Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to the Busted Open Podcast. This is Dave LaGreca. On today's episode, myself and Bully Ray talk backlash from WWE. We get into your main event between Jacob Fatu and Roman Reigns. And how about Dan Housen right here on the Busted Open Podcast? This is the Busted Open Podcast. This is again where I got to get a lot of credit.
And a lot of credit goes around, not just the Roman Jacob, but Michael Cole as well. And, and, and this is where like Michael Cole is the best at what he does.
Chapter 2: What was the main event of WWE Backlash?
He did a great job, Bully. During the entrances describing the story of Jacob Fatu and Roman Reigns, he talked about the lei that Jacob Fatu was wearing and that it was made for him special by the daughter of Haku. And then talked about the Tongan death grip. And I thought both of them, Wade Barrett as well, did a great job of describing that Tongan death grip. But the importance of Haku.
Remember, we talked about that, that we wish they would have maybe had this match a little bit later on. So they could have had a bigger story when it came to Haku and that Tongan death grip. But I thought they did a phenomenal job selling it before the match last night. They also did a great job before the match on Saturday as well, talking about Jacob Fatu and the journey that he had.
And they mentioned West Coast Pro. They mentioned House of Glory, like all the independents. that they didn't mention MLW, but they mentioned all the independent organizations that Jacob fought too.
And then they mentioned the biggest thing right before the match started, that with all the ties and the dynasty and the journey that Jacob fought too has been on and the struggles of Jacob fought too, that the one thing that didn't happen was And though he had the opportunity to do it, Roman never let Jacob Fatu in the door. Solo Sokoa let Jacob in the door, but it wasn't Roman Reigns.
That's the way it should be. I thought Wade Barrett and Michael Cole did a phenomenal job telling as much of the story as they could before that match took place on Saturday.
I completely agree with everything that you're saying. And backstory is so important to me because it's the why of how we got here. It's the who, what, when, where, and why of how we've gotten to this point. And with the Samoan family, there's so many stories to be told and how brothers and sisters and cousins and everybody intermeshes and relationships and
When it comes to the Samoan family and the WWE, the amount of backstory is, to me, as important as the story we're getting in the here and now. And I have never been more intrigued by Jacob Fatu's story as I was last week listening to him on Cheap Heat with Peter Rosenberg.
Him telling the very real life story... Of him and his family... And getting to use the Fatu name and how much that meant to him... His dad... Uncle Eki... Eddie Fatu... Umaga... Listening to Jacob tell the story... About when his dad... In San Francisco... Was a bad kid. And... His dad... Was the sister... Of Afa and Sika. So what did they do to... To Jacob's dad? They sent him to Afa and Sika.
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Chapter 3: How did Michael Cole enhance the storytelling of the match?
And the story about when... And Jacob's dad is... I always get a little confused here. Jacob's dad is...
Yeah, because Haku is, I know Haku is Jacob.
No, that's Jacob's uncle. Jacob's dad is, Paul, just look this up for us, please, because I always get, I think, was it the Tonga kid? Sam, Sam, Big Sam. Big Sam. The hardest I've ever been smacked in my entire wrestling career was by Big Sam in Allentown, Pennsylvania, 1996. Anyway, hearing the story of Big Sam as a bad kid being sent to Sika. Right?
And Big Sam gets out of the car to say hello to Uncle Seeker. Hey, Uncle, how are you? How are... And Uncle Seeker just saying, get in the car. Like, the lesson started that moment. It was no, hey, nephew, great to see you, blah, blah, blah. No, you've been a bad kid to my sister. That means you've been a bad kid to all of us. And you're going to learn now.
And I'm getting goosebumps telling this story again because... Knowing... Working with the Samoan family. Knowing the Samoan family. To whatever level I do. And knowing how these very real life stories played out. Seeing them happen. Heyman telling me the story about how the Tonga kid was disrespectful to Andre the Giant. And Sika took him out back behind the arena.
Found a fucking 2x4 and beat him with an inch of his life. Just for being disrespectful to Andre. When you hear all these stories and it comes together, now you get the here and now of Jacob Fatu, it is impossible not to be completely, totally, emotionally invested in Jacob and Roman.
And I agree with you on that with that interview with Peter just here. And we and we heard some of it when we sat down with him a couple of months ago. The journey that he went on and now he here he is main eventing a P.L.A. You could you could appreciate it so much more knowing the journey and the story going into what we saw on Saturday.
Jacob wearing the lava lava, the traditional Samoan, you know, skirt, tie around his waist, reminding me so much of Umaga, of Uncle Eddie, who you have heard me speak of on this show many a times, the greatest Samoan, in my opinion. No better Samoan wrestler, worker, tough mother trucker, blah, blah, blah, more than Eddie Fatu.
The size of a typical Samoan and the athleticness, agility, the everything of unlike any Samoan I have ever seen before. But Dave, I'll be damned if the other night against Roman, I saw... Lots and lots of shades of Uncle Eddie Fatu. That's amazing.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of Jacob Fatu's journey in wrestling?
That's the one part of the match where I was like, uh-uh, this doesn't work for me.
And it wasn't necessary. And by the way, Bully, great description. He hooked up. It was the old school one, two. Not today, brother. It was the old school one. Hulkamania Hulk up. And those instances, it was necessary. I don't think it was necessary on Saturday.
There is no hulking up out of a Tongan death grip. There is no hulking up out of having your Adam's apples crushed in another human being's hands. I don't give a rat's ass how tough Roman Reigns is. You don't have a man the size, the stature, the strength of a Jacob Fatu crushing your Adam's apple.
in his hands, enough to bring you down to your knees, and then all of a sudden you're like, no, I'm getting this shot of adrenaline, and I'm going to come out of it. Uh-uh, brother. It ain't happening. That's the only part of the match I wish they would have looked at a little differently, because to me, it's beyond the realm of believability.
And it really didn't factor into the end of the match because at the end of the match, Roman, all right, now here's a guy that in that instance is hulking up from the Tongan death grip. At the end of the match, he was in pure panic mode. Pure panic mode.
They have never had, since the first day that Jacob has hooked the Tongan death grip, to the last moment of the aftermath that he is hooked to Tong in Deathgrip. You have never seen Roman Reigns in any type of position other than a compromised one. the most compromised we've ever seen Roman Reigns back-to-back-to-back-to-back weeks.
Because this hold is so vicious that even Roman told Jacob, you know the deal, we save this for when we're alone in a bar at 3 a.m. and eight guys are trying to jump us. Then and only then do we resort to this because it's so deadly and we never use it on family. But Roman pseudo-hulked up out of it. And that was a disconnect. Was it enough of a disconnect to throw everything away? No. No.
I felt Punk and Roman using the stairs in front of the referee. That was more of a disconnect for me. but I wasn't buying into Roman coming out of the top, and hulking up is the best way I can put it. I wasn't buying Roman. If Roman would have broke the hold, okay? If Roman would have drove his arms straight up through Jacob Fatu's hold, or Roman would have drove his arms straight down, okay?
through Jacob's hold and got Jacob to release the hold so Roman could get away and catch his breath just enough so that right before Jacob was to hook it again, Roman could fire up. Then I believe it. And I've painted the best word picture I possibly could to describe this moment in time in a wrestling match.
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