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It's a new era in WWE. Officially branded by WWE as the "Paul Levesque Era," the company is in the midst of a creative renaissance under the leadership of Paul "Triple H" Levesque. Already, under his leadership, we've seen the rise of new stars like Damian Priest winning his first World Championship and Cody Rhodes finally "finishing the story" and being crowned WWE Champion at Wrestlemania 40.
There's also new leadership when it comes to The Bloodline. On last week's Smackdown, Solo Sikoa kicked out Jimmy Uso and introduced the newest member of the group: former founding member of the Bullet Club faction and IWGP tag team champion, Tama Tonga.
Tama and his brother Tonga Loa were kicked out by then-Bullet Club leader Jay White back in 2022, with both brothers looking for singles careers. Tonga would go on to become a four-time NEVER Openweight Championship in NJPW but ultimately chose not to re-sign back in February of this year making him a free agent. There were reports he had signed with WWE back in February and was biding his time to make his first appearance as impactful as possible.
Before Tonga squares up in a WWE ring for the first time, let's go through his history and bloodline, which ties him to the Usos, the new WWE Champion himself, and makes him a threat to the entire WWE roster.
Bullet Club Firing Squad Captain
For most of his career, Tonga was part of a tag team with his brother and collectively held the record for most IWGP Tag Team Championship reigns at seven. Known as the Guerillas of Destiny, they became the primary tag team for Bullet Club after Karl Anderson and Luke "Doc" Gallows left for WWE in 2016.
After Cody Rhodes left WWE back in 2016, he became the hottest free agent at the time and went all over the world to perform in numerous promotions big and small. He eventually found his way to New Japan and was recruited into Bullet Club and dubbed the "American Nightmare." From there, he teamed with then-leader Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks to carve out a new generation of Bullet Club with Hangman Page and Marty Scurll nicknamed Bullet Club Elite.
The members of the previous generation like Tonga, Loa, and Bad Luck Fale didn't care for Kenny's leadership and the group's focus on Cody, so began to distance themselves from their Bullet brethren.
When Omega defeated Cody to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Title at the G1 Special in San Francisco, he and The Young Bucks were joined by Tonga, Loa, and King Haku. The Tongans appeared to be congratulating Omega, only to attack them soon after and reveal new "B.C. Firing Squad" shirts, officially declaring they'd splintered off, with Tonga taking the reins.
Page and Scurll joined the fray by attacking the Tongans, before Takahashi and Owens attempted to bring peace between the groups. Cody then came out and was offered the chance to attack Omega with a steel chair, but he refused and went after the Tongans.
As the Tongans left, they called themselves the "true" Bullet Club. In October, Cody, Hangman, and the Bucks left the group and announced they were simply going by "The Elite" now. Tonga and Cody never got their one-on-one, sadly. By December, Tonga declared Jay White the new leader of Bullet Club.
It's doubtful that Tonga would forget Cody putting him in that situation though. WWE has a history of carrying on storylines from other organizations if the wrestlers involved have history, so it would a killer starter point for Tonga to still have Cody in his sights once more to finish another story.
Tama's New Japan Pro Wrestling Singles Career
For most of his career, Tonga was part of a tag team with his brother and collectively held the record for most IWGP Tag Team Championship reigns at seven. Known as the Guerillas of Destiny, they became the primary tag team for Bullet Club after Karl Anderson and Luke "Doc" Gallows left for WWE in 2016.
The Guerillas of Destiny--G.O.D. if you're nasty--ran roughshod over the tag division, even becoming dual champs after capturing the Ring of Honor tag titles at the 2019 NJPW/ROH joint event G1 Supercard. After the match, Tonga went viral with a scathing promo against Ring of Honor and the tag belts he and his brother had just won. He also captured the NEVER Openweight Six-Man tag belts four times with Bullet Club members Yujiro Takahashi, Bad Luck Fale, Taiji Ishimori, and of course, Loa.
After being kicked out of Bullet Club, Tonga found success as a singles competitor. He finally beat House of Torture leader EVIL, after coming up short multiple times before, to win his first NEVER Openweight Championship. Later, his success leveled up during the 2022 New Japan's G1 Climax tournament where he eliminated Jay White, the man who kicked him out of Bullet Club.
On night two of The New Beginning in Sapporo event in February of this year, Tonga wrestled his final NJPW match alongside his brother Loa in a losing effort against fellow G.O.D members El Phantasmo and Hikuleo.
Familial Ties to the Bloodline
Tonga, whose real name is Alipate Aloisio Leone, is the nephew and adoptive son of WWE Hall of Famer and well-known badass Haku (Meng, while he was in WCW). Haku is hugely respected among the wrestling community and seen as the patriarch of the Tonga wrestling dynasty, similar to how The Wild Samoans Afa and Sika are heralded as the head of the Samoan wrestling dynasty of the Anoa'i family.
So no, Tonga and Sikoa Solo are not blood-related by any means, but there are ties stronger than blood. Former MLW star, and son of Afa, Lance Anoa'i explained that his family considers Tonga a part of theirs.
"We consider him, every time I see Haku, he’s my uncle, lot of respect for…I believe it’s just more like the island culture," Anoa'i said back in February. "We’re all from the South Pacific, so the islanders just stick together, man. It’s just one breed. I’ve seen Tama Tonga growing up, I hung out with him while I was out in Japan. Whenever our schedules blessed us to meet up and have dinner. There’s always love there."
With Roman Reigns making Solo his "Tribal Heir" back in December, and Jimmy and Jey Uso both ousted, a new Bloodline is prime to take over WWE that has the best of both lineages in its ranks.
The Good Bad Guy
Aligning himself with Solo and possibly being joined by Jacob Fatu, if rumors are to be believed, this new Bloodline could soon feature multiple new superstars and still remain the top heel faction in WWE. Much like Bullet Club member rotation, Tonga being added to the group and the WWE roster as a whole adds a new coat of paint to his already storied career.
It'll be interesting to see how WWE books Tonga going forward. At 41, it's not the norm to strap a rocket onto somebody in that position, but look at LA Knight and the spotlight he's being given at this point in his career.
There's a whole new locker room to take on in tag matches and singles action, and the Good Bad Guy is looking as mean as ever as he steps onto his biggest stage to date.
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