Jacob Fatu has revealed that the “Samoan Werewolf” nickname he has carried throughout his wrestling career was originally inspired by Twilight.
Speaking with Stephanie McMahon on What’s Your Story?, Fatu explained that the name dates back to his earliest days of wrestling training with his uncle Rikishi. “It started from the movie Twilight.”
At the time, Rikishi was running a training exercise based around wrestlers representing different cities and competing against one another in a territory-style league. “When I first got into wrestling, my uncle Rikishi, we were doing this like NBA, NFL, different teams from different cities in wrestling versus different cities, territory league.”
Fatu was placed on the same team as Gangrel, whose vampire character created an obvious theme for his younger partner. “We were on the same team. He was a vampire. Twilight vampires need a werewolf, and the guy’s name was Jacob.”
Fatu also made a point of crediting Gangrel, real name David Heath, as one of the people responsible for his development as a wrestler. “I gotta be very clear. I was trained by my uncles Rikishi, Reno, my father as well, but Gangrel, David Heath, had a lot to do with my training. Shout out to him.”
The Twilight connection was not immediately embraced by everyone in Fatu’s family, particularly because of the “Samoan” part of the eventual nickname. “My uncle, you know, they don’t got werewolves in Samoa. I was like, yeah, well, how do you know they don’t have werewolves in Samoa? I’ve never been. I’ve been there when I was one years old, but I don’t remember. But like he said, my mother said the same thing. Who knows what they got in Samoa?”
Fatu ultimately embraced the combination, connecting it to the much larger story of his family’s influence on professional wrestling. “Look, man, we came from this little bitty island. Now we’re making a huge impact. So shout out to my people from that little bitty island out there.”
Gangrel is best remembered by WWE fans for leading The Brood alongside Edge and Christian during the Attitude Era. Fatu said his former trainer was also responsible for teaching him a significant amount during his early development.
Fatu even revealed something he learned about Gangrel’s distinctive walk while training with him, explaining that it originated from an injury rather than simply being something created for the vampire character. “I knew where my trainer’s walk started from. It started with his foot getting caught.”
The Samoan Werewolf nickname ultimately stuck with Fatu as he progressed through the independent wrestling scene. He carried it into MLW, where he became the promotion’s World Heavyweight Champion, and continued using it after signing with WWE.
Fatu made his WWE debut in 2024 and has since become one of the latest members of the Anoa’i family to establish himself as a major WWE star.
The family includes his father Sam Fatu, who wrestled as The Tonga Kid and Tama, as well as his uncles Rikishi, Umaga and Yokozuna. Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa are among his cousins.
After years of using the Samoan Werewolf moniker, it turns out the character’s origin can be traced back to a simple wrestling-school pairing: Gangrel was the vampire, and Twilight said a vampire needed a werewolf named Jacob.
