Former WWE star Ken Anderson recently shared his memories of being Umaga’s final opponent before his passing in 2009.
After leaving WWE, Umaga joined Hulk Hogan’s “Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin” tour which sadly became his last professional wrestling match. On the final night of the tour, performing under the name Uso Fatu, Umaga faced Anderson in what would be his final match.
Speaking on Elite Wrestle Talk on 99.9 Punk World Radio FM, Ken Anderson explained how he joined the tour. “It was actually Umaga and Rikishi who got me booked on that tour, because Umaga had just parted ways with the company as well, with WWE, and we ere pretty good friends, and he just saw a great opportunity.”
“Hogan was putting together a really good list, it was a really solid line up, and it turns out to be one of the most fun tours I’ve ever been apart of.” A few days after returning home, Anderson got the heartbreaking news of Umaga’s passing.
“It happened to be I wrestled Umaga on the very last show of the tour, then I got back to the US and three days later I got a call from Charlie Haas.” Anderson recalled. “I was at Dick’s Sporting Goods, just pulled up, and Charlie called me and said if you’re not sitting down you need to sit down, and he told me that Umaga had passed away.”
Ken Anderson says Umaga wanted to prove himself to WWE during their match
Ken Anderson recalled that both he and Umaga wanted to prove themselves after leaving WWE. “We worked each other a ton in WWE, whether it be house shows, Raw, pay-per-views, and Umaga was always, it wasn’t a lazy thing, he was very lets be smart about what we do in the ring, not take a bunch of risks.”
“This particular night, he knew I had a chip on my shoulder the way I left, and he also had a chip on his shoulder, he wasn’t happy with the way he left the company, and he said ‘you know they’re going to be watching this, the office is going to get their eyes on this, so lets go out there and kill it and fuckin’ prove to them what they’re missing out on.” [H/T: WrestleTalk]
