Tag: talla tonga

Two matches announced for WWE Raw next week

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A pair of tournament matches have been made official for WWE Raw next week.

The June 8 episode of Raw is set to be held in Paris, France at Accor Arena. WWE has announced that King & Queen of the Ring will continue to play out with first-round matches in each tournament. On the men’s side, it will be Seth Rollins vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Talla Tonga vs. Ricky Saints. The women’s bout is Liv Morgan vs. Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Chelsea Green.

Both tournaments kicked off today with Oba Femi and IYO SKY becoming the first participants to advance to the semifinals. The remaining first round and semifinal matches will take place on Raw and SmackDown in advance of the June 27 finals at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia.

At stake in the tournament are World title shots at SummerSlam. Though Morgan is already the Women’s World Champion on Raw, her explanation for still participating in Queen of the Ring is that she wants to take everything she can.

Next week’s Raw, like today’s episode from Turin, has a special start time of 2 p.m. Eastern. It’s airing live on Netflix during WWE’s ongoing European tour.

WWE Raw (Monday, June 8) —

  • King of the Ring first-round match: Seth Rollins vs. Je’Von Evans vs. Talla Tonga vs. Ricky Saints
  • Queen of the Ring first-round match: Liv Morgan vs. Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Chelsea Green

Updated brackets for King & Queen of the Ring —

WWE King of the Ring 2026 bracket (Image credit: WWE)
WWE Queen of the Ring bracket
WWE Queen of the Ring 2026 bracket. (Image credit: WWE)

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Talla Tonga set for next WWE SmackDown

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Shinsuke Nakamura will be in action next week.

The former United States Champion will be wrestling Talla Tonga next Friday in Lexington, Kentucky. This follows an angle backstage on this week’s show where Solo Sikoa told Tonga to take care of Damian Priest. As he and Talla walked away, Nakamura entered and tried to talk to Tama Tonga but was immediately jumped by Talla, who chokeslammed Nakamura onto a cargo crate. 

Tama Tonga and Solo Sikoa are teasing a split

Over the last several months Tama Tonga has grown increasingly weary of Sikoa, telling him that he was focusing way too much on Bray Wyatt’s lantern that he had stolen from the Wyatt Sicks. Nakamura has been seen several times backstage trying to convince Tama Tonga that he didn’t need the MFTs. But recent weeks have seen Talla interjecting himself into their conversations, tired of Nakamura’s meddling.

Tama Tonga went on to lose his match to Priest, but it was the MFT’s who got the last laugh. Both Talla and Sikoa jumped Priest after the bell, with Talla connecting with a kick and Sikoa laying out Priest with the Samoan spike.

However, Sikoa wasn’t so lucky in the main event. After trying to help Royce Keys by introducing a steel chair into his match against Gunther, Keys responded by throwing a chair directly at Sikoa’s face, sending him reeling on the floor.

WWE SmackDown (May 22):

  • Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Talla Tonga

R-Truth pulled from WWE SmackDown, new match set

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Update —

After initially announcing a tag match for the show, WWE has said that R-Truth is not medically cleared for SmackDown tonight. Damian Priest will now face Tama Tonga one-on-one.

A Carmelo Hayes vs. Ricky Saints match has also been added.

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A pair of tag matches have been added to the WWE SmackDown lineup for tonight.

WWE revealed this afternoon that Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss will face off against Michin & B-Fab on SmackDown. Along with that, there will be a non-title bout pitting WWE Tag Team Champions Damian Priest & R-Truth against Tama Tonga & Talla Tonga.

Last Friday, Flair & Bliss teamed with Rhea Ripley against the three members of Fatal Influence. The babyfaces lost after the returning Jade Cargill got involved, with Cargill, Michin & B-Fab then beating down Ripley, Flair & Bliss.

Talla Tonga defeated Priest in a singles match last week after Priest was distracted by saving Truth from an attack by Tama Tonga and Solo Sikoa. Royce Keys then stepped in to help Priest and Truth, which led to Keys defeating Tama Tonga later in the night.

Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina is the venue for tonight’s show. Here’s the updated card:

WWE SmackDown (Friday, May 15) —

  • Gunther decides whether to join SmackDown roster to challenge Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes
  • United States Champion Trick Williams returns to the University of South Carolina for a homecoming celebration
  • Jade Cargill addresses her attack on WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley
  • Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. Michin & B-Fab
  • Damian Priest vs. Tama Tonga
  • Carmelo Hayes vs. Ricky Saints

Updated WWE SmackDown preview with two new additions

Posted on by Joseph Currier

WWE has made two new additions to the lineup for tonight’s SmackDown episode.

On the eve of Backlash, SmackDown is taking place from Jacksonville, Florida tonight. It’s been announced that an appearance by Jacob Fatu will kick off the broadcast. The segment will help finish off the build to Fatu challenging Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship in an all-Bloodline matchup at Backlash.

WWE.com wrote:

  • On Monday, Jacob Fatu took out World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns for the second week in a row, smashing The OTC through a table with the devastating Tongan Death Grip.
  • Just three days prior on last week’s SmackDown, The Samoan Werewolf ruthlessly attacked Solo Sikoa and slammed Talla Tonga through the announce table.
  • Fatu is set to kick off SmackDown on Friday, one night before he challenges Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship at WWE Backlash. Find out what bedlam will be unleashed at 8 ET/7 CT on USA.

A new match announcement has also been made for tonight’s show with Damian Priest facing off against Talla Tonga, who attacked Priest, R-Truth, Nathan Frazer, and Axiom last week after Priest & Truth retained their WWE Tag Team titles over Fraxiom. Tonga & Solo Sikoa then declared war on Fatu, Reigns, and The Usos.

WWE SmackDown (Friday, May 8) —

  • Gunther addresses his attack on Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes
  • United States Champion Trick Williams hosts a funeral for the Gingerbread Man ahead of title defense against Sami Zayn at Backlash
  • Rhea Ripley, Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss vs. Fatal Influence (Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley & Lainey Reid)
  • Women’s United States Champion Tiffany Stratton defends against Kiana James
  • Damian Priest vs. Talla Tonga
  • Jacob Fatu kicks off SmackDown

Injury updates on Stephanie Vaquer & Talla Tonga

Posted on by F4W Staff

Editor’s note: This originally appeared in our members only section.

There are updates on both Stephanie Vaquer and Talla Tonga, courtesy of our Bryan Alvarez.

Vaquer was taken out backstage on Monday’s WWE Raw by Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez. Perez rammed a equipment box into Vaquer’s shoulder. and it was later stated by Michael Cole that Vaquer sustained a second degree AC sprain due to the attack and “would be out for a bit.”

Alvarez said the injury is legitimate and is likely the sprain they reference last night. It’s unclear where the injury was first sustained.

Vaquer last wrestled at WrestleMania 42 in a losing effort to Liv Morgan.

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Tonga has been out of action since the April 17 SmackDown when he was in the Andre the Giant memorial battle royal. His absence on last Friday’s SmackDown brought into question whether he had been released given the day’s cuts since he wasn’t mentioned on the show.

Alvarez said Tonga is out with an undisclosed injury, but is expected back fairly soon.

New match announced for WWE SmackDown

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A new match announcement has been made for tonight’s SummerSlam go-home edition of WWE SmackDown.

On the eve of SummerSlam, SmackDown is being held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey tonight. WWE has announced that Jimmy Uso vs. Talla Tonga will take place on the episode.

This will be Talla Tonga’s first televised WWE match. The former Hikuleo signed with WWE in 2024 but did not debut for the company until June of this year, when he helped Solo Sikoa win the United States title from Jacob Fatu at Night of Champions.

Fatu is getting his rematch against Sikoa at night two of SummerSlam this Sunday, where the two will face off in a steel cage match for the U.S. title.

Here is the updated SmackDown lineup for tonight:

WWE SmackDown (Friday, August 1) —

  • Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena & Cody Rhodes go face-to-face ahead of their SummerSlam street fight
  • Women’s United States Champion Giulia defends against Zelina Vega
  • Jimmy Uso vs. Talla Tonga
  • Damian Priest vs. Aleister Black
  • Los Garza (Angel & Berto) open challenge for AAA Tag Team titles

WWE files trademark for ‘Talla Tonga’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A new WWE trademark filing looks to be hinting at an upcoming addition to The Bloodline.

On June 11, WWE applied to trademark “Talla Tonga.” That may be the new name of former NJPW wrestler Hikuleo, who is expected to be joining WWE. His brothers Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa have been added to The Bloodline as the faction has taken a new direction over the past couple of months.

The trademark is listed as being for:

“Entertainment services, namely, wrestling exhibitions and performances by a professional wrestler and entertainer rendered and through broadcast media including television and radio, and via the internet or commercial online service; providing wrestling news and information via a global computer network; providing information in the fields of sports and entertainment via an online community portal; providing a website in the field of sports entertainment information; fan club services, namely, organizing sporting events in the field of wrestling for wrestling fan club members; organizing social entertainment events for entertainment purposes for wrestling fan club members; providing online newsletters in the fields of sports entertainment; online journals, namely blogs, in the field of sports entertainment“

The story for The Bloodline since WrestleMania has been — with Roman Reigns not around after his loss to Cody Rhodes — Solo Sikoa has taken charge of the group and brought in Tonga and Loa. Sikoa claimed that Reigns put him in charge as the new Tribal Chief until Reigns is back.

Paul Heyman has warned Sikoa that there’s a reason why dangerous people like Tonga and Loa weren’t allowed into The Bloodline before now.

Hikuleo had his apparent NJPW farewell when he and El Phantasmo dropped the Strong Openweight Tag Team titles at Dominion on June 9. TMDK’s Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls won a four-way elimination match for both the IWGP Tag Team titles and Strong Tag Team titles.

Former MLW World Heavyweight Champion Jacob Fatu is also expected to be joining WWE and could play a role in the Bloodline story.

A trademark for “Los Garza” was filed by WWE on June 12. That trademark is likely related to Angel Garza and his cousin Berto (Humberto Carrillo).