Zilla Fatu Signs With WWE

Zilla Fatu made his official WWE debut on the August 11 edition of NXT from the WWE Performance Center, interfering in the number one contender's match for the NXT Title between Grayson Waller and Cruz Montana.

When Montana and Waller were down, Fatu made his way through the crowd and entered the squared circle. He then used a collection of Bloodline moves, hitting a pop-up Samoan drop to Cruz Montana before delivering a Superman punch to Grayson Waller. Fatu then performed a pose similar to his father, Umaga, before Fatu hit Uso splashes to both Waller and Montana. NXT went off the air with Fatu pointing at Tony D'Angelo, declaring that he intends to pursue the NXT Championship.

The expectation for weeks had been that Zilla Fatu would be just the latest member of the Anoa'i family to sign with WWE. False Finish has reported that Fatu had a multi-week tryout for WWE in June and the company allowed Fatu to finish up multiple independent wrestling dates prior to his debut on NXT. Fatu finished up on the indies on August 7 when he dropped the House of Glory Crown Jewel Championship to Amazing Red, although Fatu is still the reigning 4th Rope Heavyweight Champion and NCG World Champion.

False Finish also noted that Zilla Fatu was always expected to begin with WWE on NXT, similar to his fellow Anoa'i family member, Solo Sikoa, who initially performed on the WWE Performance Center show before moving to the main roster in 2022.

Zilla Fatu seemingly won't be undergoing a name change, similar to Cruz Montana/Mike Santana, as he was referred to as 'Zilla Fatu' by NXT commentator Vic Joseph.

Zilla Fatu began pro wrestling training in 2022, just months after he was released from prison after spending six years in jail for aggravated robbery. The 26-year-old made his pro wrestling debut in July 2023 and he has had 93 matches since then, including one match in TNA where he represented 4th Rope along with Enzo Amore and Josh Bishop to defeat the TNA trio of Steve Maclin, Jake Something, and Mance Warner on the Slammiversary 2025 pre-show.