{"id":42068,"date":"2019-03-22T18:35:07","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T22:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=42068"},"modified":"2019-06-08T15:56:04","modified_gmt":"2019-06-08T19:56:04","slug":"contra-the-new-beast-of-mlw-is-ready-for-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2019\/03\/22\/contra-the-new-beast-of-mlw-is-ready-for-war\/","title":{"rendered":"CONTRA: The new Beast of MLW is ready for War"},"content":{"rendered":"

CONTRA,<\/strong> the newest faction in Major League Wrestling (MLW)<\/strong><\/a> led by Simon Gotch<\/strong> emerged on the scene with a level of devastation not witnessed in recent memory. The two unknown combatants horrified MLW fans, but those of us out west had seen it all before where they\u2019re known as WARBEAST<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n

#MLWFusion<\/a> opens with the havoc #ContraUnit<\/a> has brought the past 2 weeks. <\/p>\n

First, an attack on World Champion @FilthyTomLawlor<\/a>, then @TheAceyBaby<\/a> was bloodied and laid out in the ring. <\/p>\n

Will we find out more about @deviousjourney<\/a>, @JosefSamael<\/a> and @SAMOANWEREWOLF<\/a> tonight? pic.twitter.com\/HD2aKpEDFz<\/a><\/p>\n

— Major League Wrestling (@MLW) March 17, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The new Beast of MLW: CONTRA<\/h2>\n

The Genesis of CONTRA is WARBEAST who started their reign of terror in Southern California in 2017. Josef Samael, Jacob Fatu, <\/strong>and Brody King<\/strong> formed a triumvirate that won the PCW ULTRA<\/strong> Tag Team Titles in January 2017 against Dom Vitalli<\/strong> and MVP<\/strong> (Gabriel Gallo<\/strong> was replaced by MVP) and have been the Champs for nearly 800 days. It\u2019s an impressive feat unless you\u2019re a supporter of the Hooligans<\/strong> who laughs at that. They’ve had Indie Title reigns of over 900 and 1000 days. Cheers.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo: Jim Fitzpatrick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Samoan Werewolf Jacob Fatu is the son of Samoan Dynasty legend Tonga Kid<\/strong> and began training in California with his Uncle, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi<\/strong>, and cousin Black Pearl at Knokx Pro Wrestling Academy<\/strong> in 2012. Fatu is an incredible athlete. He has one of the most advanced aerial games for a wrestler his size. Billed at 6-2 284 he has a beautiful Shooting Star Press and can also execute flips from a standing position with ease. He began his career with KPW teaming with Rikishi and his other trainer Black Pearl through 2015.<\/p>\n

\"Jacob<\/p>\n

In 2016 Fatu began breaking out more on his own. He debuted in PCW ULTRA in 2016 and got wins against Jorel Nelson (of One Percent)<\/strong> and former ULTRA Light Heavyweight Champion Douglas James<\/strong> in November. He also teamed with Rikishi as the Samoan SWAT Team<\/strong> in Supreme Pro Wrestling<\/strong> (SPW), and in Northern California with All Pro Wrestling<\/strong> (APW), Phoenix Pro Wrestling<\/strong> (PPW), and Gold Rush Pro Wrestling <\/strong>(GRP). In Wilmington, California Fatu won the ULTRA Tag Title with Josef in January 2017 and the next month with Journey Fatu (Rikishi) capturing the SPW belts in a Four-Way contest at the SPW 17th<\/sup> Anniversary Show in Sacramento.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLW\/status\/1107092436356984832<\/p>\n

He would earn his first singles Championship in November of that year when he beat Karl Fredericks<\/strong> in the World-Famous Cow Palace in San Francisco to win the All Pro Wrestling (APW) Worldwide Internet Title<\/strong>. Fatu held off the valiant challenge of Fredericks multiple times during his title reign but was unable to stop JR Kratos<\/strong> from taking the title from him in June of 2018. However, Jacob would get the APW Universal Heavyweight Title November 2nd<\/sup> beating Ring of Honor\u2019s (ROH) Jeff Cobb<\/strong> at APW Halloween Hell in Daly City, a title he still holds.<\/p>\n

\"Almighty<\/p>\n

Josef Samael known as The Almighty Sheik<\/strong> with WARBEAST has been the unquestioned leader of the team and in some ways, he seems to have a hypnotic control over Fatu. He has worked under many names during his twenty-year career including NASDAQ, Almighty Sheikh, The Sheikh, and Joey Machete. His career began in 1999 wrestling with a variety of promotions in Florida like Future of Wrestling (FOW), IPW Hardcore Wrestling (IPW), NWA Florida, Full Impact Pro, and Coastal Championship Wrestling (CCW)<\/strong>. From 2009 \u2013 2011 Josef was one of the top competitors within the National Wrestling Alliance <\/strong>(NWA). He was 2X NWA Midwest, NWA Florida<\/strong>, and held the NWA North American<\/strong> Title for 451 days.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BlGVHSPgYyW\/<\/p>\n

In Jacksonville, Florida 2011 he got possibly the biggest win of his career when he beat Colt Cabana<\/strong> to become the 83rd<\/sup> NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion<\/strong>. He wore the Ten Pounds of Gold for 80 days until he was stripped of the Title July 11th<\/sup>, 2011 for failing to defend against Adam Pearce. It wasn\u2019t a glorious title run, but it was longer than Cabana\u2019s at the time and Tommy Rich. Well so is everyone else\u2019s. As he progressed in the Indies he won Titles everywhere he went.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo: PCW Ultra<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first year of WARBEAST\u2019s reign was Josef primarily teaming with Brody King. Josef and Fatu have been the team since January 2018 as Brody King focused on singles action with ULTRA. The dominance continued with wins over Reno Scum<\/strong> (Luster the Legend & Adam Thornstowe), oVe<\/strong> (Dave & Jake Crist), La Familia De Tijuana<\/strong> (Bestia 666\/ Damian 666), and The Border Patrol<\/strong> (JR Kratos\/Colt Stevens). Their matches had the stipulation \u201cAll Violence is Legal\u201d which is also their moniker and became a tremendous advantage for them with the cunning of Josef and the freak of nature that is the Samoan Werewolf. WARBEAST doesn\u2019t have a typical catch as catch can contest. Oh heeeeelll no. Their fights go all over. They begin in the ring and generally carry the match several rows into the crowd, and fans know when to spread out if the Werewolf is flying. It\u2019s easy to become a part of the action because they\u2019ll use the chair that\u2019s under ya.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo: PCW ULTRA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gotch could not have chosen two more vicious and dangerous individuals than Fatu and Josef. They are an immediate threat to the Tag Team Titles, and it\u2019s just a matter of time until the Samoan Werewolf wins a singles Title of his own on the big stage. They\u2019re a tremendous signing by MLW and a great addition to the Tag Team division.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CONTRA, the newest faction in Major League Wrestling (MLW) led by Simon Gotch emerged on the scene with a level of devastation not witnessed in recent memory. The two unknown combatants horrified MLW fans, but those of us out west had seen it all before where they\u2019re known as WARBEAST. #MLWFusion opens with the havoc […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":42078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5283,6],"tags":[4490,3006,4847,2013,2012,4848,3385],"class_list":["post-42068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-mlw","category-north-america","tag-contra","tag-jacob-fatu","tag-josef-samael","tag-major-league-wrestling","tag-mlw","tag-the-almighty-sheikh","tag-warbeast"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}