Talla Tonga is one of the biggest men walking around WWE right now, and even he isn’t completely sure whether the company turned his name into one giant height joke.
The WWE Tag Team Champion opened up about the origins of his “Talla Tonga” name during an appearance on Cheap Heat Live on WWE radio. With Talla standing close to seven feet tall, the hosts asked the obvious question — is the name really just WWE’s way of saying he’s the taller Tonga?
Turns out Talla has wondered the exact same thing. He explained that the name seemed to come together pretty quickly and admitted he originally hoped WWE would simply let him continue using Hiku.
“Man, I think that was just a name they came up with on the spot. I was hoping either they use Hiku, they stick with that. No one owns that name—not anymore, I think.”
That’s where things get interesting, because “Talla” isn’t completely disconnected from his actual name. Talla explained that his real first name is Taula. In Tongan, however, the pronunciation is closer to “Daula” because of the way the letter T is spoken. WWE then gave him a new spelling that just happens to look a whole lot like the English word “tall.”
“My real name is Taula. Just like in Tongan, the T is pronounced like a D. So, it’s like ‘Daula,’ but it’s spelled T-A-U-L-A.”
Once WWE changed that spelling to T-A-L-L-A, even Talla started wondering whether somebody backstage was having a little fun with his massive frame.
“And the name they put up is T-A-L-L-A. So, I was like, ‘I wonder if that’s just a play on it because I’m tall.’ I’m not sure, you know.”
So there you have it. WWE may have simply tweaked Taula into Talla, or somebody may have looked at the gigantic member of the Tonga family and decided subtlety wasn’t necessary. Either way, Talla himself doesn’t seem to have received some grand explanation for where the name came from. Talla Tonga has since made the name his own in WWE, and considering his size, it’s certainly one fans aren’t going to have much trouble remembering.
What do you think WWE was going for with the Talla Tonga name? Was it just a play on Taula, or was his height absolutely part of the joke? Let us know what you think and leave your feedback in the comments.
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