Jason Momoa is not only known for his television and movie roles, but for his muscular physique. Momoa is 6”4, 110kg with only 17% body fat, an ideal build for wrestling. Due to this, many of his fans have been wondering if Jason Momoa was ever a wrestler.
Despite having a good build to be a wrestler, Jason Momoa was never one. People may have also believed he was a wrestler as there are many Samoan people like Roman Reigns and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in wrestling. Momoa, however, never wrestled.
Continue reading to find out what Jason Momoa does with his time instead of wrestling.
Samoans In Wrestling
Jason Momoa was born in Nānākuli, Honolulu, Hawaii in 1979, but moved to Norwalk, Iowa with his mother when he was six months old. His mother, Coni Lemke, is German, Irish and Native American and his father, Joseph Momoa, is Samoan and Hawaiian.
This is important to note because there are a lot of Samoan people in wrestling even though Momoa never wrestled. There is actually an entire Samoan Dynasty of pro wrestling.
The dynasty originated with the Anoa’i Family who originated from American Samoa. It consists of popular wrestlers like The Wild Samoans duo (Afa and Sika Anoa’i), the tag team Samoan Gangstas (Matt and Samu Anoa’i) and another tag team, the Headshrinkers (Soloa Fatu Jr. and Samula Anoa’i).
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, his father, Rocky Johnson, and grandfather, Peter Maivia, are also considered honorary members of the family. The Johnson family are Samoan and African.
There may be a large number of Samoans in wrestling due to their body type. Samoans are typically larger than average Americans. This may come from generations of farming and labor required by male Pacific Islanders.
Samoans may also be better at wrestling as they have a history of combat in their past. They are big-boned as they evolved from warriors.
It may also seem like there are many Samoans in competitive wrestling as a lot of them are from the aforementioned Anoa’i family. As the family has a history of wrestling, it is likely other members got into the sport due to that, rather than just their race.
So, despite Jason Momoa being Samoan and having the big-boned, strong body type that would be good for wrestling, he has never competed in the sport.
Fighting in Films
Though Jason Momoa never wrestled, he has been in many fights, both off and on screen.
One signature part of Momoa’s looks is the scar he has over his left eye. He got it in 2008 from a bar fight at the Birds Cage in Hollywood, California. During the fight, Momoa got hit in the eye with a pint glass. It took 140 stitches to fix, leaving him with the scar.
In one of his most well-known roles, Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones, Momoa’s character also got into a lot of fights.
In fact, during filming, Momoa asked to have more fight scenes. He worked with Buster Reeves, the fight coordinator for the show and was always asking him for more fight training.
Reeves said that Momoa played the role well because he does really look like a big warrior. So, when he choreographed Momoa’s fight, he focused on that image.
Similarly, when Momoa got the role as the superhero Aquaman, he had to receive specific training for it. Aquaman uses a weapon called a trident, which has special powers in the film, but is also used for combat.
Thus, Momoa had to receive sword fighting training for his debut in Justice League and later in his standalone film Aquaman.
So, Momoa may not have ever been a wrestler, but he is a fighter in his films, television series and in real life.