One MIND-BLOWING Secret From Every Year Of WWE History
42. 1983 - The Real Reason Jimmy Snuka Was Demoted
Nobody with an investigative bone in their body ever bought the story that Nancy Argentino, the girlfriend of Jimmy Snuka, accidentally hit her head on a rock and died overnight on May 10, 1983. The prevailing belief was and is that Snuka murdered her. The coroner determined that her injuries resulted from domestic abuse, but no charges were ever filed and the Allentown, Pennsylvania police department dropped the case within weeks.
There was no significant public pressure on Snuka. Snuka can thank the perception of pro wrestling for that: since nobody cared about nor took it seriously, outside of local media, the story was only ever covered by a single New York paper spanning a few paragraphs. While more than one member of a May 23 Madison Square Garden crowd screamed that he was a murderer from the stands, Snuka - a genuine in-ring sensation and unreal physical specimen - was still over as the WWF’s top drawing card in 1983. Indeed, the famous moment - the one about which Mick Foley has crowed on many a retrospective documentary, the leap from the top of the steel cage - happened in October of that year.
After Nancy’s death, Snuka missed a single WWF date and wrestled in the exact same state just three days later on May 13.
So why was he not the face of Vince, Jr.’s WWF?
While the WWF did hold concerns over Snuka - he was a liability - of equal importance to McMahon was that Snuka had turned 40 just over a week after Nancy’s death.
Somebody that old on television, with the belt?