Trinity Fatu: From Funkadactyl To Ms. Money In The Bank

I wanted to wait until after Money in the Bank was over before doing this because I had a feeling Saturday Night was going to be Naomi’s night and it turns out I was right. Trinty Fatu is someone I have watched since she first arrived in NXT, the game show version and not the version we see today. I always knew Trinity had something special about her because she was way more athletic than the other girls. I’m not taking anything away from the others but you could tell Trinity’s athleticism was far superior. She already had that confidence about her on the microphone and you could tell it was only a matter of time before she broke out. Trinity had a nice run in FCW but it was really just a holding pattern until she was brought up. When Trinity debuted with the Funkadactyls with Brodus Clay and Cameron, initially I was disappointed. Then I realized she just needed to get her foot in the door and the rest would take care of itself. Naomi has always had a certain level of charisma that you just can’t teach. Yes, you can teach somebody to cut a promo or take a bump but charisma, you either have it or you don’t and Naomi had it in spades.

Everybody knew she had a gift. She was a dancer for the Orlando Magic so we already knew she was a hell of an athlete. What we found out was that once they let her start showing her stuff in the ring that she was a very capable performer who could do things a lot of the ladies simply could not do at the time. The Funkadactyls were a good launching point to get Naomi in front of the camera but it was time to move on. Breaking up the Funkadactyls was crucial in her development. The feud with Cameron was decent, leading to a Battleground match and a match on Raw before it really concluded at Survivor Series in 2014 where Naomi pinned Cameron in route to her team winning a traditional Survivor Series match.

Moving on from Cameron and having short programs with the Usos(including her real life husband Jimmy Uso) and Miz, Naomi really caught fire by turning heel and attacking Paige after a battle royal in which Naomi lost. Pairing Naomi with a returning Tamina and debuting Sasha Banks as “Team B.A.D” as part of the “Divas Revolution” really gave Naomi the shine she needed as the leader of the group. Team B.A.D was an entertaining part of WWE television for months with Naom getting more and more comfortable on the microphone. They feuded with the Bellas and Alicia Foxx and Team PCB(Charlotte/Paige/Becky Lynch) for months but everyone knew Sasha Banks wasn’t long for the group. Sasha leaving Team B.A.D in February of 2016 caused a shift in the dynamic because it allowed Sasha to break out on her own and become the mega star that she is today. You can give a lot of credit for that to Naomi because those two were intertwined together pretty much Sasha’s whole career in WWE. Mercedes is a once in a lifetime talent who was tearing it up in NXT at the time so I am sure she would’ve found success regardless but having a veteran like Naomi there to bridge the gap only helped ease the transition.

The Glow

Naomi got the shot she deserved when she was drafted to Smackdown in 2016. She debuted a new gimmick with new music that was a modified version of her old music. She debuted a new entrance complete with glow in the dark attire and shoes and a dance routine. She was a full on babyface again and the crowds loved her for it. That entrance stayed with her essentially til this very day although the dancing has obviously stopped with her change in attitude. Naomi was instantly one of the most popular babyfaces on the Smackdown brand. She had several shots at the Women’s Championship before coming up short but she was a constant part of the program nearly every week. She was then gone for nearly two months before returning and finally winning the Smackdown Women’s Championship at Elimination Chamber. It was a crowning moment that was years in the making for her and nobody deserved it more and the match with Alexa Bliss was pretty good. Unfortunately, Naomi sustained a knee injury in that match and was forced to vacate the Championship two days later on Smackdown when it was believed she would miss WrestleMania. It was heartbreaking to anyone who had followed Naomi’s career and knew she deserved this moment. You know how business is, once you have that moment, you may not get another. Fortunately for Naomi, she did get another because she returned at WrestleMania 33 in her hometown of Orlando Florida where she won a six pack challenge for the Smackdown Women’s Championship, making Alexa Bliss tap out in the process. I’m sure it was a surreal moment for Naomi to accomplish this in her hometown at the biggest event of the year.

Naomi had several successful title defenses during her reign, even debuting a custom LED title belt to go along with her glow in the dark entrance. Unfortunately, she dropped the title to Natalya at SummerSlam that year, ending her reign at 140 days. I was happy for Natalya because she deserved it but I always felt that Naomi’s reign had more legs to it. They had just debuted the custom title a month earlier and now she’s lost. I felt like it was a missed opportunity. Naomi kind of had a lack of direction after that for the most part. She did win the inaugural Women’s Battle royal at WrestleMania 34 and competed at the first ever all Women’s Pay-Per-View Evolution later that year but it wasn’t until her feud with Mandy Rose that she started to get some shine put back on her. Naomi and Mandy Rose feuded after Rose kept hitting on Naomi’s husband, Jimmy Uso. It wasn’t the most creative feud and it didn’t really resolve in a definitive fashion. It just ended after they traded wins over each other. The point was it got Naomi into a spotlighted angle at a time where she wasn’t competing for any titles. Naomi did team with Carmella at the 2019 Elimination Chamber show to unsuccessfully become the first ever WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, an honor that went to Bayley and Sasha Banks. Naomi was a fixture on WWE television over the next few years, except a few months where she was dealing with various issues related to different things such as her health and losing a family member.

Naomi began a feud with Sonya Deville, an authority figure at the time. At the time, I wasn’t really a fan of the angle because it started with Naomi simply asking for more matches and Sonya getting irritated. It was not the best way to start a rivalry but it did give Naomi something to sink her teeth into which she hadn’t really had much of up to that point. Yes, Naomi had success and she had little mini stories here and there but she had yet to have that real blood feud that culminated in a heated match on a Premium Live Event. Unfortunately, this one didn’t either because it ended at Elimination Chamber where Naomi teamed up with Ronda Rousey to defeat Charlotte Flair and Sonya Deville. Naomi found success again however on Night 2 of WrestleMania 38 where Naomi teamed with Sasha Banks to defeat Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley, Natalya and Shayna Baszler, and Champions Carmella and Queen Zelina Vega to become the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. The Women’s Tag Team Titles had been booked horribly for a long time leading up to this event and I was hopeful that big stars like Naomi and Sasha Banks holding the titles would bring some much needed creativity to the division. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

The Walk Out

On the May 16th, 2022 episode of Monday Night Raw, both Sasha Banks and Naomi were to be booked in a six woman gauntlet match to determine the number one contender to Bianca Belair’s Raw Women’s Championship. I thought it was odd at the time to book your Women’s Tag Champions in a match where one, or both, of them were destined to lose. Naomi and Sasha Banks walked out on WWE that night, thus canceling the planned gauntlet main event. We can all speculate on the why of them walking out but the bottom line is this: They wanted more thought and care put into the Women’s tag division, which we all did. Whether that was the sole reason they walked out after that meeting with Vince, we’ll probably never know, but Naomi and Sasha bet on themselves and stood up for what they believed in and you can’t fault them for that. I will admit personally that I did not agree with them walking out at the time. I’m also man enough to admit when I was wrong. The way WWE handled it on commentary by calling them unprofessional and all that nonsense was not a good look for WWE to treat talents that had given the last decade of their lives to their company no matter how poor their booking was. Mercedes has yet to step foot in a WWE ring since and she seems to be doing pretty well for herself in AEW. Sometimes it’s not about the money. It’s not about the fame or the “push” or being with the biggest wrestling company in the world. Sometimes it’s about standing up for what you believe in and letting everything else sort itself out. Mercedes and Naomi did that and I would say it worked out better for both in the long run.

Impact Wrestling/TNA

In April of 2023, Naomi debuted in TNA, using her real name of Trinity. She kept parts of her WWE persona including the entrance but for the most part it was a fresh new coat of paint for Trinity and a chance to make her mark outside of WWE. Trinity won her debut Pay-Per-View match on May 26th at Under Siege, defeating Gisele Shaw but it was Slammiversary on July 15th where Trinity made her mark, defeating Impact Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo to become the new Impact Knockouts Champion. Trinity had several successful title defenses over the next several months. Trinity defeated Deonna again in August at Emergence. She defended it against Alisha Edwards at Victory Road. Trinity even defeated another former WWE name in Mickie James at Bound for Glory. That was a special moment for Trinity as Mickie is not only considered a legend in WWE but she also had a pretty legendary TNA/Impact career as well. She defeated Deonna again at Turning Point in October in a Last Chance match, which was one of Deonna’s last matches in Impact before signing with AEW. Trinity and Jordynne Grace teamed up to defeat Deonna and Gisele Shaw at Final Resolution in December which was the final Pay per View under the Impact Wrestling name before they rebranded back to TNA. Trinity eventually lost the TNA Knockouts World Championship to Call Your Shot Gauntlet winner, Jordynne Grace at Hard to Kill on January 13th 2024, thus ending her reign at 182 days, which surpassed her Smackdown reign of 140 days as the second longest reign of her career, just seven days shorter than her run as FCW Divas Champion. It was also Trinity’s first pin fall loss in TNA/Impact. She had one more title match where she lost again to Grace and her last match in TNA was teaming with Grace to defeat Gisele Shaw and Savannah Evans(this episode was taped and actually aired AFTER Trinity left the company). Trinity’s run in TNA/Impact wasn’t just about stats and accomplishments. It was showing that she could do it on her own outside of the big machine known as WWE. She bet on herself in May of 2022 and by January of 2024, that bet had paid off, with interest.

Return to WWE

On January 27th, 2024, Naomi returned to WWE at the Royal Rumble to a tremendous pop from the crowd. Naomi entered at number 2 and lasted an hour before being eliminated by Jade Cargill. Naomi also interacted with TNA Knockouts World Champion and former rival Jordynne Grace who made a surprise appearance in the Rumble. It was a surprise appearance for Naomi but a welcomed and long overdue one. Naomi needed that run in TNA. Not to validate herself because she could have retired after that incident in 2022 and still would’ve been an all time great. What she did was prove that sometimes it’s okay to take risks and bet on yourself. It maybe scary and it may not work out but you’ll never know if you continue to stay in a box that somebody else put you in. Naomi used the momentum from her Rumble return right into a featured match at WrestleMania 40 where She teamed with Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill to defeat Damage CTRL. It was Naomi’s first WrestleMania match in two years and it had to feel good being back in a featured match. Naomi then wasted no time in facing new WWE Women’s Champion Bayley on Smackdown after Naomi defeated Tiffany Stratton to become number one contender but the match ended in a DQ. Naomi lost a triple threat match with Tiffany and Bayley at Backlash but she had a banger of a match and it showed from WWE’s side a level of commitment to Naomi that probably wasn’t there when she left in 2022. She felt like an important part of the show. Naomi competed in several high quality matches throughout the next several months including some of Nia Jax’s best matches of her career. In November, things started to shift. Jade Cargill was found attacked backstage by an unknown individual, thus taking her out of War Games. Bianca’s team eventually replaced her with Bayley and Bianca, Naomi, Bayley, Iyo Sky, and Rhea Ripley defeated the team of Liv Morgan, Nia Jax, Tiffany Stratton, Candice LeRae and Raquel Rodrguez. Naomi eventually took over Jade’s half of the Tag Team Titles with Bianca which led to several high quality title defenses against Liv and Raquel, Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson, and so on. Their reign officially ended at 73 days when they lost the titles to Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez on February 24th edition of Raw.

Om the March 1st Elimination Chamber event, everything changed for Naomi. She was due to compete in an Elimination Chamber match for a shot at the Women’s Title at WrestleMania. Before the match even started, a returning Jade Cargill’s music hit. With both Liv and Naomi in the ring as the starting two participants, it was easy to assume Jade was coming for Naomi. Until you looked at Naomi’s face. That wasn’t a face of someone who was happy her friend was back or someone who was happy Liv was about to get what was coming to her. That was a look of regret. Naomi knew she was the one who attacked Jade and she knew Jade was the only other person who would know that information. Naomi had a look of somebody that wasn’t looking forward to what was coming. Jade Cargill entered the ring and preceded to attack Naomi. She beat down Naomi all over the chamber as Bianca Belair put on a masterful acting performance. Jade ended it by slamming the chamber door on Naomi and taking her out of the match. On the following edition of Smackdown Bianca Belair(fresh off winning the Elimination Chamber) called out Naomi for answers. Naomi and Biance had an intense back and forth and a really great exchange. Naomi eventually confessed that she pushed Jade on to that car. It reminded me a lot of the “Who ran over Austin?” angle where Rikishi admitted to doing it and saying he did it for The Rock. Naomi said she did it but she did it for Bianca because Jade Cargill was getting in their way. Naomi blamed Jade for getting in between their relationship. It was a masterful performance by both Naomi and Bianca and ended with Jade coming down to beat down Naomi.

Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis eventually made Jade Cargill and Naomi one on one at WrestleMania 41. The significant part about this is it is the first non-title singles match for the women at WrestleMania since 2006 and the first one EVER without a stipulation attached. Think about that. 41 WrestleManias and that’s the first one. Naomi and Jade Cargill should both be proud of that moment and it is one that nobody can ever take away from them. The story with Jade was the biggest of Naomi’s career and it allowed her to tap into a side we’ve never really seen from her before. Regardless of the loss to Jade at WrestleMania, Naomi has done just fine as she is now Ms. Money In The Bank after winning the contract on Saturday Night. It’s a great moment for Trinity and it gives her an enormous opportunity to win her first WWE Women’s World Championship in 10 years and nobody deserves it more than she does. Naomi still has unfinished business with Jade and there’s Bianca looming in the mix. The promo Bianca and Naomi cut in Bianca’s hometown of Knoxville is something everybody needs to go see.

In closing, Trinity Fatu is somebody that any aspiring female wrestler should look to for inspiration. She had a great first run in WWE, could’ve called it a career after leaving in 2022, but decided to go out and have a phenomenal run in TNA before returning in WWE and putting out arguably the best work of her entire career. If the first half of 2025 is any indication, 2025 is going to be a career year for Trinity Fatu.

Just make sure to Proceed with Caution