Jacob Fatu shared his inspiring journey to WrestleMania 42 in an interview with GiveMeSport, detailing his past and recent WWE experiences. He kicked off Night 1 of WrestleMania against Drew McIntyre, a highlight in his career.

Fatu contrasted his upbringing with his current WWE status, recalling his time in county jail at 18 and how far he’s come. He expressed disbelief at performing at such a prestigious event: “Man, you know what? Besides me and Drew tapping in, that is, that is one of the only greatest positive things about going into this weekend. You to tell me, dog, I went from County Jail being 18, locked up, not trying to understand anything, to be in the opening night, first night on Wrestlemania on the first hour of ESPN? Man, dog, it’s mind-blowing. So, you know, with that doubling back and tapping in, oh, baby, man, this is full throttle right now.”

Fatu also discussed a dream match with wrestling legend New Jack, whom he cites as an influence. He reminisced about childhood wrestling games inspired by New Jack: “I would have let him win. I just would have let him win. I would have said, ‘f*ck it, put the fork away, dude.’ I would have seen him playing the guitar. ‘Put the guitar away.’ I would have seen him vacuuming. ‘Put the vacuum away.’ Now, overall, though, that’s crazy you brought that up. New Jack was one of my favorite all time, man. Like, man, we used to put ketchup on our head and walk into the living room with our old school toy bucket, yo, ECW, and my mom used to whip our a** because we used all that ketchup, fake bleeding. But, nah, man, that’s a dope match, and, man, it would have been so dope if that was able to happen.”

Following WrestleMania 42, Fatu’s career in WWE continues to evolve. He defeated McIntyre and challenged Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship on the RAW after ‘Mania, with Reigns expected to respond tonight.