Tag: Juicy Finau

Daily Update: WWE Bad Blood, Cody Rhodes, Joe vs. Kobashi

Posted on by Joseph Currier

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This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter

  • The life of Vince McMahon and the Netflix documentary. This is a lengthy story talking about the documentary, my reactions, more details on the various stories talked about, comments from Vince McMahon, Bill Simmons, Ann Callis, things we did learn, what wasn’t accurate and what wasn’t and reviews.
  • More on what the latest settlement in the Cung Le lawsuit against UFC entails, how much more fighters will be getting if the judge approves this, and if the judge doesn’t, what happens next.
  • A note about Bad Blood and Wrestle Dream, interest levels of both and card update.
  • How the audiences for WWE & AEW have changed over the past year, as far as income, viewing together and age of viewers. What show viewerships have grown in income the most over the past year.
  • The most detailed look at the ratings of the past week, placings for the night and week, competition, segment by segment numbers and more.
  • The upcoming women’s World Grand Prix show.
  • Wrestling star accused of kidnapping his son
  • Toni Storm returns to Japan.
  • The 48th World Tag League from All Jaan
  • Thoughts on Queen of Villains
  • El Hijo del Santo retirement tour
  • Tony Khan talks more business
  • Fenix and Penta update
  • International TV ratings and streaming number s
  • Ricochet talks this past week
  • Ticket advances for upcoming WWE & AEW shows
  • More notes on the UFC show at The Sphere
  • Changes to WWE television in 2025

This Week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter Back Issue

Thursday Update

WWE

  • PWInsider reports that Cody Rhodes & Roman Reigns vs. Solo Sikoa & Jacob Fatu is scheduled to main event Bad Blood this Saturday night. CM Punk and Drew McIntyre’s Hell in a Cell match is set to open the show.
  • Rhodes told Undisputed that, with him and Reigns teaming together, Bad Blood will be the best WWE PLE to date: “Anything is really possible now. The quarterback and the cornerstone. It’ll be the best WWE PLE to date.”
  • Rhodes spoke to Complex about Bad Blood being in his hometown of Atlanta:
    • When you’re the one in the ring in your home, where you grew up, I mean, literally, the train tracks that you would go over to get to The Omni backstage are the same train tracks that you go over to get to State Farm backstage. The same spot I watch Sting and watch Dusty walk and all the fans see them and then have that moment, I get to walk that… You try to make every town your town as WWE champion, but there are those places you grew up. There are those places that informed you and created you.
  • In an interview with the New York Post, Roxanne Perez reflected on her promo segment with CM Punk from the September 17 episode of NXT:
    • That was, oh my gosh, I mean to have an in-ring promo with, like, the best promo I think ever, was so insane. It definitely was like a pinch-me moment. But the fact that I’ve been able to create a friendship with him and sit under his learning tree for months now, I think being able to have that relationship definitely made me so much more comfortable. 
    • I do remember getting in the ring and starting to say my lines and just really feeling it because I was just like, wow, this is insane. I’m standing in the ring with someone that I looked up to my whole life. A part of me was like, well, I can’t believe this but another part of me was like, wait, I can believe this, because this is everything I’ve ever worked for. I felt like I definitely stood my ground. I gave him a little bit of attitude, something that he would have done a few years ago.
  • Rey Mysterio hyped up the crowd in San Diego last night before the Padres defeated the Atlanta Braves in the MLB playoffs.
  • The Battleground Podcast spoke with Austin Theory.
  • WWE uploaded a video with Cathy Kelley interviewing Nia Jax.
  • Julius Creed turns 30 years old today.
  • Here’s the lineup for this Friday’s NXT Level Up episode:
    • Dante Chen vs. the debuting Harlem Lewis (real name Vincent Winey, a former Morehead State University football player)
    • Adriana Rizzo vs. Lainey Reid

AEW/Other Wrestling

  • Adam Copeland made an Instagram post sharing how people can help the Asheville, North Carolina community in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
  • AEW uploaded a post-show promo from Jay White following his return on Dynamite last night.
  • A promo from Toni Storm aired on CMLL Informa ahead of her debuting for the promotion on October 11.
  • AEW wished Johnny TV/John Morrison a happy 45th birthday.
  • With October 1 being the 19th anniversary of Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi, ROH will revisit the classic bout on tonight’s TV episode on HonorClub with Ian Riccaboni and Caprice Coleman doing commentary. The episode has a special start time of 8 p.m. Eastern (one hour later than usual).
  • Indie wrestler Juicy Finau apologized for an Oasis Pro angle where Journey Fatu had supposedly gone “missing.” The angle had received criticism on social media, especially for its timing given how many people are missing in real life due to Hurricane Helene.
  • Finau wrote:
    • First & Foremost I want to apologize for any emotional damage & distress I have caused with the following Journey angle. We’ve been working on this story since early august for our home promotion. Unfortunately I wasn’t aware of the situation that is currently happening in the real world. I want to apologize for My ignorance to current world events. I am sorry. To those I have offended with this I apologize sincerely. This was only meant to be a story and it blew up. I am sorry.
  • Dragon Kid is the first entrant confirmed for wXw’s 2025 16 Carat Gold tournament.
  • Esfinge has been announced for MLW Lucha Apocalypto in Cicero, Illinois on Saturday, November 9.
  • Eric Young appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet.
  • QT Marshall was a guest on Gabby AF.
  • Denise Salcedo interviewed Kayla Becker (former WWE broadcaster Kayla Braxton).

Lance Anoa’i & Juicy Finau granted MLW releases

Posted on by Ethan Renner

Two members of the MLW roster are headed for free agency. 

Lance Anoa’i & Juicy Finau, two-thirds of the Samoan SWAT Team, have been granted their MLW releases. Both announced the moves on social media on Sunday. 

Anoa’i & Finau are former MLW Tag Team Champions as part of the Samoan SWAT Team stable, dropping those titles at Never Say Never in July. Neither has wrestled for the company since that event. 

Anoa’i posted: 

As Of TODAY! I have been granted my @MLW Release! I wanna thank MLW! Wanna give a big shout out to my USOs @JuicyFinau and @SAMOANWEREWOLF Thank you for everything! Love you guys! #SST

Finau posted: 

As of today I’ve been released from @MLW Just want to thank everyone I’ve crossed paths with while I was there. Extremely thankful to MLW for the opportunities! Especially wanna thank my brothers @SAMOANWEREWOLF & @lanceanoai IM NOW A FREE AGENT TOKO OUT! OFAS

It is worth noting that Anoa’i & Finau have announced that MLW has in fact granted them releases, while Fightful Select reports that the promotion does not intend to grant the release request of its former World Heavyweight Champion Alex Hammerstone. 

Hammerstone posted on Sunday that he has asked for his release from the company and has been removed from the promotion’s roster page, but his release has not been confirmed. 

Anoa’i is the son of Samu, a former WWF Tag Team Champion, and a cousin to Roman Reigns & The Usos. He has done work for WWE in the past as enhancement talent, most recently in 2019 in a match against Shane McMahon on Raw as part of angle involving Reigns. 

Jacob Fatu, another of Anoa’i’s cousins and the third member of the MLW iteration of the Samoan SWAT Team with Anoa’i & Finau, is challenging for MLW’s World title at Fightland on November 18.

https://twitter.com/JuicyFinau/status/1718746518189125708

New Samoan Swat Team to debut at MLW Kings of Colosseum

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A new-era version of the Samoan Swat Team is set to debut in MLW.

MLW has announced that Jacob Fatu is forming a new incarnation of his family’s Samoan Swat Team faction. The group will consist of Fatu, Lance Anoa’i, and Juicy Finau.

Anoa’i & Finau will team together at MLW’s Kings of Colosseum television tapings this Friday, taking on the masked Uno & Cinco of Los Aztecas.

Finau, who signed a multi-year deal with MLW last month, is Fatu’s protege in the promotion.

MLW wrote about the new faction:

A new faction arrives in Major League Wrestling this Friday.

The Samoan Swat Team ravaged the tag team circuit in the 1980s and 90s with Samu and Fatu warring with the likes of the Steiner Bros., Von Erichs, Freebirds and countless others as they took the world by storm.

Now, the next generation of one of wrestling’s great tag teams will unite and debut on Friday, May 13 in Philadelphia.

Recently, Fatu and Cesar Duran have been quarreling. After a vicious attack at the hands of Bestia 666, Cesar Duran and his considerable influence and never-ending army of luchadores have only escalated in their attacks and games. It’s clear Jacob Fatu is fighting a one man war. So, ‘The Samoan Werewolf’ is countering by forming his own swat team!

In addition to Fatu, the swat team features a powerful combo of speed, power and force in Lance Anoa’i and Juicy Finau.

Lance Anoa’i, the son of Samoan Swat Team founding member Samu, grandson of Afa and cousin of The Rock, is a blend of agility and innovation. Teaming with Jacob Fatu over the years, Lance and Fatu are as close as it gets in and away from the ring. 

And while Tongans and Samoans have at times been engulfed in their own wars, including possibly a king being eaten during a contentious island conflict, Tongan Juicy Finau is family to Fatu. Super heavyweight Finau and Fatu represent the west coast of the Polynesian family. A proud Tongan with a devastating arsenal that defies and quite possibly breaks gravity, Finau rounds out what could be this decade’s most dangerous and promising team.

Cesar Duran has welcomed Fatu’s swat team to MLW… by signing a bout sheet for their debut as the SST in Philadelphia against Cesar Duran’s Los Azteca Uno y Cinco.

Will Duran’s duo dash the debut of Fatu’s SST or will Fatu’s swat team wreck shop? Find out LIVE Friday night, May 13 in Philadelphia at MLW Kings of Colosseum!

Fatu will also be in action at Kings of Colosseum. He’s facing Mads Krugger in a “Weapons of Mass Destruction” match. The ring and ringside perimeter “”will be militarized with weaponry all around it and inside of it” for that match.

Kings of Colosseum is being held at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia. The updated lineup for the tapings is listed below.

MLW Kings of Colosseum (Friday, May 13) —

  • MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Hammerstone defends against Richard Holliday (w/ Alicia Atout)
  • Taya Valkyrie vs. Holidead to crown the inaugural MLW Women’s Featherweight Champion
  • Weapons of Mass Destruction match: Jacob Fatu vs. Mads Krugger
  • nZo vs. Lince Dorado
  • MLW Tag Team Champions Hustle & Power (EJ Nduka & Calvin Tankman) defend against The Von Erichs (Ross & Marshall Von Erich) and 5150 (Slice Boogie & Danny Rivera) in a triple threat match
  • The Thrilla in Phila: MLW National Openweight Champion Alex Kane defends against TBD Victim
  • Matt Cross vs. ACH
  • MLW Middleweight Champion Myron Reed defends against KC Navarro and Arez in a triple threat match
  • Microman vs. Mini Abismo Negro
  • Samoan Swat Team (Lance Anoa’i & Juicy Finau) vs. Los Aztecas (Uno & Cinco)
  • The Sandman, Blue Meanie, Los Maximos, and more in action

MLW signs Juicy Finau to multi-year deal

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A new wrestler has joined the MLW roster.

MLW announced on Friday that it has signed super heavyweight Juicy Finau to a multi-year deal. Finau was in action on this week’s episode of MLW Fusion, appearing in a five-way match where Alex Kane retained the MLW National Openweight Championship.

Finau, who is from Ontario, California, has trained at the Fale Dojo in New Zealand. He’s also wrestled for GCW.

Finau will be in action at MLW’s Kings of Colosseum television tapings at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia on Friday, May 13.

MLW wrote about Finau’s signing:

Major League Wrestling today announced the signing of super heavyweight Juicy Finau to a multi-year deal.

Prior to going major league, the 25-year-old Tongan from Ontario, California has been crushing the competition on the regional level over the past two years.

Big Juicy will step foot in an MLW ring in Philadelphia on Friday, May 13. Secure your seats now and see Juicy’s Philly debut live by going to MLW2300.com.

Ushering in a new era of the super heavyweight, Juicy stands 6’5″ and tips the scales at nearly 500 pounds. The protege of Jacob Fatu, Finau has a one of a kind aerial arsenal that defies gravity and devastates all in his wake.

Training at the Fale Dojo in New Zealand, Juicy tats himself as a ‘New Era Savage,’ ready to take things to the next level.