We can now unfortunately confirm that former WWE star Umaga (Eddie Fatu) has passed away. According to a source, he suffered a second heart attack while in the hospital. He was 36.
Details are sketchy at this point but he apparently fell asleep last night while watching television, and several hours later, his wife found him not breathing with blood coming out of his nose and he was rushed to the hospital.
The suspicion on cause of death is prescription pills, as Umaga was reportedly found bleeding from his nose and mouth when found by his wife. We obviously can't confirm that yet until toxicology reports come back in several weeks.
We're told his family was told to get into town and to the hospital right away. Family members were told they believe he suffered a heart attack. He was taken off life support earlier today.
WWE will be issuing a statement later today or this weekend.
Umaga was released from his WWE contract in June after failing WWE's Wellness Policy for the second time. At that time, he refused the company's wishes to send him to rehab. So sad. He was on the Hulkamania Tour in Australia that just concluded last weekend.
As noted earlier, several wrestlers have posted messages on Twitter regarding the death of former WWE superstar Eddie "Umaga" Fatu. Here's what some of them are saying:
Ken "Mr. Kennedy" Anderson: "Say a prayer for my boy Umaga"
D'Angelo Dinero / Elijah Burke: "Pope was informed many hours ago of my friend Umaga. Pope will not comment until the family speaks, neither should you. Prayer is key! ~ PHS"
Bobby Lashley: "Very sad day today. A good friend is gone."
**UPDATE #1**
The WWE website issued the following statement this evening:
Umaga passes
Written: December 4, 2009
WWE would like to express its deepest condolences to Mr. Fatus family, friends and fans on his tragic passing. Mr. Fatu was under contract with WWE at various time periods and most recently performed under the name "Umaga." Mr. Fatu's contract was terminated on June 11, 2009.
**UPDATE #2**
Several wrestlers have expressed their condolences via Twitter in regards to the passing of Eddie "Umaga" Fatu. Here are a few:
* Shannon Moore: R.I.P Ecki....Mad love and respect. We will miss you and I will cherish the times we had together.
* Christopher Daniels: RIP Eddie Fatu. I'm glad I got to know you in the short time you were here.
* D'Angelo Dinero: This is rough, very rough. My heart and prayers goes out to Umaga's wife, his boys, and family.
* Allison Danger: RIP Umaga. I thank you for your kindness when we met. My heart aches for your family and my thoughts are with them in their time of need.
* Hurricane Helms: Heartbroken. No words.
* Jeremy Borash: RIP Eddie Fatu
* TNA Online: RIP Eddie Fatu
* Ken Anderson: go out and tear the house down. We both had something to prove that night and in my opinion: Mission Accomplished! Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Fatu family. Ecki absolutely adored his wife and was extremely proud of his children. I have so many amazing, funny, and heartwarming (sometimes gut wrenching belly-laughing) memories.
* Matt Hardy: Just landed in Shreveport to go to work tonight-I'm very saddened to hear about Ecky (Umaga) & his family-please keep them in your prayers.
**UPDATE #3**
Jim Ross noted in a blog post on his official website (JrsBarBQ.com) that Edward "Eddie" Fatu (a.k.a. "Umaga") had been removed from life support earlier today. This was obviously written before his passing this evening: "I was informed by someone who has spoken to a Fatu family member that Eddie has been removed from life support and his condition is obviously grave," Ross wrote. "Unfortunately, one can expect more bad news to be released imminently."
Fatu was reportedly found unconscious with a bloody nose late last night by his wife. He had been watching TV prior to being found. He had just returned from the Hulkamania tour overseas where I'm told he was "seemingly, healthy and doing well."
I learned this afternoon that members of his family were rushing to Houston to say their goodbyes before life support was turned off. I'm told he suffered a second heart attack earlier this afternoon while in the hospital. I'm told the first heart attack occurred late last night and a second occurred during the afternoon today while in the hospital.
**UPDATE #4**
I'm told that WWE is working with Fatu's family and there may be a service on Tuesday or Wednesday. A lot of the crew would be able to attend since SmackDown! is being taped in Houston, TX next week. RAW is being taped in Dallas. Fatu was living in Spring, TX, a Houston suburb, and lived near Shelton Benjamin, Shad Gaspard, MVP and The Great Khali. He was also business partners with Charlie Haas.
WWE issued an announcement regarding Fatu's passing earlier this evening. We've posted that here on the website.
I received an email from a top TNA talent earlier today which brought up an interesting point. My source noted: Noone has mentioned the (economy class syndrome) that causes blood clots on long flights, and there is no longer flight than Australia.
There are many people within the industry that are very upset about the passing. Although Fatu has had past issues with drugs, everyone I've talked to today is saying that he was a fun-loving guy with a great sense of humor who you loved being around.
I hope we've done an OK job of covering this story today. We're getting everything confirmed before we post it due to the sensitive nature of this story. There is never anything good that comes out of covering a death and it sucks to have to report on them to be honest. Thanks for your continued support of the website and hopefully our coverage has been OK for you all. It's been a crazy day in the office.
You can email me (Ryan Clark) at Webmaster@ProWrestlingSCOOPS.com. If you've got a newsbit please pass it along. We'll try to confirm it and then post it here on the website with credit to you.
On behalf of everyone on the site, we want to send our deepest condolences to Eddie Fatu's friends and family. So sad.
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