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AJ Styles reveals role in Zilla Fatu’s WWE NXT debut, says he ‘looks like a star’

Posted: Aug 19th 2026 By: Shounak Chakribarti

Umaga’s son Zilla Fatu is officially now in WWE NXT, and AJ Styles has revealed his role behind it.

Last week, Zilla Fatu made his WWE NXT debut when he interfered in the Grayson Waller vs. Cruz Montana match. Speaking on the AJ Styles show, the WWE Hall of Famer revealed that he was working as the producer for that match and had a role to play in Fatu’s debut.

“I’ll give you one guess which match I got to produce at NXT. Cruz Montana and Grayson Waller. I was lucky enough to be able to produce their match. Listen, there’s not a lot you have to do with this match, because you’ve got two pros who’ve been on television. They know what they’re doing. I had no worries they’d get it done in the time they needed to. Total pros,” Styles said.

Styles claimed that he was impressed with Waller’s current heel work and called him an underrated talent before heaping praise on Cruz Montana as well.

“These guys, I don’t know if you saw them both at the end of the match, but there were bruises on their chests. There was a boot mark on Cruz’s face. They got after it. There was some very real stuff going on, and I liked it. These guys were hitting each other hard. I was impressed by how they wrestled, and I didn’t have to worry about how it was going to go.

“Again, I’m there to help produce. It’s not like I’m putting together this match for them. They can do this, too. But to give ideas and stuff like that, because I know them both, it’s a little bit easier. Like when I have a producer like Abyss or Petey Williams who know my stuff, they know what I do and they can suggest these things. It’s a little bit easier to help produce a match. But again, it’s not like I had to do a lot. All I had to do was let them loose,” he added.

The WWE Hall of Famer opened up in detail before he addressed Zilla Fatu’s NXT debut.

“Then, lo and behold, we get Zilla Fatu come out from the people and take it to both Grayson Waller and Cruz Montana, and it was freaking awesome. He looks like a star. Just his presence, it’s a very intimidating presence. Zilla Fatu looks so intimidating. If you don’t know how scary he is, he did those splashes without knee pads. It was really cool. The fans went crazy in NXT, so yeah, it was a really cool moment,” Styles added.

Fatu officially signed his NXT contract during this week’s episode after making his debut last week.