Court Bauer Recalls Working With Umaga On His Character

Umaga made his debut in April of 2006, and Court Bauer recently recalled working with Eddie Fatu to develop the character. Bauer was a guest on Talk is Jericho and he talked about his time as a writer in WWE, noting that the introduction of Umaga was the best angle he ever pitched.

“We’re getting ready to go to Chicago for WrestleMania 22,” Bauer said (per Wrestling Inc). “We had our last meeting going into there with Vince, he goes, ‘We gotta get some new heels for Cena. We got to keep feeding this guy. We need monsters.’

“So Eckie [Umaga] and I [are] on the phone, and at the hotel [we] just came up with Umaga,” he continued. “And it was as a callback, throwback to his uncles doing the Wild Samoans gimmick, but with a modern twist with the grill piece. I pitched him the face paint. Originally I wanted it to be a temp tattoo … 72 hours later, he debuted on ‘Raw.’ That’s how fast he went from sitting out. Concept, sign off, now he’s making a big impact.”

Umaga had a lengthy undefeated run following his debut and won the WWE Intercontinental Championship twice during his time with the company. He passed away in December of 2009 after having been released in June of that year.