In an exclusive for WrestlingNews.co, Steve Fall interviewed former MLW wrestler Lance Anoa’i about growing up in the legendary Samoan family, being around Yokozuna as a kid, the call he got from WWE, why he wanted out of MLW, and more. Here are a few highlights (scroll down to watch the entire interview).
Lance Anoa’i talks Yokozuna giving him money as a kid:
“My grandfather lived in the same town as us and he had his own promotion which is WXW. Whenever my father, or even like we had Rikishi come in, my uncle. We had Umaga, Rosie, and Yokozuna made appearances.”
“Yokozuna just used to randomly show up at our front door, knocking on the door, saying that he’s in the area. He would just come in through the door, sit right on the sofa, watch TV, put his legs out, and man, I used to love it because every time he came in, he always threw me and my sisters some money.”
On Undertaker wrestling for his grandfather:
“My grandfather’s the one who had all the stars go to his house because he had like his huge house with a basement, big pool in the backyard, so if the guys were in the area and they wanted to train, they stopped at the school and then they’ll always go to his house and it was like Bam Bam, Luna, X-Pac was a big part. Undertaker stopped by. We even had Undertaker and Kane at one of my grandfather’s shows, on an indie show. We had Chris Jericho Eddie Guerrero, like man, just everybody was always stopping by to show respect for my grandfather, actually my whole family. So it was always a pleasure just growing up and watching and seeing all this, like just, wow.”
Lance Anoa’i on why he wanted to be released by MLW:
‘When I was getting back from Japan, they had no dates for me. They had nothing for me. Nothing was planned. I knew like once I dropped the tag straps, I wasn’t sure what was gonna happen, but since they didn’t give me no dates or anything, no vision, because at first when we signed, the vision was, you know, the Samoans versus the Von Erichs, the Samoans verse 5150, like it was a big tag division. Then slowly it started like, chopping down and it was the Samoans versus FBI who was a great tag team. We still wrestled great tag teams, but they gave us, they pitched the good selling point to us while we’re there, and then slowly, everything just started dying off and then we started dying off and I said, ‘Hey, man, I just want to, you know, right now I’m in Japan, but I don’t want my value to go down. I’m enjoying it. I travel back and forth. I didn’t want no conflicts with Japan and MLW’, and they granted me as many tours as I want with Japan. They granted that for me, but just more of the freedom. Maybe a possibility man, you know, we just be able to throw it up man, but who knows. I just wanted that freedom mainly for right now, especially with my family being at the top of the best company there is.”
“I’ve missed a few opportunities being with MLW. That one on A&E. I missed the possibility of being on the Tribal Court they were doing, bringing in the whole family. I missed that opportunity. Now I can do it all. I can be at extra work. I can be at tryouts. Like nothing is stopping me now, so I’m just ready to go.”
“So the Tribal Court, they wanted a lot of us. They asked my grandfather, my dad, my uncles, me, Jacob, they wanted us all and unfortunately, you know, due to our contracts and everything, we weren’t able to, but that’s okay, you know. We weren’t able to and we just carried on and now we just don’t know man. Time will tell. Impact looks very strong right now. In January they become TNA again. AEW looks awesome. You just you just never know. Hey, man, that’s the life of the freedom.”
On MLW shutting down the idea of him appearing in the Bloodline storyline:
“We pitched that point and we got shut down. We don’t know why. You know, it is what it is. Like, you know we just ran with it. They even did the A&E special, like filming my whole family at our family reunion, and we weren’t allowed to be in any of it. So you know, there’s just a few missed opportunities and hopefully, it just comes right back around and we’ll be able to, everybody will be able to see how big our family is still growing. I’m not the only one left. There’s still a lot of guys. Jacob Fatu is my cousin. His brother, Journey. Solo is already in there, man. Zilla Fatu, who’s Umaga’s son. We’re just all just going and we’re all young and hungry and ready to achieve and follow our footsteps, our family’s footsteps, and just keep the Bloodline going.”
Anoa’i added that he enjoyed the opportunities given to him in MLW.
Lance Anoa’i on getting injured in a match against Shane McMahon on WWE RAW:
“I originally got hurt in the opening where Drew McIntyre slammed me into the back of the stairs, so I had like a big bruise right away right on my back. I ate the corner of the step right to my back, so I was in a little pain there, and then I was like, ‘Oh, man. Here we go. Now I gotta take Shane’s punches and kicks.’ He’s a hell of a guy. I enjoyed being in the ring with him and having that opportunity, but man, I think he should go to UFC or something (he laughs).”
Lance Anoa’i on wanting to join the WWE Bloodline Storyline
“Yea, just seeing them and especially Solo because I watched his very first match all the way to being able to tag with him right before he got signed, and just to see him in the position he’s in, man, I’m proud. I was just in Florida last week just telling him when I was down at his house, I was just like, ‘This is where I want to be. I want to be with you guys, but right now y’all are killing it and I love every moment.’ I said, ‘You guys are the only reason I still tune in every single week to watch you”
Predicting a potential Jey Uso vs. Jimmy Uso match at WrestleMania:
“I think I gotta go with Jey Uso, Main Event Jey Uso. Ever since COVID and Jimmy was out, he’s been on a whole nother level. He’s shown his ability and he basically put the company on his back right there with Roman and Cody Rhodes.”
This interview is exclusive to WrestlingNews.co. If you use these quotes, please include a link back to this page.
