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On screen, WWE stars Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu look set to feud with one another for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Fatu recently challenged Reigns, the company’s biggest current star, for the championship at the upcoming Backlash event in Tampa, Florida.
However, the two real-life cousins remain close off-screen. So much so that Reigns provided Fatu with some wise advice ahead of his WrestleMania 42 showdown with Drew McIntyre.
Jacob Fatu Opens Up On WrestleMania Pre-Match Moment With Roman Reigns
Fatu recently joined UFC legend Daniel Cormier for his “Daniel Cormier TV” podcast and discussed a wide range of topics, including his match with McIntyre.
At one point in the interview, Fatu discussed the immense nerves that he felt prior to walking out to the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas
“It was emotional. It didn’t hit me until I actually was getting ready to walk out,” Fatu told Cormier. I’m so nervous. I seen a couple cats on the way. I seen my big Uce. I seen the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns right before I walked out. He still calls me Jake, Jakester, Jakey.
“So he had to, ‘Hey, man, calm down. Enjoy the moment.’ Something that my wife always tells me, but Roman was like, ‘Just take it all in.’”
Fatu was appearing in just his second WrestleMania after taking on LA Knight on last year’s card in a match for the United States championship. Reigns, meanwhile, is a seasoned veteran who just main-evented WrestleMania for the 11th time when he claimed the World Heavyweight Championship with a victory over CM Punk.
So if anybody on the WWE roster should know exactly what advice to give Fatu, it would be his cousin. Here’s hoping that chemistry makes for a strong on-screen feud between the two moving forward.