Jacob Fatu’s WWE debut during last week’s episode of SmackDown was a memorable moment, with his takedown of Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens, and Randy Orton hinting at a promising career as part of The Bloodline. However, the use of his real name caught many off guard, as this is a departure from WWE’s usual practice of renaming talents. And now Dave Meltzer has reported in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE initially intended to call him “Caesar Sikoa,” although they changed their mind for an unknown reason.
“Caesar Sikoa was the first idea for Fatu’s name, but they made the call to keep his Jacob Fatu name, which is surprising since it’s his real name.”
Dave Meltzer via WON32-year-old Fatu finished with MLW in February, and it became known he had signed with WWE shortly before WrestleMania with him canceling bookings. Therefore, the fact it took several months for him to debut was unexpected, although with him having a criminal record, it has been speculated WWE wanted to wait until they’d run their premium live events in France and Scotland, which will seemingly be confirmed to have been a factor if he is unable to travel to August’s Bash In Berlin.
