Edge Remembers Late WWE Superstar Umaga on His Birthday

Edge has returned to WWE after being out of action for nine years due to a neck injury. It has led to him reflecting on his career, and last week he paid tribute to Umaga as it was his birthday. Umaga, whose real name is Edward Fatu, died of a heart attack in 2009 and himself and edge became good friends. On Instagram, Edge posted a series of photos of the two and shared the backstory.

“Umaga, aka Ecky, aka Uce (if he liked you) and I traveled together quite a bit,” Edge wrote. “We also teamed together on a lot of house shows(non televised). The first pics are from a one time only main event in Lexington, KY. Umaga/Edge vs The Hurricane and The Great Khali. Yes, that was the main event. Thank god for Hurricane. Anyway, I hatched a plan to supply The Samoan Bulldozer with a new partner: The Canadian Backraker. I hid from him all night and with @sinnbodhi artistic flare, we Sharpied Canada across my stomach, to match Eck’s Samoa stomach tat.”

Edge continued: “I ribbed myself, it took weeks to come off fully. Thankfully we wised up and used paint for my tribal maple leaf facial design. Seeing the look on his face captured in the first two pics made it worthwhile. The last pic is how I felt. I always knew he had my back. Miss you Uce. Happy birthday.”

Umaga finished his WWE career as a two-time Intercontinental Champion. As for Edge, he finished his first run in WWE with 11 world championships, he was a five-time Intercontinental Champion, and he’s a 14-time tag-team champion. At WrestleMania, which will air this weekend, Edge is set to face Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing Match. He made his return at the Royal Rumble in January, and he recently talked about his comeback to ESPN.

“I talked to [Triple H, Paul Levesque], and I said, ‘I can’t go to a ring anywhere because people will start seeing me,’” he said when he was medically cleared to return. “‘I can’t go to the PC.’ So they sent me a ring. I got a warehouse space, and I set up a ring and basically had my own personal ‘Field of Dreams,’ and I just got in there and got to work. Thankfully, I’m married to another Hall of Famer who can pick up and body slam me, which you can’t say for a lot of wives. The Revival, they both live in Asheville, so they’d come, and they’d get in there with me, and they’d put me through my paces.”