Tama joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1983, as "Samoan No. 4," wrestling at untelevised house shows before making his television debut in the fall of 1983 as the Tonga Kid. Billed as the cousin of Superfly Jimmy Snuka, he entered into his first major feud with Snuka's rival Roddy Piper.
In late 1986, he teamed with King Tonga. Tonga Kid was renamed to Tama, while King Tonga was renamed to Haku. Together, they were christened The Islanders. The Islanders gained several key victories, including a tag team battle royal victory over Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy, but ultimately failed to gain the interest of fans. The two were eventually repackaged as villains in April 1987 after attacking The Can-Am Connection during a match; the team was now managed by Bobby Heenan, and used an aggressive, savage style of wrestling as opposed to a scientific style.
In the fall of 1987, they began a feud with Strike Force, and while the two teams generally traded victories during the early part of the feud, once Strike Force won the WWF Tag Team Championship, the Islanders began finding themselves on the losing end, despite having several attempts. In early December 1987, the Islanders were disqualified from a match with the British Bulldogs when they kidnapped the Bulldogs' dog, Matilda. The Islanders were indefinitely suspended in the storyline until Matilda was found. From late January 1988 until early February, the Islanders were consistently beaten by the British Bulldogs.
At Saturday Night's Main Event XV on March 7, they beat the Killer Bees, a tag team consisting of B. Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell. At WrestleMania IV, the Islanders, with Bobby Heenan, defeated the Bulldogs and Koko B. Ware, with Matilda. On April 21, Heenan introduced Siva Afi as the newest member of the group, but Afi never made another appearance with the Islanders. Tama then left the WWF.
In 1989, Tama joined World Championship Wrestling, where he adopted the ring name "The Samoan Savage" and began teaming with his brother Fatu and his cousin Samu as The Samoan SWAT Team. The trio were managed by "The Big Kahuna" Oliver Humperdink. In late 1989, Samu withdrew from in-ring competition and The Samoan SWAT Team was renamed "The New Wild Samoans". At Starrcade in December 1989, The New Wild Samoans competed in the Iron Team round-robin tournament, placing third. The New Wild Samoans left WCW in the summer of 1990.