Last Saturday, Tama Tonga competed in his farewell match for New Japan Pro-Wrestling on the second night of The New Beginning In Sapporo, teaming up with long-time tag partner Tanga Loa in a losing effort against their Guerillas of Destiny stablemates El Phantasmo and Hikuleo. The match came a few weeks after from his contract with the promotion expired, a move he surprisingly announced after winning the NEVER Openweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 17.
Now, a new report has seemingly revealed Tonga’s post-New Japan destination following his official departure from the promotion. Dave Meltzer reports that Tama Tonga is headed to WWE, though no details regarding when he’s expected to appear nor his current status with the company are apparent as of yet. Tonga previously held talks with WWE when his New Japan contract expired in February 2023 but eventually decided to re-sign with New Japan for another year.
While there also no details on the company’s plans for him at the time of writing, Meltzer went on to speculate that there are various options for Tonga creatively. Through being one of the founding members of The Bullet Club, he already has long-time ties to the likes of Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows (who, interestingly, returned to NXT last week) as well as AJ Styles and Finn Balor. Tonga could also technically be considered an Anoa’i family member as Dwayne Johnson sees Tonga’s father, Haku, as his uncle despite them having no blood ties.
Towards the end of his time with New Japan, it appeared that Tonga had been fired from the company after his profile suddenly disappeared from the promotion’s website. However, the move turned out to be a strange twist in his storyline with EVIL over the NEVER Openweight Championship. After clearing his name and getting himself readded to the website, Tonga went on to lose the belt to EVIL at The New Beginning In Nagoya.