WWE's Haku/King Tonga & the story of the Tongan Sumo Wrestlers

The story of Tonga 'Uli'uli Fifta (King Tonga/Haku), the famous pro wrestler, is an interesting one and one that is intertwined into Japanese sumo wrestling.  Fate always has a way of working itself out and this story is no different.

In 1974, an Asahiyama Stable's fan club's daughter met a Tongan princess while they both were studying in Australia.  This relationship resulted in the Asahiyama Stable Master being invited to Tonga as a state guest of King Tupou IV who was a Japanophile and rather large person standing at 6' 5".  He encouraged people and groups from all over the 88,000-member nation to come and watch and learn sumo from real Japanese Sumo Wrestlers as part of their 10-day tour of the country.  One such group was the Tongan rugby team which Tonga 'Uli'uli Fifta was a member.   Due to the great success of the tour, Asashiyama invited 4 Tongans to join his stable and professional sumo (really the King told them to join): Tonga 'Uli'uli Fifta (Fukunoshima), Alani Falevai (Minaminoshima), Moleni Fe'aomoeata Tauki'uvea (Yashinoshima), and Latu Vaivaka (Hidenoshima).  A fifth Tongan, Vailahi Sione (Sachinoshima) joined several months later.  All achieved early success in their sumo careers and all were in, or on the brink of, the Makushita division with their eyes set on getting to Juryo which meant a salary, status, and attendants.  Then tragedy struck!

Asahiyama, who had done so much to bring the Tongans into the world of sumo, died suddenly on in October 1975!  It was simply a tragic death mourned by the Tongans.  It certainly was not the first time a stablemaster died while leading a stable and a clear order of succession almost always emerged.  As they say, the training must go on and sumo is bigger than one individual.  At first the widow of Asahiyma, Mrs. Kusada agreed to let former komusubi Wakafutase buy the Asahiyama kabu (stock) as well as the building and land where the stable was located and take all the stable's wrestlers with him as the new stablemaster.  This would allow the Tongans to continue training under an official sstablemaster and continue competing in tournaments.  However, Wakafutase didn't have the money and struck an arrangement for a monthly payment over 5 years to settle the debt with Mrs. Kusada.  Enter Maegashira Ryuo who offered to purchase the land and building right away if he could get the Asahiyama name upon his upcoming retirement.  Since he was an active wrestler under Asahiyama, he could either purchase the Asahiyama kabu/stock or a kabu/stock from someone else and "legally" take the Tongans with him upon retirement.  However, there was no other kabu/stock available leaving him only the Asahiyama option.  Going with Ryou was a much better deal and Ms. Kusada asked Wakafutase to give everything back to her since she wanted to now deal with Ryuo.  A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush was her thinking.  Wakafutase rightfully refused citing the legally binding contract to own the Aashiyama kabu.  However, the Tongans believed the Tongan King put their well-being in the hands of the late Asahiyama and his widow, Ms. Kusada, was the real owner and decided to follow her wishes which was to follow Ryuo.  In reality, Wakafutase was the true owner of the Asahiyama name and the Tongans either had to follow him as he set up his new stable or retire for Sumo rules dictate you belong to only one stable and if you decide to separate from that one stable you can't join a new stable and must retire.  One year after Asahiyama died, all the Tongans submitted their retirement papers much to the exasperation of the Japanese government for they now had an international "incident" on their hands.  The Tongans had been making headlines for the two years they were in Japan and the Japanese government had to get involved and sent an entourage down to Tonga to explain the situation to the Tongan King.  In the end, there was nothing the Japanese government and Sumo Association could do except explain the rules to the King and offer their sincerest apologies.

All the Tongans scattered doing various things after Sumo, but the most famous was Tonga 'Uli'uli Fifta who went on to a much more grand and fabulous career in pro wrestling as Haku and King Tonga.  Much more than he could have hoped for in the world of Sumo.

The Tongans were captured on two Japanese card sets during the time they were active in Sumo: the 1974 Nazo Nazo 3 Set & 1975 Osato Mini Card Set.  This was highly unusual since low ranked rikishi never got their own cards, but it does highlight how popular and newsworthy their story truly was.  It also led to two "Rookie" cards for Haku/King Tonga's Pro Wrestling career and two "Debut" cards for his sumo career.