Tama Tonga

Alipate Aloisio Leone (born October 15, 1982), better known by his ring name Tama Tonga (Japanese: タマ・トンガ), is a Tongan-American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand, and is a member of the MFT stable. He is one-half of the current WWE Tag Team Champions with Solo Sikoa in their first reign as a team and Tonga's second individual reign.

From 2010 to 2024 he was in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a founding member of Bullet Club alongside Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson and Prince Devitt. He was also a founding member of Guerrillas of Destiny (G.O.D.) alongside his brother Tanga Loa. Guerrillas of Destiny won the IWGP Tag Team Championship seven times, the 2020 edition of the World Tag League tournament, and due to the collaboration between NJPW and Ring of Honor (ROH), the ROH World Tag Team Championship. Leone made his WWE debut as a member of The Bloodline stable.

As a singles wrestler, Leone held the NEVER Openweight Championship four times. He has also worked with NJPW's partner promotion in Mexico, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) where he has held the CMLL World Tag Team Championship twice.

Early life

Alipate Aloisio Leone was born on October 15, 1982 in Nukuʻalofa, Tonga. Leone and his younger brother Taula were adopted by their maternal aunt and her husband, professional wrestler Tonga Fifita – better known as Haku – from his native island of Tonga while they were visiting in 1991. They took him back to Poinciana, Florida where he grew up with his biological cousin and adoptive brother, fellow professional wrestler Tevita, and his older sister Vika.

After graduating from Poinciana High School, he joined the United States Air Force and was stationed for six years at Whiteman Air Force Base, serving as a B-2 Spirit mechanic. At the same time, Tevita was playing college football with the UTEP Miners. During a phone call in 2004, they decided they would become professional wrestlers once they had finished their respective obligations three years later.

Professional wrestling career

Training and early career (2008–2010)

In January 2008, the brothers approached the Dudley Boyz to use the ring they had at the Team 3D Academy of Professional Wrestling and Sports Entertainment training school they operated in Kissimmee, Florida. They did not join the school at the time as they were being trained directly by their father and Ricky Santana, a family friend. To practice more frequently they eventually joined the academy proper and were partly trained by Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley.

The brothers made their professional debut in November 2008, wrestling as a tag team under the name The Sons of Tonga (referencing their father) in Southern Championship Wrestling (Florida). They continued wrestling under the same name in World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) and Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council (WWC) until early 2009. Also in November 2008, they took part in a WWE tryout camp, two months later they were told that Tevita would be offered a contract by the company (he would later appear on television as Camacho) while Alipate would not.

Alipate continued wrestling as Kava in WXW during the year, winning the WXW Television Championship on 20 June 2009 though he lost it the same day. In the first part of 2010 he returned to WWC, first as a singles wrestler with the moniker King Tonga Jr. (his father had also wrestled in Puerto Rico as King Tonga). He later teamed with Idol Stevens, billed as The New American Family they briefly held the WWC World Tag Team Championship.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2010–2024)

Debut (2010–2012)

Leone went to Japan in 2010, initially going to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) to train, he impressed enough to be hired by the company. He made his NJPW debut in May 2010 under the name "Tama Tonga". His debut match came as part of the 2010 Super Junior Tag Tournament, where he teamed up with Davey Richards, losing in the first round to El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto. Tonga was one of sixteen wrestlers who competed in the 2010 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. He defeated Nobuo Yoshihashi, and Akira, but lost to Ryusuke Taguchi, Fujita Hayato, Kenny Omega, Koji Kanemoto, and Taiji Ishimori, ending with four points, second to last his group.

He teamed up with Hirooki Goto, calling themselves Ara-tonga (a pun on Goto's nickname "Aramusha/Daredevil" and Tama's last name) to compete in the 2010 G1 Tag League tournament. They defeated the teams of Togi Makabe/Tomoaki Honma, and King Fale/Super Strong Machine, but lost to the teams of Manabu Nakanishi/Strong Man, Masato Tanaka/Tomohiro Ishii, and Yuji Nagata/Wataru Inoue, which meant they finished fourth in their group with four points. He also entered the 2011 G1 Tag League tournament, this time teaming up with Strong Man, calling themselves Muscle Pavilion. He had less success than the previous year with a solitary victory over the team of King Fale/Yuji Nagata, and losses against the other teams. On 4 January 2012, Tonga appeared in a dark match during Wrestle Kingdom VI (considered as NJPW's most important show), teaming with Captain New Japan to defeat Honma and Kyosuke Mikami.

Excursion to CMLL (2012)

In September 2012 it was announced that Tonga would go to Mexico from 10 October 2012 and work for NJPW's partner promotion, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). His debut match for CMLL saw him participate in the 2012 edition of CMLL's Leyenda de Azul tournament. The match was a 16-man torneo cibernetico elimination match, from which Tonga was eliminated when Atlantis and Shocker double teamed him. Following the tournament Tonga worked with a number of CMLL's top stars, including the Leyenda de Azul tournament winner Diamante Azul. On November 13, Tonga and El Terrible won the CMLL World Tag Team Championship from Atlantis and Diamante Azul. Tonga next made it to the finals of the 2012 La Copa Junior Tournament, where, on December 14, he was defeated by La Sombra in the main event of CMLL's 2012 Sin Piedad ("No Mercy") show.

Bullet Club and Guerrillas of Destiny (2013–2018)

Tonga returned to NJPW in early 2013, just in time to compete in Wrestle Kingdom 7 on January 4 where he teamed up with Captain New Japan and Wataru Inoue to defeat Jado, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi by pinning Jado. On April 7, Tonga and El Terrible successfully defended the CMLL World Tag Team Championship against La Máscara and Valiente at New Japan's Invasion Attack event. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Tonga followed Prince Devitt and Bad Luck Fale ringside after Karl Anderson's loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi where they all attacked Tanahashi. The four of them founded a new villainous stable named Bullet Club under Devitt's leadership.

On July 5, Tonga and El Terrible lost the CMLL World Tag Team Championship to Tanahashi and Jyushin Thunder Liger. Tonga regained the title from Tanahashi and Liger on September 14 with new partner Rey Bucanero. Tonga returned to CMLL with Bucanero in early October. On October 18, Tonga and Bucanero were stripped of the CMLL World Tag Team Championship when they were unable to defend the title against La Máscara and Rush due to Bucanero being sidelined with an injury. Tonga remained in CMLL until the end of the year.

Returning to Japan in 2014, Tonga participated almost exclusively in tag matches the next two years, He took part in the 2014 World Tag League with Bad Luck Fale in November of that year. They finished at the bottom of their block with a record of three wins and four losses. Tonga and Fale would team up again in the 2015 World Tag League for a worse result, picking up two wins for four losses to finish penultimate with four points.

On 4 January 2016, at Wrestle Kingdom 10, Tonga teamed with Fale and Yujiro Takahashi to take part in a match to determine the inaugural NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions, they were defeated by Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe and Toru Yano when Jay pinned Tonga. On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, Tonga, Fale and Takahashi defeated the Briscoes and Yano in a rematch to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. After a three-day reign, the three lost the title back to the Briscoes and Yano at The New Beginning in Niigata. During February, Tonga accepted an offer to join WWE. However, NJPW retained him when they offered a new contract and hired his brother. On March 3, Tonga scored the biggest singles win of his career by defeating former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and reigning IWGP Tag Team Champion Togi Makabe in the first round of the 2016 New Japan Cup. The following day, he was eliminated from the tournament in the second round by Hirooki Goto.