Jacob Fatu Explains Chaotic Chain of Events That Led to WWE Signing

Jacob Fatu is finally revealing the chaotic behind-the-scenes story of how he ended up signing with WWE — and according to him, it all spiraled after Rikishi accidentally exposed his contract situation online before he was ready.

While speaking to Peter Rosenberg, Fatu explained that almost nobody actually knew his MLW contract was quietly ending in early 2024 because online reports had the timeline completely wrong. Fatu made it very clear he thinks fans trust internet rumors way too easily.

“This is the thing about the internet—don’t believe everything on the internet. My birthday is in April—I’m wrong, you know what I mean? They said I was out of my contract in ’25—wrong. But listen, don’t—y’all so caught up in the internet, bro. Don’t do that.”

He then explained that the process of WWE becoming interested in him started after Booker T reached out to Bruce Prichard behind the scenes and encouraged WWE to take another look at him. According to Fatu, even WWE initially didn’t realize how soon he would become available.

“Booker gave Bruce Prichard a call and was like, ‘Hey, man. I just had Jacob. Y’all might want to check him out again.’ He was like, ‘You mean you might?’”

Fatu then broke down how things became chaotic once people started realizing his deal was actually expiring much sooner than expected.

“It happened in August. I was out of my contract at the beginning of February. Everybody thought I was out in ’25.”

The real turning point came after Fatu privately informed Rikishi about the situation. While he made it clear his uncle meant well, he admitted everything changed once Rikishi publicly posted about his contract online.

“I talked to my uncle Rikishi. My uncle means well—I know my uncle means well. “I talked to him, told him I’m on my contract. I go on social media—he does a post, ‘My nephew’s out of—’ and I’m like, ‘Oh, no, no.’”

Fatu admitted he intentionally wanted to keep everything quiet because he genuinely didn’t know what his future looked like yet and didn’t want outside pressure influencing the process.

“I didn’t know where I was going. I really didn’t know where I was going. I just knew this is—I’m getting goosebumps, bro—this is a big decision.”

He also explained that he avoided directly asking members of The Bloodline for help because they were already at the top of WWE heading into WrestleMania 40.

“I couldn’t—I didn’t want to reach out once again to my brothers because they’re on top—this is Bloodline.”

But everything suddenly changed after Solo Sikoa personally reached out to him after seeing Rikishi’s post online. Fatu said Solo immediately treated the situation seriously and encouraged him to contact Paul Heyman.

“Solo really called and was like, ‘Hey, man, what’s up? What you got lined up? I seen my dad’s post. Are you—?’ ‘Yeah, man, I am.’ “Well bro, you need to let the boys know. You should call Heyman, man.’”

That’s when the situation moved incredibly fast. Fatu revealed that before he even had the chance to message Heyman himself, Heyman had already contacted him privately. Fatu immediately called Solo back in disbelief after seeing the message waiting for him.

“I hang up with Solo, go to Twitter because I hoped Heyman would write me. I go on my inbox—oh, Heyman already hit me. “Call Solo: ‘Hey man, this s*** already hit me.’”

According to Fatu, everything became official very quickly after that. Fatu also admitted WWE managed to keep his eventual debut almost completely secret internally before he finally arrived on television months later.

“And man, we locked everything down. I got offered in February, got signed in March, didn’t debut till June. “They didn’t know I was coming. They didn’t know I was coming.”

Bottom line — Jacob Fatu’s WWE signing almost stayed completely secret until Rikishi accidentally blew up the entire situation online. But once Solo Sikoa and Paul Heyman got involved, the path toward WWE suddenly came together very quickly behind the scenes.

Do you think Jacob Fatu has already become one of WWE’s best signings of the past few years, or do you think his biggest run is still ahead of him? Drop your thoughts below and let us know.

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