Zilla Fatu is no longer with Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling.
Booker cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason why the son of Umaga is gone from his promotion. He addressed Fatu’s departure on an episode of his Hall of Fame podcast recently.
“I can’t tell you when you’re going to see Zilla again because he is now no longer a part of Reality of Wrestling due to irreconcilable differences, let’s just put it that way,” Booker said.
“I’m sure he’s taking bookings out there on the internet and we wish Zilla well in his future,” Booker continued.
Fatu began training with ROW in December. He had his first match in front of a live crowd for the promotion on July 15. Shortly after his ROW debut, Booker praised Fatu’s performance, saying he could feel Umaga’s spirit in the arena that night.
In June, Fatu was asked to pick sides in WWE’s Bloodline angle. He declared that he was with “Team Jey.”
Zilla Fatu, the son of former WWE star Umaga, will soon be making his pro wrestling debut.
Reality of Wrestling announced Fatu’s debut for their upcoming Summer of Champions event at the Humble Civic Center on July 15. It had been reported back in December of last year that Fatu had started to train with ROW, a promotion and training facility run by Booker T that runs shows in the Texas area.
— Reality of Wrestling (@TheOfficialROW) June 19, 2023
Also scheduled for ROW’s Summer of Champions event include appearances from NXT’s Trick Williams, former WWE star Alicia Fox, and Jacob Fatu.
Umaga, who was part of the Anoa’i family along with with cousins The Usos and Roman Reigns, spent most of the 2000s in WWE, first under the name Jamal as part of the Three Minute Warning tag team with cousin Rosey and later as a singles star, where he won the Intercontinental title twice. He passed away in 2009 following a heart attack.
One day after the 13th anniversary of his passing, The Bloodline paid tribute to Umaga on WWE Raw.
Solo Sikoa honored his late uncle by using Umaga’s Samoan Spike on Raw last night. There was an angle on the episode where Matt Riddle was stretchered out after being attacked by Sikoa. The attack included Sikoa hitting the Samoan Spike, Umaga’s running hip attack into the corner, and then another running hip attack while Riddle had a steel chair wrapped around his head.
Sikoa tweeted about the Umaga tribute: “They’ll always remember you. #Enforcer”
Before Sikoa’s attack, Riddle & Kevin Owens challenged The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles on Raw. The match was originally supposed to be The Usos vs. Riddle & Elias, but The Bloodline laid out Elias before the show went on the air.
The Usos retained their Undisputed WWE Tag Team titles against Riddle & Owens after hitting the 1-D on Riddle. Riddle was distracted by Sami Zayn leading into the finish. Owens ran off The Usos and Zayn when they tried to attack Riddle after the match, but Riddle was then left alone with Sikoa.
Umaga (Eddie Fatu) died of a heart attack on December 4, 2009. He was 36 years old.
MLW World Champion Steve Corino defeated Mike Awesome in a long-awaited rematch.
One half of the MLW tag champions CW Anderson was in action against “Dr. Death” Steve Williams.
In tag team action, Ekmo Fatu (aka Umaga) debuted as the newest member of the Samoan Island Tribe.
Show Review:
The show opened with Corino backstage cutting a promo on Awesome. He said the last time they met, Awesome walked in the champion and tonight, he is walking in the challenger. Corino also announced this is Awesome’s last shot at the title.
“Dr. Death” Steve Williams defeated CW Anderson (4:15 televised)
Anderson jumped Williams at the bell, but it didn’t take long for Williams to shake it off and knock Anderson out of the ring after a series of jabs. Williams, who was getting on in his career at this point, still hit a dive to the outside onto Anderson. They brawled around ringside and Anderson got tossed over a table and then into the crowd going into a commercial break.
Back in the ring, Anderson stopped Williams in his tracks with a superkick, but Williams kicked out. He fought back and had the match won after his running powerslam but the referee got knocked down in the process.
Anderson’s partner Simon Diamond interfered and superkicked Williams and it looked as though Anderson was going to backdoor his way out of this one. But, Williams kicked out at the last second. The Sandman chased Diamond away and Williams fought back, hitting his backdrop driver to pick up the win.
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– Da Hit Squad (Mafia and Monsta Mack) were backstage and said they were proud to be in MLW. They wanted to see who the toughest and baddest were and that it was time for the fresh blood to take over in MLW…and time for the Samoans to step aside.
– CM Punk was behind a bar and welcomed us to Hybrid Happy Hour, offering Raven a toast to his recent loss to Punk. He then tossed a shot over his shoulder and said Raven will need to play under his rules — straight edge rules — and that he will find out why being straight edge means Punk is better than him.
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Da Hit Squad defeated The Samoan Island Tribe by disqualification (5:12)
Ekmo Fatu (aka Umaga) appeared as a surprise replacement for Mana in the SIT and went straight to work on Da Hit Squad as all four brawled around ringside from the get-go. Fatu missed a big crossbody on the outside and ended up going through a table, but was quickly back in and superkicked both Squad members to save Samu from a double team splash in the corner.
He was on the receiving end of a double suplex and then a big top rope frog splash from Mack, but Samu pulled the referee out as he made the cover. Fatu then hit a swinging uranage and both Samoans hit the Rikishi-style running hip attack into the corners. Samu then let the viewers know why he had been shouting “teabag” at the end of his recent promos by hitting a bronco buster on Mack.
During the melee, the Samoans had thrown the referee out of the ring, leading more officials to stop the action and award the match to the Squad via DQ. The action broke down again as officials struggled to keep order. After the next break, we heard that a no DQ match had been signed for the next set of tapings.
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– Awesome told Corino it will be “two for two at Taboo” because the last time he was at this building, he knocked out Masato Tanaka by power bombing him out of the ring through a table, adding “history will repeat itself tonight.”
– Before their upcoming CMLL Tag Team Title shot at the next tapings, Jose and Joel (Los Maximos) said to expect the unexpected.
– Sabu and Bill Alfonso warned Christopher Daniels that Sabu is going to spike him in the eye again when they meet at the next tapings. We did not see the first attack, but Joey Styles caught us up. Apparently, it was retaliation for Sabu being jumped in the parking lot recently.
– Mikey Whipwreck and Sinister Minister had some words for Sabu. Minister said Daniels hasn’t forgotten about Sabu’s first spike to the eye, and retaliation is coming for him. As Whipwreck was messing around in the background, he found a spike that Sabu had hidden. Minister warned Sabu that mind games won’t work with him and his Army of Darkness.
MLW World Heavyweight champion Steve Corino defeated Mike Awesome (10:54)
Corino was taking his time with his entrance, so Awesome jumped him the minute he came through the ropes. Awesome hit a German suplex and clotheslined Corino to the outside. Awesome was backdropped into the crowd by Corino who then ran Awesome into the ring post. As Corino was again taking his time getting back into the ring, Awesome floored him with his slingshot shoulderblock from the apron.
Corino ducked a clothesline and floored Awesome with a low dropkick to take advantage. Corino rocked Awesome with two chair shots to the head (one unprotected) and one to the back.
Awesome caught Corino on the top rope and superplexed him across the ring for a close two count. It was then Awesome’s turn to duck a clothesline and rock Corino with three chair shots to the head this time. He then went to the top and hit a top rope chair shot onto a helpless Corino. A sit out Awesome bomb and top rope big splash followed, but somehow Corino kicked out.
Awesome called for the table and set two up in opposing corners of the ring as Styles reminded us he knocked out Masato Tanaka in this building by putting him through a table. The referee got knocked down and Corino superkicked Awesome, but Awesome responded with two running powerbombs through the two corner tables.
He covered Corino as the referee was coming around, but Corino kicked out after a labored count from the referee.
As both were getting to their feet, Corino hit Awesome with what looked like a roll of quarters. Diamond and Anderson ran in and held Awesome for Corino to hit him with a chair, but Terry Funk ran in and took everyone out with a trashcan. He swung a chair, Corino ducked, and it clocked Awesome right in the face. Corino then covered Awesome for the three count as the Extreme Horsemen held Funk down.
The Horsemen continued their beatdown on Funk and wrapped their wrist tape around Funk’s neck, hanging him from the ring. As Underground went off the air, Sandman and Williams made the save to even the odds.
Next Week:
The Sandman faces Simon Diamond with a shot at the Extreme Horsemen’s MLW tag titles on the line.
