Umaga (wrestler)

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Umaga redirects here. You may be looking for the New Zealand footballer, Tana Umaga
Eddie Fatu
Born (1973-03-28) March 28, 1973 (age 51)
Samoa[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Ekmo Fatu
O.G. Ekmo
Ekmo
Jamal
Umaga
Billed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[2]
Billed weight350 lb (160 kg; 25 st)[2]
Billed fromThe Isle of Samoa
Trained byAfa Anoa'i
Debut1995

Edward Fatu (born March 28 1973[1]) is a Samoan professional wrestler better known by his ring names Jamal, Ekmo, and currently Umaga. He is presently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and performs on their Raw brand.

He is a member of the Anoa'i wrestling family, and before his current WWE role, he frequently worked as a part of a tag team — variously named The Island Boyz, the Samoan Gangstas, and 3-Minute Warning — with his cousin Matt Anoa'i.

Biography

Fatu was born on March 28, 1973 in American Samoa, a member of the famous Anoa'i wrestling family. His mother, Vera, is the sister of Afa and Sika of the Wild Samoans, and his later Umaga gimmick would be compared to their "wildness".[3] His two older brothers, Sam (better known as Tonga Kid and Tama) and Solofa Jr. (Rikishi, the Sultan), are also professional wrestlers who have achieved success of their own.

Team with Matt Anoa'i

Main article: 3-Minute Warning

Fatu trained to become a professional wrestler at the "Wild Samoan Pro Wrestling Training Center" operated by his uncles, Afa and Sika. In 1995, with his training complete, he started wrestling for Afa's World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW). The next year, both Fatu and his cousin Matt were brought into the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to take part in an angle with Solafa Fatu, Jr., Eddie's brother and Matt's cousin, that ended up being quickly dropped.[1] Instead they were sent to the WWF's "farm territory" Heartland Wrestling Association, where they formed a tag team which stayed together through various promotions — including Memphis Championship Wrestling and Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, holding championships in both[4][5] — under the names Samoan Gangstas and Island Boyz. In 2002 the team was brought back to the (now renamed) World Wrestling Entertainment as 3-Minute Warning, a pair of enforcers for Raw brand General Manager Eric Bischoff. [6] The team lasted just shy of a year, with Jamal being released from his WWE contract in June 2003, reportedly after his involvement in a bar fight.[1][7]

Solo career

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)

After his release from WWE, Fatu reverted to the name Ekmo — used when he was a member of the Island Boyz team — and began working for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He worked for TNA between June and November of 2003, during which time he was put into a tag team with Sonny Siaki. The team feuded with America's Most Wanted (Chris Harris and James Storm). Both the tag team and Fatu's time in TNA came to an end when he decided to take bookings in Japan.[8]

All Japan Pro Wrestling (2003-2004)

Fatu left TNA for All Japan Pro Wrestling, where he used the name Jamal, the same name he'd used as a member of 3-Minute Warning. He was again used as a part of tag teams, first forming a short lived team with Justin Credible before forming a more permanent team with Taiyō Kea. With Kea he held the AJPW Unified World Tag Team Championship and won the World's Strongest Tag Team League tournament in 2004.[9] The team also wrestled a stint in Hawai'i Championship Wrestling, holding the HCW Kekaulike Heritage Tag Team Championship once.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2005-Current)

2005-2006

In December 2005, Fatu re-signed with World Wrestling Entertainment.[10] Initial signs pointed to a reunion of 3-Minute Warning, with the former team of Matt Anoa'i (Rosey) and Fatu (Jamal) wrestling in dark matches together before episodes of Raw.[11] However, Rosey was released from WWE before the team could be brought to the main show.[12]

Fatu re-debuted on the April 3 2006 episode of Raw with a new gimmick and name.[13] Now called Umaga — the same name of the final part of the Samoan tattooing process, meaning "the end"[14] — he was depicted as a destructive savage who could only be controlled by his manager, Armando Alejandro Estrada.[15][16] The pair started out feuding with Ric Flair, whom Estrada interrupted in the middle of a promo to tell how much of a fan of his he used to be, but that now he was old and needed to retire. It was in offering the fans a new "hero" to watch that he introduced Umaga, who proceeded to beat down Flair.[13] For the next few weeks Umaga participated in squash matches, destroying various jobbers,[17][18] until he dispatched Flair at Backlash at the end of the month.[19]

Umaga then returned to defeating jobbers. His next actual feud started at August's SummerSlam, where he was supposed to be an enforcer on behalf of The McMahons (Vince and Shane) during their match against D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H), only to be attacked by Kane as he made his entrance.[20] Kane and Umaga feuded for the next two months until Umaga won a Loser Leaves Raw match, sending Kane off of the brand.[21] After being separated by different brands, Umaga and Kane had one final match at Cyber Sunday where Umaga again defeated Kane after fans selected him over Chris Benoit and The Sandman to be Umaga's opponent for the night.[22]

2007-current
Fatu at a WWE Raw house show.

Umaga, having still not been pinned in the WWE, was then deemed #1 contender for the WWE Championship and placed into a feud with then-champion John Cena over the title. Cena retained his belt at the New Year's Revolution pay-per-view by pinning Umaga with a roll-up, officially ending his streak — which had lasted 34 televised matches and spanned from his debut in April 2006 to January 2007.[23] In that time Umaga was never pinned or made to submit on television, although he did lose two matches by disqualification and another went to a double count out.[24] For the rest of the month, Estrada played down Cena's victory, claiming it was a fluke, until a Last Man Standing rematch was signed for the next pay-per-view, the Royal Rumble.[25] On an episode of Raw between the two pay-per-views, Umaga attacked Cena causing a (worked) injury to his spleen and putting the match in jeopardy.[26] Cena (kayfabe) refused a medical exam, the results of which could cause him to forfeit his title, and then defeated Umaga by submission, wrapping a loosened ring rope around his neck during an STFU.[27]

Though he was out of the world title picture, Umaga was named Vince McMahon's "representative" for the WrestleMania 23 "Battle of the Billionaires" with Donald Trump. Immediately after choosing Umaga, McMahon "granted" him a match against the Intercontinental Champion, Jeff Hardy, which he won handedly to take the title.[28] After Bobby Lashley was named Trump's representative, the two began a feud which lasted even beyond WrestleMania.[29] Despite Umaga losing in the "Battle of the Billionaires" hair versus hair match and causing Vince McMahon to get his head shaved,[30] the McMahons (Vince and Shane) continued to second him to the ring. Two weeks after WrestleMania, Lashley interfered in a match and helped a planted fan — Santino Marella — defeat Umaga for the Intercontinental title.[31] At the April 29 Backlash event; the team of Umaga, Vince, and Shane McMahon wrestled Bobby Lashley for his ECW World Championship in a Handicap match, winning the title for Vince.[32] While Umaga worked with the McMahons, Estrada became less and less involved until he stopped appearing altogether. In June, Umaga was re-entered into a feud with Marella, the man who took his Intercontinental Championship earlier that April. When they met at the Vengeance pay-per-view, Umaga was solidly in control of the match, but lost by disqualification when he disregarded the referees instructions and continued to punch Marella.[33] In a rematch on July 2, Umaga beat Marella to win the Intercontinental title back.[34] Not long after, he seemingly started a face turn, joining forces with John Cena against Carlito and Randy Orton.[35][36] After defeating both Kennedy and Carlito in a Triple threat match at SummerSlam,[37] Umaga interrupted a Raw match between Kennedy and a returning Jeff Hardy, assaulting Hardy and leaving him lying in the ring.[38] One week later, on the September 3 Raw, Umaga lost the Intercontinental title to Hardy in a singles match. Later that night, he teamed with Carlito in a handicap match against Triple H, after which Triple H struck him several times with his signature sledgehammer, injuring him.[39] He was given a match against Triple H at No Mercy, which was changed to a title match for the WWE Championship during the event when Triple H won the title earlier that night, Fatu did not get the title.[40] At Survivor Series his team of MVP, Mr. Kennedy, Finlay and Big Daddy V lost to Triple H's team. [41]

In wrestling

  • Nicknames
    • During the early days of Fatu's time as Umaga he went by the nicknames "Samoan Wrecking Machine" and "Samoan Smashing Machine", both of which are believed to be parodies of "Samoan Submission Machine"; the nickname of Samoa Joe. He was later given the more consistent nickname of the "Samoan Bulldozer".
    • In AJPW, he was known as the "Samoan Typhoon", to go along with tag partner Taiyō Kea's nickname of "Hawaiian Tornado".

Championships and accomplishments

Umaga as the Intercontinental Champion

Personal life

Articles posted by Sports Illustrated, the New York Daily News, and the Washington Post during the weekend of August 30 2007, named Fatu as one of a number of superstars to have purchased pharmaceuticals from an online pharmacy, a violation of the WWE "Talent Wellness" program. Fatu specifically was said to have received somatropin — a growth hormone — between July and December 2006, after the "No drugs from online sources" rule was instituted.[45][46]

On April 25 2008, Fatu's mother Vera passed away after a seven year battle with cancer.[47]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Umaga Bio". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  2. ^ a b "Umaga Bio". WWE. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  3. ^ "Umaga biography". Samoan Dynasty. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  4. ^ a b "MCW Southern Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
    listed as The Island Boys
  5. ^ a b "WEW Hardcore Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
    name misspelled as "Eddy"
  6. ^ "RAW results - July 22, 2002". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  7. ^ "Rosey bio". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2007-08-18. And then, in June, Jamal was released by WWE stemming from an incident at a night club, leaving Rosey on his own.
  8. ^ "Exclusive Interview with Sonny Siaki". TNAWrestling.com. 2003-12-08. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  9. ^ a b "World Tag Team Title (All Japan Pro-Wrestling)". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  10. ^ Scaia, Rick. "Flair's Troubles, WWE Financials, WWE Returning to NBC, and Lots More..." Online Onslaught. Retrieved 2007-08-04. WWE has re-signed Jamal (real name, Something Fatu, but you remember his as Jamal from 3 Minute Warning).
  11. ^ "RAW results - January 9, 2006". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  12. ^ "Rosey Released". WWE. Retrieved 2007-08-05. WWE has come to terms on the release of Matt Anoai [sic] (Rosey) as of March 21, 2006. We wish Rosey the best in all future endeavors.
  13. ^ a b "RAW Results - April 3, 2006". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  14. ^ "Samoan Sensation". Retrieved 2007-02-15.
  15. ^ Tello, Craig. "From Havana to WWE". WWE. Retrieved 2007-08-05. he controls RAW's undefeated savage, Umaga.
  16. ^ "Brilliance Before Backlash". WWE. Retrieved 2007-08-05. The savage newcomer Umaga was also in action
  17. ^ "RAW Results - April 10, 2006". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  18. ^ "RAW Results - April 24, 2006". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  19. ^ "Backlash 2007 results". Pro Wresting History. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  20. ^ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts". Wrestling’s Historical Cards. Kappa Publishing. 2007. p. 121.
  21. ^ "RAW results - October 9, 2006 Results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  22. ^ "2007 Wrestling Almanac & Book of Facts". Wrestling’s Historical Cards. Kappa Publishing. 2007. p. 122.
  23. ^ "New Year's Revolution 2007 Results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  24. ^ "Umaga profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
  25. ^ "RAW results - January 8, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  26. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated, May 2007". Arena Reports. Kappa Publishing. 2007. p. 132. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  27. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated, May 2007". Arena reports. Kappa Publishing. 2007. p. 130. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  28. ^ "RAW results - February 19, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  29. ^ "RAW results - February 26, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  30. ^ "WrestleMania 23 results". Pro Wresting History. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  31. ^ "RAW results - April 16, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  32. ^ "Backlash 2007 results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  33. ^ "Vengeance 2007 Results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  34. ^ "RAW results - July 2, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
  35. ^ "RAW results - August 6, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  36. ^ "RAW results - August 13, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  37. ^ "SummerSlam 2007 results". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  38. ^ "RAW results - August 27, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-08-29.
  39. ^ "RAW results - September 3, 2007". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  40. ^ "No Mercy 2007 Results". PWWEW.net. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  41. ^ "Hardy and The Game survive team turmoil". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-11-19.
  42. ^ McAvennie, Mike. "Results:Santino: A very sore winner". WWE.com. Retrieved 2007-08-04. With the Intercontinental Champion still motionless in the corner, he charged into his prey with a devastating Samoan Wrecking Ball
  43. ^ "Heartland Wresting Association Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
    listed as The Island Boyz
  44. ^ "WWF/WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
  45. ^ "Fourteen wrestlers tied to pipeline". Sports Illustrated. 2007-08-30. Retrieved 2007-08-31.
  46. ^ Farhi, Paul (2007-09-01). "Pro Wrestling Suspends 10 Linked to Steroid Ring". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-09-02.
  47. ^ "Elevera Anoa'i Fatu passes away". WrestlingFigs.com via wwe.com. 2008-04-27. Retrieved 2008-04-28.

External links


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