WWE's Jacob Fatu has opened up about the origins of his "Samoan Werewolf" nickname.Fatu used the nickname when he was previously wrestling in MLW, before bringing it with him upon joining WWE. The Anoai family member revealed to Stephanie McMahon on "What's Your Story?" that the nickname was inspired by the Twilight film franchise, and his trainer and former WWE star Gangrel, whose vampire gimmick tied in with the werewolf theme."[The name] It started from the movie Twilight. When I started wrestling, my uncle Rikishi, we were doing like NBA, NFL, different teams from different city in wrestling, a territory league," he began. "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 Gangrel."Fatu said that the "Samoan Werewolf" nickname eventually came to him while he was teamed with Gangrel, who had a vampire gimmick. He added that the Jacob Black character from the Twilight series also lent itself well to the nickname."We [him and Gangrel] were on the same team. He was a vampire, Twilight [is] vampires, he was a werewolf [in the movie]. And the guy's name was Jacob [in the movie]. But I told my wife, I was like, his body looked way more better than my body. So shout out to Jacob on Twilight. So that's how Samoan werewolf came about."Fatu also noted that his uncle told him there were no werewolves in Samoa, where his family is from, but he argued that there was no way to know that for certain. The "Samoan Werewolf" moniker has fit Fatu perfectly, with the WWE star quickly becoming an important figure in the company and his rise in popularity evident in how prominently he's featured on WWE television each week.
