Going Ringside Ep. 50: Haku, ‘The baddest man on the planet’

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The stigma of pro wrestling for being a pre-determined sport has been the basis of criticism for the industry for several decades. And with that comes questions about whether pro wrestlers are legitimately tough in real life.

So, naturally there are debates on who’s legitimately the toughest. In practically every conversation on this subject, one name sits atop all others. He wrestled primarily under two names during his career, Haku and Meng. For the purposes of this article we’ll call him Haku. His real name is Tonga ‘Uli’uli Fifita. He was born on the Island of Tonga in 1959.

Haku received early training in Sumo wrestling when the king of Tonga sent him to Japan. There alongside a man he would eventually form a tag team with, another Tongan wrestler named Barbarian (real name Sione Vailahi) they studied Sumo.

By the late 1970′s Haku entered the world of pro wrestling and wrestled all over the world. American audiences became aware of him in 1986 when he was brought into the World Wrestling Federation (known today as WWE) and wrestled in a tag team called The Islanders.

During this time in wrestling Haku became so close with the famed Anoa’i family, he is considered family. In fact, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson gifted Haku, who he refers to as “Uncle Tonga” with a brand new pickup truck.

“I really appreciate it,” Haku said. “I had a big truck there that I’m driving around nowadays. When you live in Kissimmee, you have to have a truck.”

The Anoa’i family which consists of other wrestling greats like Roman Reigns, Rikishi and others are one reason why Haku moved to Kissimmee, Fla. from Japan where he lived for several years. He says several members of the family and other wrestlers he’s close with live in Florida and the climate he said is similar to Japan.

Back to his time in wrestling -- eventually he was given a “king” gimmick and called King Haku. Then he returned to tag team wrestling alongside the great Andre The Giant when Andre’s health was failing and the company needed him to be in a position that wasn’t so physical. Andre could stand at ringside, while Haku did a majority of the athletic work.

From there Haku eventually went to the competing World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and changed his name to Meng. He feuded with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Bill Goldberg and Kevin Nash.

Then by 2001 when WCW folded he returned for a short time to WWF and feuded with the Undertaker and Kane. Needless to say Haku showed his durability by feuding with top wrestling stars of various generations.

But since his retirement Haku has remained an online wrestling legend from fans because of stories that have circulated on his real life toughness outside the ring.

One was shared on Going Ringside by Haku’s former manager Kevin Sullivan. “Haku didn’t drink. But when he drank it was a whole Dr. Jeckyll-Mr. Hyde,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan brought up a story about him, Haku (Meng) and some other wrestlers going to a bar. “I look over in my peripheral vision and Meng’s got a triple Jack Daniels,” Sullivan said when some “Rednecks” told Haku they didn’t want someone of his background in the bar. “Guy came up and hit him in the back with a pool stick. And it splintered. And when Meng turned around, you now the hold he used to use on TV the goozle (grabbing someone by the throat). That’s real. When he got the guy by the throat I thought it was a wrestling match. The guy started to drop. Meng bit through his shirt and spit a piece of his back out.”

But that wasn’t all. Sullivan said the fight continued. “Then another guy tried to sucker punch him, bounced off his head and he grabbed the guy, I thought he was going to make out with him. Grabbed the back of his head, pulled him in and bit his nose off,” said Sullivan. “I said it’s time to go.”

This is just one of many stories that has circulated the internet for years about Haku.

But being tough is not all there is about Haku, he’s widely considered a very nice man. Recently responding to a post on the Going Ringside TikTok Channel, former WWF star Duke “The Dumpster” Droese wrote: “also the nicest guy on the planet”.

In his later years Haku has settled into a normal life in Kissimmee. “Working, my own job. Regular job like everybody else,” said Haku. But he still has brushes with the industry that made him famous. Recently All Elite Wrestling (AEW) brought Haku on one of their shows.