In a surprising turn of events, Tama Tonga (Haku’s son), renowned for his work in NJPW and as a founding member of the Bullet Club, made his debut on WWE SmackDown by joining forces with Solo Sikoa, targeting Jimmy Uso. Despite being new to the WWE scene, Tonga boasts an impressive resume, having made waves in Japan and Mexico, notably with titles like the IWGP Tag Team Championship and the NEVER Openweight Championship.
Adding to his credentials, Tama received training from the legendary ECW/WWF Tag Team The Dudley Boyz at their Team 3D Academy in Kissimmee, Florida.
Bully Ray (fka Bubba Ray Dudley), one half of the Dudley Boyz, commended Tonga’s training journey, noting he and his brother Tanga Loa had a striking resemblance to the iconic Samoan SWAT Team (WCW) and praising his compelling facial expressions, including his intense ‘Haka’ look.
Here’s what the former 8-time ECW World Tag Team Champion had to say on ‘Busted Open Radio’:
“Haku said he also wanted to be involved in their training, so they trained with me and D-Von three days a week at the academy, and then I gave Haku the keys to our school so he could come in on Sundays and work privately with his sons.
I saw a lot in the both of them very, very early on. As a matter of fact, to me, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa, they were The Usos before The Usos. As far as a Samoan, Polynesian type of team. I saw them as a modern day SST — Samoan SWAT Team.”
According to Bully Ray, Tama Tonga’s charisma sets him apart, underscoring his potential to shine in WWE.
Speaking of Bully Ray, he also spoke about AEW airing the infamous CM Punk-Jack Perry backstage altercation from All In on Dynamite.
Here’s what the 2018 WWE Hall of Famer had to say:
“It backfired. People in the arena, I don’t care if it was 10 people or 100 people or whatever, people were chanting for CM Punk. I think that they actually make CM Punk look like a sympathetic figure here because Punk said what he said on Helwani’s show, and exactly what he said people saw.
For face value, people are like, ‘Okay, Punk did exactly what he said he did’. Anybody can say whatever they want, there was no reason to air the footage. There was no reason to say the Bucks wanted the footage aired, this guy wanted the footage aired. One person wanted this footage aired.”
WATCH: Attitude Era Fan Exposes Herself Live On RAW (Uncensored Version):
