Jacob Fatu has opened up about how close his WWE signing came to falling apart, revealing that Triple H was directly responsible for giving him a second chance when the deal was on the brink of collapse.
Speaking on Stephanie McMahon’s What’s Your Story?, Fatu explained that his addiction issues led WWE to initially pass on him. For 19 days, he didn’t know whether he still had a job and couldn’t even answer his kids when they asked when the family was moving to Florida.
“This past WrestleMania, your husband [Triple H], I don’t mean to get deep but before I actually got hired — I almost got fired before I got hired because of my addiction and stuff. Your husband, they passed me, they did pass me. It was cause of me. Bruce called, it was all bad. 19 days, I didn’t know if I had a job. Our kids are asking me, ‘Dad, when we moving to Florida?’ I couldn’t even answer them for 19 days because I thought it was done. They brought me up again and your husband said, ‘We’ll give him a second chance, everybody deserves a second chance. But, when he get here, all that gotta stop.'”
The comments add new detail to something Fatu first addressed back in February, when he made clear that the line “almost got fired before I got hired,” which has also been used in WWE programming, was rooted in reality, not just storyline.
Fatu ultimately debuted on the June 21, 2024 SmackDown, joining Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline and laying out Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, and Kevin Owens.
Nearly two years later, at WrestleMania 42, Fatu picked up the biggest win of his WWE career to date, defeating Drew McIntyre in an Unsanctioned Match.
Fatu also detailed his backstage encounter with Triple H after the match:
“He came up to me after WrestleMania 42 — if y’all don’t realize, 42 means Fatu, that’s why we’re always wearing 42, me and The Usos. It means 42 in our culture. WrestleMania 40, I went on Twitter and I put “WM42″. I didn’t know if I was going to be here. I knew, but I didn’t know how. I knew it was going to work out but I didn’t know how. I had 41 with Knight, very blessed, but especially after this one, it meant something different. Your husband came and found me after. You gotta walk back through gorilla but knowing me, I be jumping in the crowd. So I jumped in the crowd and came the other way. Hunter wants to see you. As soon as I’m walking up, your husband is coming down. He just gave me a hug and I just remember telling him crying, ‘Thank you. Thank you man, you’re the one that gave me that second chance.’ When I gave him a hug, he just grabbed my face like, ‘You did it. Don’t thank me. You did it. The only person that could mess this up is you, Jacob.’ It was a real good moment and a special moment.”
