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December 4, 2009 | Umaga Dies

Edward Smith, who performed for WWE under the ring name ‘Umaga’ between 2001 and 2003 and 2005 to June 2009, passes away from a heart attack. According to toxicology reports, various drugs, including the infamous Soma, are found in his system. This is a sad and all too familiar wrestling death. He was 36 years old.

WWE’s method of escaping media scrutiny is to simply ignore the death and not draw attention to it. Not acknowledging it is deeply insensitive and outright disrespectful, but it works. As grim as this is, it helps that Umaga did not strangle a seven year-old boy to death, and thus, the media does not treat this as a juicy story. It’s a diminished return. While Umaga was actually scheduled to return to WWE “at or around Royal Rumble time”, per the December 4, 2009 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, he was not officially signed to a WWE contract at the time of his death, so there’s no ‘active WWE star dies on their watch’ angle to play up, either.

That Umaga was still obviously still struggling with addiction issues - unsurprising, given that he had refused to enter rehab less than half a year earlier - raises questions about WWE’s reported decision to bring him back. Those questions are all the more uncomfortable, given Dave Meltzer’s report that TNA interest spurred WWE into action. (Hulk Hogan was impressed by Umaga, who had appeared on the Hulkamania: Let The Battle Begin tour of Australia).

A bleak peace treaty exists between WWE and the press, driven by a lack of lurid, clickworthy detail. The rehabilitation project continues.