Tama Tonga shocked the world after WrestleMania 40 by interjecting himself in the Bloodline story. But his surprise WWE debut had a building block in place that was worked on for a good part of a year. Tama Tonga’s former Bullet Club brother and trainer Karl Anderson recently let the fans in on how the son of Haku got his break in the WWE.
Talking to the WWE Hall of Famer, Bully Ray on Busted Open Podcast, one half of the “Good Brothers” said, “After my Tokyo Dome match in 2023, which Triple H let me do. I re-signed with WWE, and I was still a champion in New Japan, and he still allowed me to go back and do two matches with New Japan Pro-Wrestling with no issue at all, but I remember texting Triple H and telling him, ‘Tama Tonga’s contract’s coming up. I think Tama’s a full-blown, a can’t-miss, if you ask me.’ He wrote back right away, and it took a year to get it done, but now he’s here.” (After 38:30)
Tonga ambushed Jimmy Uso last Friday night on SmackDown and handed out the consequences for his failure at the grandest stage of them all. This shifts the very dynamic of the Bloodline as a new era has been ushered in by the stablemate of Solo Sikoa. But regarding his first night with the Stamford-based company, Tama Tonga had next to zero clue.
Tama Tonga left unaware of his WWE debut
In the same podcast, Karl Anderson also revealed the events on the eve of Tama Tonga’s WWE debut. “Just knowing that he was coming, last Friday, he had texted me and told me he was gonna show up in the city, he had no clue he was gonna debut that night, either, which is kind of WWE-style. They’ll bring you in, and then you gotta debut, and they told him he was debuting,” said a proud Anderson and added how excited he was to see his former protege perform on national television.
The O.C.'s Karl Anderson revealed that Tama Tonga had 'no clue' of his WWE debut plans until the same day he appeared on SmackDown in Detroit last week.
— WrestleTalk (@WrestleTalk_TV) April 16, 2024
(Busted Open) pic.twitter.com/Iv0xal1FOI
Speaking of Tama Tonga’s future with the Bloodline, the former tag team champion added, “I’m so glad he’s in that Bloodline storyline because now he’s involved with the tippy-top guys. He’s got Paul Heyman right there, who’s always creatively the genius that he is.”
While there have been no words regarding Tama Tonga’s next appearance on the blue brand, it is safe to say that the new direction of the Bloodline story will be as gripping as it has been for the past few years.
