Haku (wrestler)

Tonga 'Uli'uli Fifita
Born	(1959-02-03) February 3, 1959 Nukuʻalofa, Tonga
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Prince Tonga King Tonga Tonga Fifita Haku King Haku Meng Super Zym
Billed height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Billed weight	142 kg (313 lb)
Trained by	Giant Baba
Debut	1978

Tonga 'Uli'uli Fifita (born February 3 1959 in Nuku'alofa, Tonga), is a professional wrestler and actor, for both World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In WCW, he used the name Meng; in the WWF, he used the names King Tonga, King Haku, and Haku. He was known by his wrestling peers as the toughest backstage fighter of his era.

Career

Beginnings

Growing up in the South Pacific island of Tonga, Fifita attended Tonga College, and at the age of 14, he was part of a group of teenagers sent by the King of Tonga to Japan to study Sumo. After moving to Japan in 1974, he competed under the shikona (sumo name) of Fukunoshima (福ノ島). He made his debut in November 1974 and reached a highest rank of Makushita 27. However, in 1975 the stablemaster who recruited him died, and he and five other Tongan wrestlers got entangled in a dispute with his successor, which led to him being forced to retire by the Sumo Association in 1976.

Under the guidance of two other former sumotori who had turned to puroresu, Genichiro Tenryu and Takashi Ishikawa, he joined their home promotion, All Japan Pro Wrestling. Early in his career, he also refereed matches in the Amarillo territory. Nevertheless, this merely served as a springboard for him to wrestle all over the world. He made a name for himself outside the ring as the toughest wrestler of his era. This developed throughout several incidents and has been validated through comments by various wrestlers and people involved in the business.

In the early 1980s, Fifita, taking the name King Tonga, wrestled in Canada for Frank Valois' International Wrestling promotion based Montreal. The heel Tonga was managed by former wrestler Tarzan "The Boot" Tyler. Tonga feuded with the top stars of the promotion, including Dino Bravo. A face turn appeared to be in the offing, as Tonga interfered in a tag match, attacking Road Warrior Animal and Paul Ellering during a bout with Jos Leduc and Jacques Rougeau, Jr. A miscommunication in another tag match with partner Butch Reed led to Reed and Tyler attacking Tonga. Tonga formed a team with his until-then rival Dino Bravo, and the two became successful, including a win over the Road Warriors at the Montreal Forum.

World Wrestling Federation

In 1986, King Tonga, in his rookie year in the World Wrestling Federation, became a star by bodyslamming Big John Studd on WWF Championship Wrestling. He made a name for himself as Haku in the WWF as half of "The Islanders" with Tama. The team had a classic feud with the British Bulldogs that was started when the Islanders, along with manager Bobby Heenan, kidnapped the Bulldogs' mascot, a Bulldog named Matilda.

In 1988, upon King Harley Race's departure from the WWF, Haku was given Race's crown and robe and rechristened "King Haku." He would later lose the "crown" to Hacksaw Jim Duggan. He would later go on to form the tag team known as The Colossal Connection with André the Giant and win the WWF Tag Team Championship. Afterward, he formed a tag team with The Barbarian.

World Championship Wrestling

In WCW, Fifita served as Meng, initially the bodyguard for Col. Rob Parker. During this time, he faced Sting in a losing effort for the vacated United States title at The Great American Bash '95. Meng later joined the Dungeon of Doom forming a tag team named the Faces of Fear with his old partner The Barbarian. He was touted as being a former bodyguard to the Emperor of Japan. Meng's finishing maneuver was the feared Tongan Death Grip, a nerve grip on the Adam's apple applied to a standing victim who would drop into a prone position and experience the full effect of the hold.

Meng spent much of 1997 facing mainly lower and mid-card performers before starting a small rampage of a winning streak in the summer of 1998. This lead to his main event World Championship match with Goldberg on the August 10 edition of Monday Nitro. Goldberg, too, had culminated an impressive winning streak and retained his World title that night. In the spring of 1999, when Ric Flair was the (kayfabe) president on WCW programming, the barbaric Meng would often annihilate Flair's enemies per his instructions. Later on, Meng had a short-lived feud with Sting and occasionally faced uppercard stars like Lex Luger and WCW Champion Bret Hart. He also participated in matches for the newly introduced WCW Hardcore Championship toward the end of 1999. Meng finally won the title at the Sin pay-per-view on January 14, 2001. It was then vacated when he appeared in the WWF shortly before the sale of WCW, making him the last man to hold the belt.

Return to WWF and beyond

Fifita re-debuted as Haku as a surprise entrant in the 2001 Royal Rumble. At the time he jumped ship to the WWF, he was the reigning WCW Hardcore Champion, but this was never mentioned by WWF, nor was the Hardcore title referred to again on WCW programming. After the Rumble, he formed a tag-team with Rikishi, but the team did not last long due to Rikishi's injury. Haku was left to wrestle on the lower card shows like Sunday Night Heat. He was eventually released from WWF.He still wrestles on occasion in the independent scene.　He was chosen as the tag partner of １Tenryu Genihiro on May 3, 2004. And, he won brothers of Asashōryū Akinori in Tokyo Doom. He has been inactive ever since. His current wrestling status in unknown at this current stage.

Notoriety and incidents

Fifita made a name for himself outside the ring as the toughest wrestler of his era and is known for allegedly biting off noses, and knocking people out with one punch, slap, or headbutt. Even renowned hardman Bad News Brown said in interviews that Fifita was without a doubt the most vigorous. Bill Goldberg has also called him the toughest man he's been in the ring with. His one time manager, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan said in a shoot interview that Haku was "the toughest man I've ever met in my life." In 1987, Haku had a backstage fight with Jesse Barr (who wrestled at the WWF as Jimmy Jack Funk) which allegedly resulted in Fifita gouging one of Barr's eyeballs out, causing Barr to later wear a glass eye. After this fight, Fifita had a reputation that steered wrestlers away from backstage confrontations.

In the book Arn Anderson: 4 Ever, Anderson cites an event where Fifita pushed a cowboy through two sets of doors with one hand - and a conversation with The Barbarian about who was tougher. The Barbarian just shook his head when Anderson asked who would win in a fight between him and Fifita and stated "Meng's the man."

He also had an altercation with Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake after Beefcake complained to WWF management that Tonga slapped him too hard during a match. After WWF management informed Tonga, he immediately went to the locker room and grabbed Beefcake out of the shower, and began choking him, lifting him two feet off the floor. Other wrestlers were hesitant to break it up, so finally Hulk Hogan (who Tonga had respect for) was called in and was able to calm Tonga down.

In an interview with Alex Marvez, Fifita was asked about one of his legendary fights. Fifita stated his favorite was one that "cost him a lot of money." He was at the Baltimore Airport Hilton bar with Sivi Afi when five men started laughing at them and said, "You guys are the fake wrestlers on TV." In response Fifita replied, "I’ll just show you how fake it is," and reached over and grabbed one man while three others jumped on him. As they repeatedly punched him he knocked Three of them out and then applied the togan death grip one of them and them Fifita bit the nose of the man he initially grabbed and spat it out. They saw him spit out their friend's nose, and before he could fight them, they quickly evaded. Months later, he saw on the news that he was being sued $2.5 million for the incident.[1]

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature moves
  • Savate kick
  • Tongan death grip
  • Tongan Spike (Thumb choke hold)
  • Backbreaker
  • Headbutt
  • Splash

• Managers
  • Jimmy Hart
  • Bobby Heenan
  • J.J. Dillon

Championships and accomplishments

• Lutte Internationale (Montreal)

• Canadian International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
• Canadian International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Richard Charland

• NWA Hawaii

• NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• NWA Mid-America

• NWA Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ken Lucas & George Gulas

• Super World of Sports

• SWS Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Yoshiaki Yatsu

• World Championship Wrestling

• WCW Hardcore Championship (1 time)

• World League Wrestling

• WLW Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

• World Wrestling Council

• WWC North American Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Gran Apolo
• WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
• WWC World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Hercules Ayala

• World Wrestling Federation

• WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with André the Giant

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 330 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003.

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards

• Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996) with Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, The Barbarian, Lex Luger, Kevin Sullivan, Z-Gangsta and The Ultimate Solution vs. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, WCW Uncensored, Towers of Doom match, Tupelo, MS, March 24

Personal life

Fifita is married to Dorothy Koloamatangi. They have a daughter, Vika; a son, Tevita; and two adopted sons, Pate and Taula. His son Tevita played football as a defensive end for the University of Texas at El Paso. His parents are Kelepi Fifita (father) and Atiola Vikilani Fifita (mother). Among Fifita's first-cousins is Australian Wallabies rugby player Tatafu Polota-Nau.

He appeared in the 1978 Sylvester Stallone movie Paradise Alley.

He also appeared in a Little Caesars commercial alongside Goldberg.

He was the best man at The Rock's wedding.

He appeared on the VH1 series Hogan Knows Best, and can be seen throwing Brooke Hogan into the family swimming pool.

External links

• Tonga Fifita at IMDb
• Biography of Haku
• TV.com summary