Jacob Fatu is being presented strongly ahead of his World Heavyweight Championship match against Roman Reigns at WWE Backlash on May 9.
The rivalry between the two real-life Bloodline members has become one of WWE’s biggest storylines heading into the Premium Live Event.
The feud intensified after Fatu attacked Reigns with a Tongan Death Grip, escalating the family conflict to a new level. This week on Raw, the tension reached another peak during a contract signing for their title match.
During the segment, Reigns mocked and belittled Fatu before the exchange quickly turned physical. The segment concluded with Fatu putting Reigns through a table, continuing WWE’s pattern of presenting Fatu as the aggressor who consistently gets the upper hand.
Bryan Alvarez Compares Fatu’s Push to Recent Lesnar Booking
Wrestling Observer’s Bryan Alvarez discussed the booking strategy on Wrestling Observer Radio, comparing Fatu’s presentation to how WWE recently handled Brock Lesnar ahead of WrestleMania 42. According to Alvarez, WWE has deliberately avoided traditional back-and-forth booking in favor of making Fatu look unstoppable.
“Say what you want about WWE, like they’re trying to do a pay-per-view match. There’s a guy that nobody thinks is going to beat Roman Reigns, and so, they have done everything in their power to just put Jacob over,” Alvarez said.
He drew a direct parallel to the Brock Lesnar-Oba Femi storyline from earlier this year.
“It’s like they’re doing this very much like that Brock Lesnar-Oba Femi thing, where they did not 50/50 every week. It wasn’t, ‘This is your week, Oba.’ Probably, ‘This is your week, Brock.’ It was like Oba beat him up every single week, and then he killed him.”
“And on this one, they’re trying the same thing. Jacob gets the best of Roman every single week, gets the best of the MFTs, gets the best of all of these other Samoans and Bloodline members. I don’t think he’s winning the pay-per-view,” Alvarez added.
Despite the one-sided booking favoring Fatu in the build, Alvarez noted he still expects Reigns to retain the World Heavyweight Championship at WWE Backlash. The strategy appears designed to create doubt about the outcome despite Reigns being the established champion.