Childhood & Early Life
Jimmy Uso was born Jonathan Solofa Fatu on August 22, 1985, in San Francisco, California, USA. His father, Solofa F. Fatu Jr., is a professional wrestler best known by his ring name Rikishi. Apart from his twin brother Jey, he has three other siblings, namely Joseph Fatu, Jeremiah Peniata Fatu, and Thavana Monalisa Fatu.
Although his father started teaching him wrestling moves right from his childhood, he wanted to be a professional American football player. Both he and his twin brother wanted to become ‘National Football League’ (NFL) players. Simultaneously, they were also fascinated by wrestling as they would often accompany their father to wrestling matches. They also had the opportunity to interact with other professional wrestlers as well as their family members backstage.
Jimmy grew up in Pensacola, Florida, where he attended the ‘Escambia High School.’ He was a star player for his high school football team. After graduating high school, he enrolled at the ‘University of West Alabama’ on a partial scholarship. He continued playing football at the university and represented the university team as a linebacker. His twin brother followed in his footsteps and played American football for the same university.
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Career
Jimmy wanted to play professional football in the ‘National Football League.’ He and his brother were passionate about football and wanted to make a career out of it. When they failed to become professional footballers, they started working for a furniture store where they sold office furniture. Simultaneously, they also started competing at wrestling events during their free time.
After competing at amateur wrestling events, he and his brother decided to turn professional wrestlers. Hence, they moved to Houston, Texas, and started training under their uncle and professional wrestler Umaga.
Jimmy made his professional wrestling debut in 2007 at the Florida-based independent professional wrestling promotion, ‘World Xtreme Wrestling’ (WXW). The promotion was founded by his distant relative and former professional wrestler, Arthur ‘Afa’ Anoa’i. On June 8, 2007, he made his tag team debut along with his identical twin brother Jey. The ‘WXW’ event, in which he made his tag team debut, was held in Milton, Florida.
In 2009, he appeared alongside Donny Marlow for a brief period in ‘Florida Championship Wrestling’ (FCW). He then competed along with his brother Jey in the ‘Florida Championship Wrestling’ under the tag team division. They went on to defeat ‘The Dudebusters’ to become the ‘FCW Florida Tag Team Champions.’ After this victory, he and his brother decided to compete as a tag team and named their team ‘The Usos’ which means brothers in their native Samoan language.
In April 2010, ‘The Usos’ successfully defended their ‘FCW Tag Team Championship’ by defeating Hunico and Tito Nieves. They eventually lost the title to ‘Los Aviadores’ in June 2010. In the same year, ‘The Usos’ made their debut in ‘WWE’ under the tag team division. In their debut appearance, ‘The Usos’ teamed up with female wrestler Tamina and attacked ‘The Hart Dynasty’ in one of the episodes of ‘WWE Raw.’ Their actions resulted in a long-standing feud between ‘The Usos’ and ‘The Hart Dynasty.’
In April 2011, he and his brother were asked to participate in ‘WWE SmackDown.’ After being drafted to the ‘SmackDown’ brand, the brothers started performing the traditional Samoan ‘Siva Tau’ dance before entering the ring for a fight. They continued to perform the dance until 2016 when they turned heel (bad characters). ‘The Usos’ lost many of their matches throughout 2011. They lost against the likes of Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater (The Corre). In July, they were defeated by Michael McGillicutty and David Otunga.
In 2012, Jimmy had a few solo fights in an event called ‘WWE Superstars.’ In one such fight, he defeated ‘WWE’ star and Canadian Indian wrestler Jinder Mahal. In the same year, ‘The Usos’ locked horns with Titus O'Neil and Darren Young when they made fun of their traditional ‘Siva Tau’ dance. Though they defeated Titus O'Neil and Darren Young in a tag team match, they lost most of their singles match against Titus O'Neil and Darren Young. In July 2012, ‘The Usos’ made an appearance along with their father Rikishi.
2013 was a good year for Jimmy as his tag team performed well in the ‘WWE’ events. In June, ‘The Usos’ defeated the team of Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal to become the number one contenders for the prestigious ‘Tag Team Championship.’ Despite an impressive winning streak, ‘The Usos’ failed to win the ‘WWE Tag Team Championship’ after challenging the then reigning champions, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.
On March 3, 2014, Jimmy and his brother defeated ‘The Outlaws’ to clinch the ‘WWE Tag Team Championship’ for the first time. ‘The Usos’ then successfully defended their title against rival teams like ‘Los Matadores,’ the team of Batista and Randy Orton, and the team of Harper and Rowan. In one of the episodes of ‘WWE SmackDown,’ which was aired on July 25, ‘The Usos’ defeated ‘RybAxel.’ In the same year, ‘The Usos’ also won a match against The Miz and Damien Mizdow.
In April 2015, Jimmy defeated Xavier Woods in the ‘WWE Main Event.’ He reunited with his brother Jey to fight as a tag team in September 2015. They allied with their cousin Roman Reigns to compete as a team in a ‘WWE SmackDown’ event. In December 2015, ‘The Usos’ won the ‘Slammy Award’ for ‘Tag Team of the Year.’
In August 2016, ‘The Usos’ competed in a 12-man tag team match by teaming up with ‘American Alpha’ and ‘The Hype Bros.’ Their team competed and won against ‘The Vaudevillains’ and ‘The Ascension’ at the ‘SummerSlam’ pre-show. ‘The Usos’ continued their winning streak throughout 2017 and became the first team to win tag team championships at ‘Raw’ and ‘SmackDown.’ In August 2017, ‘The Usos’ became the first tag team in ‘WWE’ history to win the ‘WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship’ twice. They also became tag team champions for the fourth time, a feat which was earlier achieved by ‘The Dudley Boyz’ in 2001.
Family & Personal Life
Jimmy has two children, namely Jayla Fatu and Jaiden Fatu, from a previous relationship. He has not revealed the name of his children’s mother.
On January 16, 2014, he married his long-time girlfriend and ‘WWE’ wrestler Trinity McCray in a private ceremony in Hawaii, USA. Trinity is better known by her ring name Naomi.
