WWE superstar Jacob Fatu will step into a steel cage at SummerSlam this weekend to face Solo Sikoa for the United States Championship, but the most difficult battles of his life happened long before he ever set foot in a wrestling ring.
In a raw and emotional interview on Cheap Heat podcast, Fatu opened up about his criminal past and the jail time that ultimately saved his life. Starting at age 18, Fatu found himself repeatedly behind bars for robbery charges, experiencing a side of life that would fundamentally change his perspective forever.
“I was 18, what? I have great parents. We come from a great family, but man, you know, man, you running around in the streets, all that time on your hands, and you eventually going to get caught up,” Fatu admitted. “It was a whole another mindset. I wasn’t thinking about nobody but myself.”
The reality of incarceration hit harder than any wrestling move ever could. Fatu described the dehumanizing conditions with brutal honesty that few public figures would dare share.
“Being locked up in jail that first time going over there. Man, you can’t you don’t get no privacy over there,” he revealed. “There’s six there’s 12 toilets and they’re not even they’re facing each other, man. It was awkward, man. Sitting down had to use the bathroom looking at another grown man.”
But it was watching his family suffer that truly broke him. The sight of his parents visiting him in jail became the turning point that wrestling alone never could have provided.
“That was the worst, man. Seeing my parents come visit me in that thing. Like man, what the hell?” Fatu said, his voice breaking with emotion. “My mom put her uh man she put up her van man just to bail me out… that’s why when y’all see me here I’m so I’m so thankful I’m here cuz I I know what it could have been.”
Perhaps most remarkably, his future wife stood by him through the darkest period of his life, even helping to name one of their children while he was incarcerated.
“That’s why I knew my wife was the one. You know what I mean? Like, damn, bro. She taking care of me. I’m What the hell am I doing? I’m supposed to be out there taking care of her and my kids,” he reflected.
Now, as one of WWE’s fastest-rising stars, Fatu credits that painful period with giving him the perspective that makes every opportunity precious. When WWE came calling after years of independent wrestling, it wasn’t just a job offer—it was vindication of a completely transformed life.
“WWE blessed me, took care of everything, and you know, um they took a chance on me, not knowing, you know, not know it was just mind-blowing,” he said. “I’m very thankful I have a job now. Very very thankful.”
This weekend at SummerSlam, when Jacob Fatu steps into that steel cage, he’ll be fighting for more than just a championship. He’ll be representing every second chance, every moment of growth, and every person who believes that your past doesn’t have to define your future.
The steel bars around the ring may look intimidating, but they’re nothing compared to the ones he’s already escaped.
https://youtu.be/2i6Zajew-2c?si=fuYbUXX9qqavEvYM