Michael Hayes wanted Jacob Fatu hidden under a ski mask before his WWE debut on the June 21, 2024 edition of SmackDown. Triple H took one look at the situation and apparently decided they weren’t fooling anybody.
While speaking to Stephanie McMahon on her What’s Your Story? podcast, Fatu revealed what happened backstage as WWE tried to keep his arrival under wraps. Hayes had Fatu wearing a ski mask during rehearsals to protect the surprise, right up until Triple H spotted him.
“When I came in and then made my debut, I remember seeing your husband. At the debut, I had on a ski mask, you know, trying to kayfabe. Michael Hayes had me doing—Michael Hayes had me in the ski mask during rehearsals. And your husband was like, ‘Jacob, you could take that off.’”
Fatu tried to explain that the mask wasn’t his idea. Hayes had told him to wear it, so Triple H went directly to the source to find out why one of WWE’s most recognizable incoming stars was walking around rehearsals with his face covered.
“I was like, ‘Oh, well Michael said—’ He was like, ‘You can take it off.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’ And then I remember Michael Hayes was over there. Hunter has the earphones on, and Hunter goes—he’s like, ‘Michael, why Jacob wearing a ski mask?’ Michael was like, ‘Well, you know, we got a campaign. They don’t know.’”
Triple H wasn’t buying it. Hayes may have been trying to preserve the surprise, but Triple H apparently figured Fatu’s size and appearance had already made the disguise pretty pointless. He looked at Fatu, asked Hayes one simple question and ended the ski-mask experiment on the spot.
“Triple H said, ‘Michael, look at Jacob. You think they don’t know who this is? Jacob, take the goddamn ski mask off.’ I was like, ‘Yes, sir.’ Took that shit off.”
For Fatu, though, the interaction meant more than Triple H overruling Hayes over a disguise. Fatu said Triple H had already been willing to give him another chance after issues nearly cost him his opportunity with WWE. Finally getting backstage and having that moment with the man who helped give him another shot made the entire experience hit differently.
“But man, just to see him, and for him to give me a second chance… man, it was everything. It was everything, man.”
WWE may have wanted Jacob Fatu’s debut kept secret, but apparently there was only so much a ski mask could accomplish. Michael Hayes wanted the disguise to stay on, Triple H thought everyone could tell exactly who was underneath it, and that was the end of that.
What do you make of Triple H immediately overruling Michael Hayes over Jacob Fatu’s ski mask? Do you think the disguise was ever fooling anyone backstage? Let us know in the comments below.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
