Juicy Finau is heading back into the World Elite Sumo environment on November 21, when he competes in the promotion’s Pro Era V event at Caribe Royale Orlando in Orlando, Florida.
The 30-year-old professional wrestler was among seven additional competitors announced for the one-night, 12-man open-weight tournament. Finau brings prior World Elite Sumo experience to the field, along with a seven-year career in professional wrestling that has included appearances for AAA and Major League Wrestling. He has also competed in Power Slap, where he owns a 2-0 record.
Listed at 6-foot-4 and 465 pounds, the Chino, California native is one of the largest announced entrants for the event. World Elite Sumo has also cited Finau’s five years of Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling experience, a background that adds another legitimate grappling element to an athlete already known to wrestling audiences for his size, physicality and ring presence.
Finau’s parents are from the Kingdom of Tonga, and his return gives Pro Era V a competitor with experience across several distinctly different combat-sports settings. While professional wrestling requires performance, timing and athletic adaptability in front of a live crowd, the World Elite Sumo format presents a direct competitive challenge: an open-weight tournament where the athletes must apply balance, leverage, positional control and explosive strength in a much more immediate setting.
For more background on this topic, read Maggie Lee Wins Women’s World Crown Title at Glory Pro Fear Of The Dark.
A Return to an Unpredictable Open-Weight Field
World Elite Sumo is continuing to build Pro Era V around athletes with varied backgrounds rather than a roster limited to traditional sumo competitors. The November 21 tournament is scheduled to feature 12 men in a single-night format, with the promotion emphasizing competitors from military service, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, mixed martial arts, collegiate wrestling, professional wrestling and conventional sumo.
That approach makes Finau’s participation particularly notable. His professional wrestling résumé is different from the paths taken by many of the other athletes, but his amateur wrestling foundation and previous World Elite Sumo experience could be important factors. In an open-weight environment, size is an obvious advantage, yet it is not the only variable. Footwork, hand fighting, posture, grip control and the ability to keep one’s balance under pressure all have the potential to decide a bout quickly.
Finau will enter a lineup that includes returning World Elite Sumo competitors Rui, Jr., Josh “Siua” Tuitupou and Gilberto “El Coloso Aztec” De La Torre. Their previous exposure to the promotion’s competition should add familiarity with the setting, even as every competitor will face the unique pressure of a one-night tournament.
The promotion did not announce first-round matchups as part of its latest update. That means Finau’s opening opponent, and the potential path he may face through the tournament, remain unknown. With the event still advertised as a 12-man field, the latest names should not be viewed as a finalized bracket.
Seven Names Added to Pro Era V
Finau headlines a new group that also includes Brian Dina, Duke “The Viking” Webb and Jahsua Marsh, alongside the three returning World Elite Sumo participants. The additions significantly deepen the combat-sports credentials represented in Orlando.
Dina is a 6-foot-3, 360-pound athlete from Melbourne, Florida. A former U.S. Army infantryman during the Afghanistan War, Dina trains at Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and holds a blue belt. World Elite Sumo has described him as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion and lifelong athlete. His presence also gives the card another Florida-based entrant heading into the Orlando event.
Webb, who represents Merritt Island, Florida, is listed at 6-foot-3 and 312 pounds. The 32-year-old has spent 15 years in combat sports, including amateur MMA, Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition and kickboxing. World Elite Sumo lists Webb as holding two martial arts black belts, as well as multiple submission grappling tournament wins.
Among the accomplishments attached to Webb’s background is a 2022 MMA-rules victory over Thomas Riggins, who was listed at 412 pounds. That result stands out in the context of an open-weight sumo field, where athletes will have to contend with substantial size disparities and the strategic adjustments that come with them.
Marsh arrives with an especially accomplished wrestling résumé. The 35-year-old Brentwood, New York native is listed at 6-foot-3 and 285 pounds. His background combines collegiate wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and MMA, and World Elite Sumo identifies him as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and a former two-time MMA heavyweight champion.
In college wrestling, Marsh won the 2012 NAIA national championship and earned two All-American selections at Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska. Those credentials make him a notable addition to a tournament format that will naturally reward competitors capable of converting wrestling fundamentals into fast, forceful exchanges.
Established Names Remain in the Mix
The new competitors join previously announced entrants including Makini “Big Mak” Manu, Hidenoumi “The Iron Wall” Takuya and Soslan “Big Bear” Gagloev.
Manu is known as a Power Slap athlete, while Hidenoumi brings the pedigree of a former Japanese top-division sumo wrestler. Gagloev, who was born in Russia and is based in Orlando, supplies another major presence in a field designed around heavyweight athletes and contrasting combat backgrounds.
Hidenoumi’s inclusion is especially significant because traditional sumo experience provides knowledge of the sport’s specialized demands that cannot simply be assumed from success in another discipline. At the same time, World Elite Sumo’s field construction has created a scenario in which accomplished wrestlers, jiu-jitsu practitioners and combat-sports competitors can test how their own skills translate against that experience.
For Finau, the event offers an opportunity to return to a competition he has already experienced while representing the professional wrestling world in a legitimate athletic tournament. His listed weight gives him the kind of mass that can be difficult for any opponent to move, while his amateur wrestling history suggests he has a base beyond sheer size.
Changes to the Originally Announced Field
The updated Pro Era V announcement also confirmed two withdrawals. Brennen Moorefield is out after suffering a training injury. Jakob “Mosin” Alekseyev has also withdrawn, though no reason was provided for his departure from the event.
Those changes underline the fluid nature of tournament preparation, particularly for an event drawing athletes from a range of physical sports and training styles. World Elite Sumo has maintained that Pro Era V will be a 12-man tournament, but the promotion has not yet released the complete bracket or the first-round pairings.
“World Elite Sumo has assembled for this event a very diverse group of athletes with high-level skills and accomplishments in a variety of martial arts and sports, making this one-night tournament something no sports fan should miss,” World Elite Sumo spokesperson Alaa Okasha said.
That diversity will be central to the appeal of the Orlando card. Finau, Dina, Webb and Marsh do not arrive from identical systems, and neither do the previously announced competitors. The tournament will bring together athletes whose competitive instincts were developed in different rule sets, then ask them to perform in a format where a brief lapse in balance or positioning can end a match.
For professional wrestling followers, Finau’s place in the tournament will be the primary point of interest. He has built a career in the ring, including his work for AAA and MLW, but Pro Era V provides a separate kind of showcase. It places him in an open-weight combat event against opponents whose résumés include elite wrestling, MMA, jiu-jitsu, kickboxing and traditional sumo.
World Elite Sumo’s Pro Era V takes place November 21 at Caribe Royale Orlando. With first-round bouts still to be announced, the question now is where Finau lands in the bracket and which of the tournament’s many heavyweight specialists will be standing across from him when the competition begins.
Darryl Polo
Darryl Polo is a passionate wrestling fan covering WWE, AEW, TNA and beyond. He loves great rivalries, breakout stars and the moments that keep fans talking long after the bell. How we work.