Jacob Fatu has been on a tear as of late, and The Samoan Werewolf has now added more gold to his resume after beating LA Knight to win the WWE United States Championship at WrestleMania 41 on Saturday, April 19, 2025.
This is his first singles title in WWE, having previously won the WWE Tag Team Championship alongside Tama Tonga, before relinquishing his belt to Tonga Loa soon after.
How We Got Here:
LA Knight first won the United States Championship from Logan Paul at SummerSlam on August 3, 2024. 118 days later at Survivor Series: WarGames, he lost the title to Shinsuke Nakamura, but managed to win it back from him 97 days later on the March 7th edition of Friday Night SmackDown.
In the meantime, Jacob Fatu started to pick up some serious steam as a singles star post-WarGames, particularly Solo Sikoa's influence as the leader of his offshoot of The Bloodline lost a lot of momentum. Fatu went from being Sikoa's enforcer to the standout of the group, taking out Superstars left and right, including multiple battles with Braun Strowman and Knight that ultimately led to his position as the No. 1 contender after beating The Monster of All Monsters on April 4th in a Last Man Standing match.
Match Details:
When Fatu says that he's all gas and no brakes, he means it, as he kept up the intensity this entire match. Credit where it's due, Knight was able to score plenty moments where he put The Samoan Werewolf down, almost for the count a few times, including when he hit a BFT out of nowhere by catching Fatu's moonsault.
That wasn't enough, nor was anything else the United States champion brought Fatu's way. Eventually, Fatu was able to hit his trademark moonsault flat in the middle of the ring to score the pinfall.
Personal Reactions & What Happens Next?:
Fatu is the man. There's a reason he so quickly became a fan favorite. Not only is he really fun to watch in the ring, but he's charismatic as an overall character and on the mic, too. As much as it's disappointing to see LA Knight lose the title, you can't be champion all the time, and nothing can take away that Knight held this title twice. Now, it's time for Fatu to do something with the belt, while Knight can go elsewhere, possibly even leveling up to a more upper-midcard / main event status while Fatu gets a run with the midcard title to keep working his way into that goal as well.
Fatu's next opponent will most likely be another match with Braun Strowman or Knight, depending on how quickly WWE wants to have him defend the title versus whenever the 2025 WWE Draft takes place, as that should freshen up the rosters in a way that provide more people for Fatu to work with. He should likely hold it for quite some time, as the only way to stay dominant like he's been so far is to keep up the wins. Eventually, though, the real money is in a feud with Solo Sikoa, so keep your eyes peeled for that tension to continue to mount between them!
What do you think about Jacob Fatu becoming champion? How should this change the dynamics with Solo Sikoa? Who should be his first feud? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!