Samoan Bulldozer has star-studded family tree

With his sole loss coming from a roll up 1-2-3 by John Cena at New Years Resolution in a match 90-percent dominated by Umaga, the 6-foot-4, 348-pound San Francisco resident has quickly climbed up to main event status, becoming one of the few WWE creations to actually work in recent years. He gets his re-match with Cena in a Last Man Standing match this Sunday at the Royal Rumble.

With manager Armando Alejandro Estrada by his side to be his mouthpiece, I wouldn?t be surprised to see Umaga wearing the belt some day, sooner rather than later.

Given his success, the question is who is Umaga? Well, first off, he is, in fact, truly of Samoan heritage, the tattoos on his body actually being of Samoan design. While he speaks Samoan in the ring, Umaga does speak English as his first language. His real name is Eddie Fatu.

As a matter of fact, if you haven?t figured it out, you first saw Umaga (without the face tattoos and Samoan madman persona) in a WWE ring about two years ago, under the name ?Jamal.? He and his real-life cousin, Matt Anoa?i, or ?Rosie? as he was called in the ring (later to become a part of a superhero duo along with the Hurricane), joined up to be the tag team ?Three Minute Warning? which was managed by Eric Bischoff. The tag team lasted only a short while before Eddie left to do other work, including a stint as the character ?Ekmo? at TNA. He was to be reunited this year with Rosie as a tag team, but Rosie was let go by WWE and the Umaga persona was created for him, something which has been very successful given fans are becoming thirsty for gimmicks again.

Now before you pass him off as just a fatboy good only for power moves, you need to look at some fairly innovative things he?s done in the ring, especially given his size. First off, he moves well for a larger man, not depending on constant rest moves which slow down matches for most big men. His finishing move, the Samoan Spike, is a nasty looking thumb to the throat while his softening moves, including a flying head butt to an opponent tied to the Tree of Woe (hung upside down from the ring ropes), and the running backward splash which snaps his opponent?s head back as they are against the bottom turnbuckle, all sell as devastating maneuvers.

While doing research on Umaga I also discovered that Eddie Fatu has an incredible wrestling pedigree, one of a large family of Samoan wrestlers. First off, he is the brother of none other than Solofa Fatu, better known as Rikishi, who left the WWE a couple of years back after a great run. He also has some pretty well known cousins aside from Rosie, including former world champions Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson and Rodney Anoa?i, better known as Yokozuna. He also has a high flying uncle, who you may remember for Rowdy Roddy Piper breaking a coconut over his head, in one Jimmy (Superfly) Snuka.

Something which I believe makes Umaga?s character even more entertaining is Armando Alejandro Estrada, his Cuban manager, who serves as his voice on the mic. Personally, I wish Estrada would get more mic time since his promos remind me of Al Pacino?s character in ?Scarface? and are always somewhat funny, even when Estrada is trying to act mad. If you will recall, it was Estrada who interrupted Ric Flair in the ring the night he unveiled Umaga on Raw with the Samoan Bulldozer rushing the ring, leaving Flair laid out. Hey, if a legend like Flair sees fit to put over Umaga, there must be confidence in this guy in the locker room.

The chemistry between Estrada and Umaga reminds me of the old-time managers for crazed wrestlers like Khamala and Abdula the Butcher, who served as the only ?protection? between their monsters and their victims in the ring. The ?out of control madman? has kind of become a lost art in a business where there used to be several ?Rough House Fargos? running loose.

Will it get old? Sure. All personas get old after a while unless they are changed every so often. Even Undertaker and Kane modified their characters, and they are two of the most popular wrestlers in the WWE. However, I like the combination of out of control madman and manager, kind of like Paul Mitchell and Abyss in TNA. Every promotion needs a madman.