Zilla Fatu made one hell of a first impression on the August 11 edition of WWE NXT, but it turns out his debut happened exactly as planned.
The son of the late Umaga crashed Tuesday night’s NXT Championship No. 1 Contender’s Match between Cruz Montana and Grayson Waller, ending the bout in a no contest before laying out both men.
Fatu planted Montana with a Samoan Drop, knocked Waller down with a Superman Punch and finished the chaos with an Uso Splash before staring down NXT Champion Tony D’Angelo to close the show.
With so many members of the Anoa’i family already established on the WWE main roster, quite a lot of fans wondered why Zilla Fatu debuted in NXT instead of immediately joining Roman Reigns’ Bloodline.
According to a report by False Finish, that was never actually the plan at all.
Sources told the outlet that Fatu was always expected to begin his WWE career in NXT before eventually making the jump to the main roster.
The approach is obviously very similar to the path taken by Solo Sikoa, who also started in NXT before debuting on the main roster in 2022 and becoming one of the biggest names in Roman Reigns’ Bloodline.
Starting in NXT also gives WWE the chance to establish Fatu as his own star before eventually moving him to RAW or SmackDown.
Based on Tuesday night’s debut, though, it doesn’t look like he will be waiting around quietly.
Fatu didn’t waste any time making his intentions clear, ending the night by staring down Tony D’Angelo and staking his claim to the NXT Championship.
Whether that’s his first WWE feud or simply the beginning of a much bigger journey remains to be seen.
But one thing is already clear: WWE wants Zilla Fatu’s story to begin in NXT, just as it always planned.
Zilla Fatu was always expected to start in #WWENXT just like Solo Sikoa did
— False Finish (@FalseFinishHQ) August 12, 2026
