Highlights
- Tanga Loa made his shock debut in WWE at Backlash, appearing to make sure Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga didn’t lose their match.
- Fan footage of Loa rolling out from under the ring has revealed the spot almost didn’t go to plan.
- Loa was a little late which meant the referee had to stop the three count and slide out of the ring even though the debuting star wasn’t quite in position.
The Bloodline angle took yet another unexpected twist at Backlash. During the PLE’s opening match, another new recruit joined the family in Tanga Loa. Not unexpected to some extent as it had been rumored The Bloodline would be getting more members, but those rumors pointed to Jacob Fatu, not Loa. The newest Bloodline member’s first moments in WWE almost didn’t go to plan though as the debuting star didn’t time his interference in the Backlash match quite right.
Tanga Loa’s WWE Debut
Footage that appears to have been filmed by a fan sitting at ringside, and shared on social media by SEScoops, shows the moment that Loa jumps out from under the ring to make sure his brother and cousin didn’t lose the match. While watching live, it looked like Loa dragged the referee out of the ring right before he counted to three. However, the alternative fan-shot angle shows that Loa didn’t time it quite right and had the referee not been clued in on the finish, the match may have come to a premature end.
Bianca Belair And Jade Cargill Win Women’s Tag Team Gold At Backlash
Jade Cargill is already a champion in WWE.
Loa wasn’t quite in position when the referee’s hand was going down for the three count, but instead of counting to three and ending the match, the referee reacted as if he had been pulled out of the ring. Likely hearing that Loa was right behind him and only missed his cue by a fraction of a second, the ref started the spot even though his leg hadn’t been pulled yet. Thankfully Loa was pretty much in place as had he not been, it would have looked incredibly strange.
Building The Bloodline
The main thing is that the spot looked good on TV, which it did. It was impossible to tell that Loa didn’t quite get the timing right and if a fan in that exact position had not caught the moment on camera, we’d have never known the spot didn’t go quite to plan. It just goes to show how important timing is when it comes to this sort of thing in wrestling and how hard it is to get right. Not just for a big moment like this one, but also for tag matches when partners need to be on hand to break up pins multiple times per match.
I also can’t imagine this will be something that lowers WWE’s estimations of Loa out the gate. Again, it wouldn’t have even been noticeable had it not been for footage shot on a fan’s phone. The reformation of The Bloodline marches on and WWE is doing tremendous work in its attempts to make a storyline that has been running for almost four years still feel fresh. Solo Sikoa is building his own Bloodline, but he will eventually have Roman Reigns and perhaps even The Rock to answer to for doing so.
