MLW President Court Bauer recently reminisced about working with Eddie Fatu to create the character of Umaga, who made his debut in April 2006.
During an appearance on the Talk Is Jericho podcast, Bauer discussed his tenure as a writer for WWE and expressed that the introduction of Umaga was the most successful idea he had pitched. He said,
“We’re getting ready to go to Chicago for WrestleMania 22. We had our last meeting going into there with Vince, he goes, ‘We gotta get some new heels for Cena. We got to keep feeding this guy. We need monsters.’
“So Eckie [Umaga] and I [are] on the phone, and at the hotel [we] just came up with Umaga. And it was as a callback, throwback to his uncles doing the Wild Samoans gimmick, but with a modern twist with the grill piece. I pitched him the face paint. Originally, I wanted it to be a temp tattoo… 72 hours later, he debuted on Raw. That’s how fast he went from sitting out. Concept, sign off, now he’s making a big impact.”
Umaga enjoyed a lengthy undefeated streak and became a two-time WWE Intercontinental Champion in WWE. However, in June 2009, he was released from the company due to a violation of their Wellness Policy. He tragically passed away six months later in December of that year, suffering a heart attack.
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