There are some things that we know for certain about the late James Wiley Smith, known to the world as Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. We know that he was one of the most popular stars of the 1980s wrestling boom. Hulk Hogan refused to work a program with him because he didn’t feel confident that the audience wouldn’t take up Superfly’s side. His dive from the top of a steel cage inspired wrestling legends like Mick Foley, The Sandman, Bubba Ray Dudley, and Tommy Dreamer to become wrestlers. Two of his children followed in his footsteps, having stints in WWE.
What we don’t know, and what Dark Side of the Ring looks at, is what responsibility he had in the death of his 23-year-old girlfriend, Nancy Argentino.
Each person interviewed paints a very different picture of the man. Sam Fatu (aka The Tonga Kid) talks about his own troubled past and how becoming a wrestler under Snuka’s wing helped him. Nancy Argentino’s sisters cite Snuka’s erratic and violent behavior, lamenting their sister’s involvement with a married man. Don “The Magnificent” Muraco, his greatest in-ring rival, focuses on Superfly’s bizarre childhood and frequent cocaine use.
Accounts of the incident are just as contradictory. Snuka told the story of Nancy falling and hitting her head during a bathroom stop in his autobiography. Sam Fatu has said that he was in the car on that trip and remembers nothing like that happening. Other wrestlers attest to Snuka’s surprise at finding her dead. Argentino’s family recount past incidence of domestic violence being covered up by Nancy herself. The Whitehall chief of police from that time and Nancy’s funeral director have very different accounts as to what they observed. What we do know is that Snuka went to television tapings in Allentown (PA) and, when he returned to the George Washington motel in Whitehall, Nancy was dead.
The issue was seemingly buried with Nancy Argentino until local papers did a 30-year retrospective. The conflicting accounts of Nancy Argentino’s head injury and its origins prompted authorities to re-open the case. Jimmy Snuka was brought before a court of law at 73-years-old, found to be unable to stand trial due to his level of dementia, and died less than two weeks later.
Like in previous installments of the docu-series, we’re left with many, many questions. Was the investigation botched by Whitehall authorities or did Vince McMahon “come down with a briefcase and fix it?” Was this a household accident or a drug-fueled act of domestic violence? If Snuka needed a “handler” in Buddy Rogers and Nancy Argentino, how was he able to mentor Sam Fatu and others? Like so much of pro wrestling, the reality lies somewhere between the perception and the performance.
Comments are closed.