Taylor Wily

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Taylor Wily
File:Taylor Wiley (6142489357).jpg
Wily in 2011
Personal information
Born Taylor Tuli Wily
(1968-06-14)June 14, 1968
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight 450 lb (200 kg)
Career
Stable Azumazeki
Record 57–27–14
Debut March 1987
Highest rank Makushita 2 (March 1989)
Retired July 1989
Championships 1 (Makushita)
1 (Jonidan)
1 (Jonokuchi)

Taylor Tuli Wily (June 14, 1968 – June 20, 2024) was an American actor, sumo wrestler and mixed martial artist.[1] He was from Laie, Hawaii and was of American Samoan descent. He competed in UFC where he was billed as Teila Tuli and also competed in sumo wrestling. As an actor, he was known for his recurring role as Kamekona Tupuola on Hawaii Five-0, which was also a recurring character on Magnum P.I..

Early life

He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 14, 1968.[1]

Sumo career

In March 1987, Wily was recruited by former sekiwake Takamiyama Daigorō, another Hawaiian, and joined Azumazeki stable, which Takamiyama had founded the previous year. He was given the shikona (sumo name) of Takamishū Daikichi (高見州 大吉).[2] In a 2016 interview with Sherdog he remarked on his first bout saying “I won a case of Spam and some rice, and that was it, I was into sumo.”[1]

He was unbeaten in his first 14 official bouts, winning two consecutive yūshō or tournament championships. Weighing nearly 440 lb (200 kg) and at six foot 2 inches,[3] he was one of the largest wrestlers in sumo. In March 1988, he was promoted to the third highest makushita division, and became the first foreign born wrestler to ever win the championship in that division. In the same month, future yokozuna Akebono Tarō, also from Hawaii, joined Azumazeki stable. As the highest ranking wrestler in the stable, he was a mentor to Akebono and gave him advice on how to adjust to life in Japan.[4] In March 1989, Takamishū reached his highest ever rank of makushita 2, and even fought two bouts with elite jūryō ranked wrestlers (one of whom, Tōryū Kenji, was a former sekiwake). Takamishū was never to reach sekitori status himself.

He did not compete in the following tournament, and retired from sumo in July 1989 due to knee problems.[1]

Sumo career record

Takamishū[5]
Year in sumo January
Hatsu basho, Tokyo		 March
Haru basho, Osaka		 May
Natsu basho, Tokyo		 July
Nagoya basho, Nagoya		 September
Aki basho, Tokyo		 November
Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1987 x (Maezumo) East Jonokuchi #7
7–0
Champion
 		 East Jonidan #48
7–0–P
Champion
 		 East Sandanme #49
4–3
 		 West Sandanme #31
5–2
 
1988 East Sandanme #10
4–3
 		 East Makushita #55
7–0
Champion
 		 East Makushita #10
2–5
 		 West Makushita #23
4–3
 		 East Makushita #16
5–2
 		 West Makushita #8
5–2
 
1989 West Makushita #4
4–3
 		 East Makushita #2
3–4
 		 East Makushita #6
0–0–7
 		 East Makushita #46
Retired
0–0–7		 x x
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

Ultimate Fighting Championship

After leaving sumo, Wily went to New Japan Pro Wrestling in September 1990 and joined Tatsumi Fujinami's stable, Dragon Bombers, as a trainee, alongside fellow former sumo Nankairyū Tarō. However, the stable dissolved in 1992 and he left NJPW. He continued his training, which evolved into mixed martial arts, preparing him for the first-ever Ultimate Fighting Championships.

He adopted name "Teila Tuli" that he was billed for during the competition. He explained his reasoning saying "They didn't want me to come with such an English name," he said. "So I took Taylor and spelled it the way we spell it here in Polynesia, Teila, and used my middle name, Tuli, and got rid of Wily."[1]

He competed in the first bout of the UFC 1 in November 1993, facing savate expert Gerard Gordeau.[6][7] This was the first UFC fight on broadcast television as a previous match had not been broadcast.[8] Tuli rushed forward, but lost his balance and was met with a brutal kick to the head that knocked a few of his teeth out, and a punch that broke Gordeau's hand, with the referee stopping the fight as a TKO win for Gordeau.[9] Reportedly, several teeth were lodged in Gordeau's foot, while another landed in the audience.[8] This was Tuli's only MMA fight.[10] Afterwards he suffered from blurred vision in one eye for several years.[6]

The match has been described as one of the top five David and Goliath match-ups in MMA history.[9]

Mixed martial arts record

Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Loss 0–1 Gerard Gordeau TKO (head kick) UFC 1 November 12, 1993 1 0:26 Denver, United States First televised fight in UFC history

Acting career

He appeared as an extra in Magnum, P.I.'s 1982 season, which was his first appearance.[1] He also had small roles on the television series North Shore and One West Waikiki.[11] Wily had a role in the comedy film Forgetting Sarah Marshall as a hotel worker who befriended the main character played by Jason Segel.[12] He also appeared in the 2017 film Radical.[13]

He had a recurring role on the television series Hawaii Five-0 where he played Kamekona who was both an informant and an entrepreneur.[1] Throughout the series, the character would hold various jobs, such as running a helicopter tours company, a shave ice company, or running a shrimp truck.[12] He also made cameo appearance playing the same character in the reboot series Magnum, P.I. and MacGyver.[11]

Wily made a cameo on the 20th edition of The Amazing Race and handed out clues to racing contestants.

He also appeared as a sumo wrestler in "Battle of the Titans", an episode of One West Waikiki, another TV show filmed in Hawaii.[14]

Select filmography

Year Film/Series Role Note
2004 North Shore Bartender "Ties That Bind"[14]
2008 Forgetting Sarah Marshall Kemo [15]
2010–2020 Hawaii Five-0 Kamekona Tupuola 171 Episodes[16]
2012 The Amazing Race 20 Cameo 12th Leg[3]
2017 MacGyver Kamekona Tupuola [17]
2018–2024 Magnum P.I. Kamekona Tupuola 7 episodes[15]

Death

Wily died on June 20, 2024, at age 56.[18] His death was announced by host Lina Girl Langi during the show Island Life Live.[13] According to his manager he died of "natural causes".[17] He was married and had two children.[7] Peter M. Lenkov and Andre Jackson posted tributes to him online.[17] Angela Keen posted that he would visit children in Shriners Children's Hawaii Hospital.[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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