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Posts Tagged ‘Umaga’

The Harris County medical examiner’s office in Houston, TX, has released the official cause of death for Umaga, whose real name was Eddie Fatu. The official COD is listed as “acute toxicity,” which means a toxic mix of over-the-counter drugs in a short amount of time.

Specifically, it was a lethal combination of painkillers (hydrocodone), muscle relaxers (carisoprodol), and anti-anxiety medication (diazepam), according to the coroner’s report.

It should be noted that Umaga had been released by WWE for months prior to his death. Most reports were that WWE released Umaga for violating the company’s wellness policy. Kind of hard to secure insurance quotes under those conditions.

While release is a legitimate punishment for such a violation, it’s a shame that in the end, it makes WWE simply look like they are distancing themselves from a wrestler on a destructive path before it blows up. WWE does offer even released wrestlers access to rehab services, but once a wrestler is out of a company’s employment, follow-up and accountability tend to suffer.

While there are no easy answers in the death of Umaga, it is tragic that his was another in a long list of preventable, premature deaths among professional wrestling performers.

Pro wrestling lost another performer at far too young an age last week as we learned of the death of Umaga, otherwise known in real life as Eddie Fatu. The so-called “Samoan Bulldozer” came from a wrestling family and only a couple years ago was featured in one of the top matches at WrestleMania, in the Vince McMahon-Donald Trump “hair” match between Umaga and Bobby Lashley at WrestleMania 23.

Fatu was only 36 and had been released by WWE last June for having violated the company’s Wellness Program and refusing to enter rehab. Since then, he’d toned down his wrestling schedule and had just completed a tour of Australia in a group headed up by Hulk Hogan. His final opponent on that tour was Ken Anderson, known in his WWE days as Mr. Kennedy.

In an ironic but unrelated note, Mr. Kennedy was also the last person Eddie Guerrero wrestled prior to his own premature death by heart attack, back in 2005.

Fatu’s family includes Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, The Wild Samoans of 1980s fame, The Tonga Kid and Rikishi.

Umaga will be missed by fans who cheered and fans who boo’d him. He nearly always played a monster heel, even though off-stage he was a gentle, likable family man who made sure to look after his kids and take care of the at-home details like garage flooring.

Could the biggest heel wrestler of the last year or more, Umaga, be moving off WWE Raw to the SmackDown brand? That’s the word on the street; the move is expected to take place sometime within the next month or two, now that WrestleMania is over.

This is a time of year when WWE typically likes to shuffle the deck and freshen up all its brands. With SmackDown apparently set to move from The CW to MyNetworkTV in the fall, a changeup to make the SmackDown brand stronger is long past due.

The makeover started at WrestleMania, with Undertaker winning the World Heavyweight title from Edge. With a new champion, new opponents will be needed and the Umaga character, a primitive, force-of-nature style of heel, would make an ideal foe if ‘Taker’s run is to be an extended one.

Although often portrayed as a beastial, monstrous heel, Umaga has lost most of his meaningful matches in the past year for storyline purposes and has become overused and less of a threat on RAW; by moving the Branson golf-loving heel to SmackDown, the company has a chance to rebuild Umaga’s character from the ground up.

Time will tell if this rumor is accurate, but Umaga’s WrestleMania match against SmackDown’s Batista for brand supremacy, which Umaga lost, would seem to set the stage for a brand-switch move.

Despite a lot of story elements necessary to build hype for the last PPV event before Wrestlemania, namely No Way Out, if anyone had a checking account, this was not a week to bank on Raw ratings as the show offered up few matches that lasted longer than three minutes.

A lot of squashes and in-ring segments filled much of the broadcast, and while the Hornswaggle-McMahon ass-kissing/biting segment was entertaining in a juvenile way typical of the Fed, much of the night was wasted time that did nothing to promote the in-ring abilities of most of the performers.

A notable exception was the six-man tag match that served as the show’s denouement, involving Jeff Hardy, Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels against Snitsky, JBL and Umaga. That match went 16 minutes, highlighted everyone, and was genuinely entertaining.

The rest of the show? Well, let’s just say it left a lot of its game on the bench this week.

Finally, what is for me probably going to be the highlight of this PPV! A real, traditional, five-on-five Survivor Series elimination match. Only trouble is, a real-life injury to Matt Hardy means it’s not even five-on-five, but four-on-five. Geez, can’t they at least pull off a surprise here and insert someone?

I mean, with all that footage of Edge with his chainsaw, it’s not like it would require some highly technical plasma cutting to write someone new into the match. Oh well.

This match had the best in-ring psychology of the night, even if it ran a bit predictably. OK, so Matt’s out and the odds seem against Triple H’s team of babyfaces? No problem. Let’s get the boring ones out of there right away. So DOWN goes Kane. Then DOWN goes Rey-Rey. Now it’s five on two and we have some classic ring psychology to work on here.

I will say, it was nice to see Mr. Kennedy and MVP in the same ring again; they have good in-ring chemistry and although Kennedy is on Raw and MVP’s on SmackDown at present, I predict big things for these two; they will be tearing it up against each other sometime in the next five years, at some major PPVs, and doing it for a championship strap. Both are great “talents of the future.”

After that, the other team began to thin out. First down goes MVP. Then Kennedy. Then Big Daddy V. Then Finlay.

By the time it’s down to Triple H and Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga, I half-expected Hardy to get eliminated. But not this time. Triple-H and Jeff show some good teamwork in a crowd-pleasing, feel-good, Thanksgiving PPV finish that has both men celebrating a babyface win. And the match was appropriately long! Over 20 minutes of ring time and with interviews and entrances, almost twice that!

OK, I’m a happy man as far as this PPV goes with, after THIS match.

WINNER: Triple H’s team
RATING: 8.7

Last week, the New York Daily News speculated about which WWE superstars had been suspended for violating the company’s substance abuse and wellness policy. But if the Daily News’ list was accurate, Monday’s Labor Day Raw broadcast offered little in the way of confirmation. In fact the broadcast practically had more to do with Penn State football than with confirming any suspensions.

The most notable development was Umaga losing the WWE Intercontinental title to Jeff Hardy; the loss is expected to set up Umaga’s absence, which is believed to be suspension-related.

Raw GM William Regal was also taken out in storyline, setting up his suspension-related absence. Tag team Cryme Tyme was released in a move believed to be not related to drug suspensions, but mischief-making backstage.

Charlie Haas jobbed in a tag match but did not appear to be written out of the storyline by injury.

Raw seemed to be going full-steam ahead with the Randy Orton-John Cena feud, and word around the ‘net says that Orton believes he is safe from suspension at this time.

It is also believed that Batista, part of the Smackdown roster, was put on the media’s list of suspended wrestlers in error. Santino Marella was also a big part of the broadcast and did not appear to have been written out of storylines. The same goes for Ken Anderson (Mr. Kennedy.)

We’ll continue to monitor WWE broadcasts to see if the media’s list is accurate; but Pro Wrestling Views continues to look forward to simply immersing ourselves back into WWE storylines, not WWE headlines.

While they’re taking their sweet, slow time about it, it’s clear WWE is grooming The Great Khali to become a legit giant in the tradition of Andre the Giant. That’s a trick they never quite got right with The Big Show.

The main problem right now with The Great Khali is that he’s so large – a legit 7’2″, 420 pounds – that building him up makes his matches a bit boring, because they’re all squashes. How many times can we see Khali absolutely destroy Super Crazy and Carlito before it becomes a joke that the man’s not a number-one contender for a WWE title?

But at least he’s being promoted the right way, unlike Umaga. Umaga is way heavier than Khali, without being anywhere near seven feet tall. Seriously, Umaga should do a diet comparison and work out with Khali. Drop about 60 pounds and Umaga might just be as fearsome as he’s being promoted as being.

As much of a Mick Foley fan as I am, I was relieved during last week’s WWE Raw to find out that Foley was a swerve and that the real guest referee for the “Battle of the Billionaires” is Stone Cold Steve Austin. It’s always good to see Stone Cold in the ring, even if his main eventing, title holding days are well behind him.

I must admit, though, that despite it being corny and predictable and silly, without the Battle of the Billionaires angle, the WrestleMania 23 match between ECW Champ Bobby Lashley and big-man Umaga would be such a snorefest match, it could be sponsored by any company that makes sleeper sofas. With the angle, it’s more interesting if only because we all know there’s no way Donald Trump would ever agree to be part of something where he’d get his head shaved, so it’ll be a hoot to tune in and watch Trump shave McMahon bald.

Even after all these years of playing the evil owner, Vince McMahon still knows what it means to, “give the people what they want.” And if Vince complains about being bald, we all know Stone Cold will be there to deliver the final insult: a Stone Cold stunner!

Bafflingly, Umaga is still getting a bigger push from WWE than The Great Khali. I mean, both are monster-sized heels, but considering neither are very good on the mic, the best way to compare them is by their physical presence.

Bottom line: Khali is more impressive in every way. He offers WWE something they haven’t had in a while; a guy who, by his very appearance, really can be believable as an unstoppable force.

Umaga, by comparison, may be heavier, but he’s also shorter and looks like someone who needs to be on a fat burner medication.

While it’s a waste of talent either way, the “battle of the billionaires” between McMahon and Trump would be a lot more unpredictable if Vince’s representative was the Great Khali, not Umaga.

We’re in mid-January and ought to be in the middle of WWE’s annual build-up to their top PPV of the year, WrestleMania. But the current “main title” storyline on WWE Raw is simply uninspiring. Pitting an energetic champion like John Cena against a boring and uninspiring brute like Umaga is so boring, the audience may need energy pills just to survive an episode of Raw, let alone a PPV.

I understand the thrust of the storyline, pitting Cena against a man who, physically, should completely dominate him. It’s basically a redo of the classic WrestleMania III, Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant idea. But I really hope this push for Umaga isn’t the best thing WWE has up their sleeves for WrestleMania.

It comes to this: Umaga isn’t that imposing and he’s certainly not a charismatic heel. Sure, he’s big, but I think Viscera should be an object lesson that not all big men work out. (Let’s stop kicking the semi-retired Big Show while he’s inactive, after all.)

Here’s how Vinny Mac and company can save WrestleMania, and a recent Raw suggests it’s a possibility: Inject The Great Khali into the feud, with an eye toward a triple-threat match at WrestleMania between Cena vs. Umaga vs. The Great Khali.

That would really up the ante for Cena and make it seem completely impossible for him to pull off the victory. Cena versus two monsters? That would be intriguing.

Plus, WWE has never had a talent the likes of The Great Khali. He’s taller and leaner than Andre the Giant, and that makes him a much more imposing opponent. And with Daivari as his manager, it’s basically a four-on-Cena storyline. Finding a way for Cena to credibly win against those odds would truly make for a memorable WrestleMania main event. Get it done, Vince!