Eddie Fatu

Edward Smith Fatu (March 28, 1973 – December 4, 2009) was an American professional wrestler, best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Umaga.

Fatu was born on March 28, 1973, to Vera and Solofa Fatu Sr. Fatu was a member of the Anoaʻi family.

His mother, Vera, was the sister of Afa and Sika of The Wild Samoans.

He has two older brothers who are also professional wrestlers; Sam (The Tonga Kid) and Solofa (Rikishi).

He was also the uncle of The Usos and Solo Sikoa, as well as a cousin of several professional wrestlers, including Yokozuna, Rosey and Roman Reigns.

In 1995, with his training complete, Fatu debuted in his uncle Afa's World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) promotion.

From 1999 to 2000, he worked for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in Japan.

Fatu was also known for his time with All Japan Pro Wrestling in the mid-2000s, where he was a main eventer under the ring name Jamal.

He was a member of the Anoaʻi family, a renowned Samoan wrestling family.

During his first stint with WWE billed as Jamal, he was part of tag team 3-Minute Warning, with his cousin Matt Anoaʻi, billed as Rosey.

In 2001, Fatu, along with his cousin Matt, signed developmental contracts with World Wrestling Federation (WWF), and were assigned to Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA), adopting the tag team name The Island Boyz, and with Fatu using the ring name Ekmo.

They won the HWA Tag Team Championship in November 2001 by defeating Evan Karagias and Shannon Moore.

They also competed for Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW), holding the MCW Southern Tag Team Championship on three occasions.

Fatu (renamed to Jamal) and Anoaʻi (renamed to Rosey) made their main roster debut on the July 22, 2002, episode of Raw as 3-Minute Warning, a pair of villainous thugs.

They were hired as enforcers of Eric Bischoff, attacking random wrestlers each week, after Bischoff either gave people three minutes to entertain him before they were attacked or decided that three minutes of a segment was enough before the team appeared to end it.

They attacked numerous wrestlers at the orders of Bischoff, including D'Lo Brown and Shawn Stasiak.

They also attacked non-wrestlers, including ring announcer Lilian Garcia and former wrestlers Jimmy Snuka, Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah.

Their most notable event came when they attacked two lesbians on the September 9 episode of Raw.

3-Minute Warning then began a feud with Billy and Chuck, interfering in their storyline commitment ceremony, and defeating them on September 22 at the Unforgiven pay-per-view event.

Rico, Billy and Chuck's former manager, also began to manage 3-Minute Warning during this time.

On November 17 at Survivor Series, they competed in an elimination tables match, which was won by The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley).

He was released from the company in June 2003, later going to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and becoming a mainstay for the company from late 2003 to 2005.

The team lasted just shy of a year, with Fatu being released from his WWE contract in June 2003, reportedly after his involvement in a bar fight.

On September 10, 2003, Fatu debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the ring name of Ekmo Fatu, helping Sonny Siaki defeat D'Lo Brown in a casket match.

He then formed a tag team with Siaki.

Fatu debuted in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in November 2003 under his former ring name Jamal, immediately aligning himself with Taka Michinoku's Roughly Obsess and Destroy (R.O.D.) stable.

From October to August 2004, he teamed with Sonny Siaki to defeat the teams of Shark Boy and Mad Mikey, Danny Doring and Roadkill, and America's Most Wanted.

Fatu made his final appearance on August 11, 2004, where he lost to Alex Shelley.

He most often teamed with fellow members Taiyō Kea and Buchanan, though he began to receive a push as a singles wrestler in early 2004.

Entering that year's Champion Carnival, he failed to advance past the group stages, though earned a major upset win over Keiji Mutō.

In May, he began a feud with Toshiaki Kawada, setting his sights on Kawada's Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship.

The two fought for the belt on June 12 in Nagoya, Aichi, where Kawada was victorious.

After this loss, Jamal spent the rest of 2004 primarily focused on the tag division, and on December 1, 2004, he and frequent partner Taiyō Kea won the World's Strongest Tag Determination League tournament, beating Kaz Hayashi and Satoshi Kojima in the final.

In April 2006, Fatu returned to WWE under the ring name Umaga.

Fatu went undefeated on the Raw brand throughout the year before finally suffering his first defeat in January 2007 at the hands of then WWE Champion John Cena.

The following month, he won the WWE Intercontinental Championship for the first time, and won it for the second time in July 2007.

He also appeared in the "Battle of the Billionaires" WrestleMania 23 match as Mr. McMahon's representative.

On April 27, 2008, Fatu's mother died after a seven-year battle with cancer.

Fatu trained with his cousin Matt Anoaʻi at the Wild Samoan professional wrestling school operated by members of their family.

He was released by WWE in June 2009 and wrestled on the independent circuit until his death in December of that year.