RIP Umaga

[nightrain]

BRITNEY SPEARS was one of the last people to spend time with wrestling superstar Umaga before he died.

The pop singer bumped into the former WWE WrestleMania headliner when they shared a flight from Australia to America.

Britney — now back in LA — remembered Umaga from a wrestling storyline he was part of with her ex-husband Kevin Federline and John Cena on Raw.

She was returning from a series of concerts Down Under, where the grappler had also been in action as part of the Hulkamania tour.

His last bout was on November 28 against Ken Anderson in Sydney.

The Wrestling Observer reports: "After the match, Fatu returned to the US on a flight with both Ric Flair and Britney Spears.

"Spears recognised him even before Flair, telling him she knew him for when he worked with her ex-husband."

Umaga, real name Edward Fatu, died of a heart attack a week later, aged just 36.

He was due to return to the WWE in January, subject to passing a drugs test. He was fired in June for falling foul of the company's Wellness Policy and refusing to go to rehab.

The WWE have been criticised by fans for not marking his passing at all on this week's Raw.

There was no video tribute or graphic with many assuming that Vince McMahon's group are trying to distance themselves from the large number of grapplers who have died young.

However, some wrestlers — including Chris Jericho and Primo Colon — wore black armbands in Umaga's honour.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/2766461/Britney-Spears-was-one-of-the-last-people-to-spend-time-with-WWE-wrestling-superstar-Umaga-before-he-died.html

[nightrain]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCED FOR EDDIE "UMAGA" FATU

A private viewing for Eddie "Umaga" Fatu will be held on December 18 while
a public service will be held the next day in Las Vegas, NV., at the Davis
Funeral Home located at 6200 S. Eastern Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89119. Flowers
and/or cards can be sent to the same address. Apart from a note on WWE.COM,
WWE has so far failed to mention his passing on RAW and by the looks of it,
not even on Smackdown. The company didn't mention anything on Andrew "Test"
Martin as well when he passed away.

[slashsfro]

The WWE is scared of the PR backlash if/when it is discovered that Umaga had a bunch of drugs in his system when he died.  They learned the lesson from Benoit and are treading lightly on this topic.

[nightrain]

WORLD WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT were under fire today, as British fans slammed the company for refusing to acknowledge Umaga's passing on their flagship TV show.

WWE Raw — broadcast live in the UK at 2am on Tuesday morning and repeated last night — made no mention of the star's death last weekend.

This is despite Umaga, real name Edward Fatu, being under contract to Vince McMahon's company for most of his professional career.

He left six months ago after failing a drugs test but had told friends he was hoping to return at next month's Royal Rumble event.

Conversely, homage was recently paid to Captain Lou Albano, who died in October aged 76 and last worked for WWE in 1995.

The Sun has received a number of e-mails, phone calls and comments from upset fans criticising the decision, as have other publications and wrestling message boards.

MySun contributor Dave Stevenson, from Crickhowell, South Wales summed up the mood saying: "I'm furious that there wasn't even a hint of a tribute to Umaga on Raw this week.

"The man headlined several WWE PPVS and was in a WrestleMania main event and there was nothing.

"The very least they should have done was give a minute for Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler to announce the news and pass on the condolences of the WWE to Mr Fatu's family.

"And there should have been a video tribute about his two significant runs with the company, regardless of him not being under contract with them or any problems they may have had in the past.

"A completely disrespectful and classless act."

One major wrestling figure has also come out against the WWE over the situation, with others expected to follow.

Jim Cornette told the Who's Slamming Who Podcast: "They won't even recognise guys who made a contribution to their company, just because it's bad PR.

"But Ring Of Honor on Saturday night in Chicago opened the show with a 10-bell salute to a guy that had never worked there, just because he is a member of the wrestling fraternity."

Jim added: "It's sad every time we lose somebody, which happens way way too often in this business.

"Something's wrong and something ought to be done."

The Sun contacted WWE, but they declined to respond to their fans' concerns.

UK representative Laura Burch told us: "We are not be able to provide comment or clarification on this story."

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/2767681/WWE-fans-rage-at-Umaga-snub-Supporters-slam-WWE-for-refusing-to-acknowledge-Edward-Fatus-death-on-Raw.html#ixzz0ZPV8YJJo

[Hammy]

The Wrestling Observer has released a new report indicating that Eddie "Umaga" Fatu was noticeably in bad shape during the last few days of his life. Sources close to the situation noted that Umaga seemed completely out of it, and he was slurring his speech and reacting very slowly during conversations with others.

It's also being reported that Umaga had been telling friends that he expected to return to WWE, and that he had reached some sort of agreement with the company that would have seen him return either at or around the time of the Royal Rumble PPV. Apparently the deal was reached with WWE at the time that he committed to working the "Hulkamania" tour, and WWE was attempting to secure Umaga's deal in an effort to thwart Hogan's tour. Umaga of course worked the tour anyways, even though WWE was not happy about it.

Additionally, Hulk Hogan did make an attempt to bring Umaga into TNA, however he told Hogan that he has already committed to working with WWE, and that he felt a certain amount of loyalty to Triple H and Stephanie McMahon as they were the ones who pushed hard for him during his first run with the company.

[BlowUpYourVideo]

Eddie "Umaga" Fatu's cause of death has been revealed. According to Dan Morgan, supervisory forensic investigator for Harris County, who told Irvin Muchnick; "The cause of death is acute toxicity due to combined effects of hydrocodone, carisoprodol, and diazepam."

According to Muchnick, hydrocone is a painkiller, carisoprodol (also known as soma) is a muscle relaxer and diazepam (also known as valium) is an anti-anxiety medication.


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