Jacob Fatu thought he was having a panic attack in the middle of a segment with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, and could not feel his own body.
Fatu described the experience on What’s Your Story? with Stephanie McMahon as an example of the thing he says he did not understand about the job until he got there.
“I felt that with Roman. It’s a whole nother vibe. When I was in that segment with Roman and Seth, I couldn’t even feel my body. I was like, dude, am I having a panic attack? What’s going on? I walked in the back and, you know, a feeling like that. What Roman said, that’s the magic right there. It was a good feeling.”
“I was also scared of the feeling because I couldn’t feel my body. I was like, man, I don’t want to fall out.”
He is candid that he arrived without the basics of television. Fatu had spent his career on the independent circuit, principally in MLW where he held the World Heavyweight Championship for over two years, and had never worked in front of cameras that mattered.
“I didn’t know how to work a camera. I didn’t know about the red dot. I didn’t know nothing.”
His debut came with a piece of direction he has not forgotten. Fatu was rehearsing in a ski mask, at Michael Hayes’ instruction, to protect the surprise. Paul Levesque disagreed.
“Michael Hayes had me in the ski mask during rehearsals, and your husband was like, Jacob, you can take that off. I got the ski mask on. I’m on the top rope. I’m like, sorry, H, Michael Hayes said keep it on.”
Levesque settled it over the headset.
“Michael, why is Jacob wearing the ski mask? Jacob, take the g**damn ski mask off. I took the ski mask off, and I’m still standing on the rope like this. Yes, sir.”
Michael Hayes has been part of WWE’s creative side since the late 1990s and works as a producer on television, which is why he was the one running the rehearsal. Paul Levesque, who overruled him, is WWE’s Chief Content Officer and the person who signs off on debuts.
What Hayes told him before he walked out is the part he repeats.
“In the words of Michael Hayes, the most famous words ever, which humbled me. Jacob, you need to go out there and wrestle like nobody knows you, because what you did before you got here don’t mean s***. And before you walk out, let me let you know, if you think you’re over, you’re not over.”
Fatu’s read on what makes the act work is one he took from two of the biggest names to have done it.
“I heard Rock and Stone Cold say this. For it to work, you gotta be yourself turned up to the max.”
He also thinks the transferable part of the job is not in the ring at all.
“When you can take wrestling stuff and take it outside of the ring. When you come in the locker room, locker room etiquette. Even when we do that in our regular day life, going through the McDonald’s drive-through and just, hey, how you doing, have a good day. My wife was like, they never heard that from people. Makes a difference.”
Fatu debuted in May 2024, arriving alongside Solo Sikoa’s group, and has since worked programs with Reigns, Rollins, LA Knight and Cody Rhodes. He was on the losing side at SummerSlam night one, teaming with Jey and Jimmy Uso against Knight, Sikoa and Royce Keys, and appeared in the Manchester street fight build on television this month.
