africa, because they do big wrestling shows there.
