Zilla Fatu feels closer to his father after his wrestling debut.
The 25-year-old wrestling star recently spoke to Chris Van Vliet for a new interview. He talked about things such as working with Booker T in his Reality of Wrestling promotion, Shelton Benjamin being a father figure for him and more.
Fatu began his wrestling career in 2023 and currently wrestles in the indie circuit. He was asked about following the footsteps of his father Umaga into the business. Zilla revealed that growing up his family always advised kids to try their hands at something else before trying to become a pro wrestler:
“My dad used to tell us every Thursday, we had a family meeting, he always used to tell us, ‘I don’t want you guys doing this. I need you guys to be better than me. I don’t want you guys going through what I went through. I don’t want you guys putting your body on the line or whatever, I need you guys to do something more safe.’”
I’m Happy: Zilla Fatu
The fourth-generation wrestler obviously did not follow this advice. Though he explained that he understands the words of his father much better now than he did during his childhood. He also revealed that he now feels closer to his father because he is able to understand all the struggles his dad went through:
“And at that time, I didn’t really understand it. But now, obviously, since I’m in the business, I definitely understand why, and there’s a lot that comes with this that I feel like people don’t see, the media don’t see. Just being able to kind of embrace it,
And then not run from it. I’m happy that I chose to wrestle, because it brought me closer to him, and now I’m learning who my dad was through wrestling. So I’m so happy that I started wrestling.”
Umaga was a second-generation wrestler who was most famous for his WWE run between 2005 to 2009. He won the IC title twice during this time and feuded with top stars such as John Cena, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels. He unfortunately passed away in December 2009 at the age of 36 after suffering a heart attack.