A 33-year-old star was released from WWE in October 2025 without ever getting a chance to make his debut. The wrestler, who was down with an injury and missed his window in the Stamford-based promotion, has resumed his journey in the indies. Moreover, Lance Anoa’i has also secured a big title match against The Hardy Boyz.Anoa’i will team up with Zilla Fatu to compete against Jeff and Matt Hardy at the HOG Winter Warfare. The Samoan wrestlers will compete for the HOG Tag Team Championship. The Hardyz won the titles on October 10, 2025, after defeating Jay Lyon and Midas Black.The victory came for the Hardys right after they won the NXT Tag Team Championship against Darkstate at the NXT vs TNA Showdown. The heel faction, however, regained their belts at Halloween Havoc, and Dion Lennox handed his half of the championship to Saquon Shugars this week.Zilla Fatu is the former tag team partner of Jacob Fatu and is also the HOG Crown Jewel Champion. Winter Warfare will take place in the NYC Arena on December 19, 2025. The event will be exclusively streamed on ThrillerTV+. It would be interesting to see if Lance Anoa’i and Zilla Fatu will be able to defeat one of the most legendary tag teams of all time.Why did WWE never use Lance Anoa’i?WWE signed Lance Anoa’i in the summer of 2024. However, he got injured shortly after the deal was inked. To make matters worse, he sustained another injury in August while recovering from his previous one, as reported by Sean Ross Sapp on the Fightful Select Q&A podcast.As a result, WWE never had the chance to use Anoa’i and parted ways with him. Hikuleo was also signed by the Stamford-based promotion at the same time. He made his debut at the 2025 Night of Champions, helping Solo Sikoa defeat Jacob Fatu to win the US Championship.The 34-year-old now uses the ring name Talla Tonga. He is a member of The MFTs and also the primary enforcer of Sikoa. It would be interesting to see what lies ahead for both of these Samoan wrestlers.