Tama Tonga isn’t losing any sleep over the internet’s latest conspiracy theory. The WWE star has officially responded after Dave Meltzer questioned the timing of his recent Ilja Dragunov post — and Tonga’s message is simple: it was just a good clip.
Tama Tonga (Credits: Ringside News)
The Post That Started It All
Tonga recently uploaded footage from Dragunov’s WWE run showing himself no-selling Dragunov’s chops on SmackDown. The catch? The post landed just days after Dragunov made his AEW debut, and fans immediately started connecting dots.
On Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer admitted he didn’t know Tonga’s motivation but called the timing an “interesting shot” — comparing it to an old-school promotional tactic from the Bill Watts and Ole Anderson playbook of the ’80s, where promoters would dig up footage of departing wrestlers getting beaten up and put it back in front of fans.
“Great Uncle Dave” Gets a Response
It didn’t take long for the comments to reach Tonga, who jumped on social media to set the record straight: “Boy, it started stirring some s***,” he said, adding, “Am I not the only one who thought it was a good post?”
As for Meltzer’s playbook theory, Tonga had some fun with it, jokingly dubbing him “Great Uncle Dave” before shutting it down completely: “Great Uncle Dave over here said I took it from a playbook. I don’t even read a playbook, bruh.” So much for the conspiracy — according to Tonga, Meltzer’s giving him far too much credit for how much thought went into the post.
Also Read: Bandido Names Kenny Omega and Newly Signed Ilja Dragunov as His Dream AEW Opponents
Source: Ringside News — read the full story there.
