Hours before the Mar. 20, 2026, episode of Friday Night SmackDown, news broke out that WWE had hit former NJPW star and current WWE Superstar Tama Tonga with a “significant” fine after he had allegedly posted certain behind-the-scenes footage.
In the past year, WWE has happily revealed some of their trade secrets, backstage moments, writer's room conversations, rehearsal moments, and even storyline pitches to the audience via their Unreal on Netflix reality show. However, these revelations seem only applicable on WWE's terms.
SmackDown Superstar and former tag-team champion Tama Tonga was recently reportedly hit with a fine after he uploaded match rehearsal footage on his social media. This week, before SmackDown, Tonga posted a 360-degree video on social media showcasing the stage, arena, and ring. Most other individuals in the footage were indistinct and blurry. It was evident that rehearsals for the upcoming SmackDown episode were underway at the Lenovo Center, though not in a manner that would have caused significant harm or possibly revealed what the rehearsals were about.
Andrew Zaria of Fightful broke the news on X(formerly known as Twitter) and wrote, “Word going around at SmackDown is that Tama Tonga was fined by WWE for posting a video of rehearsals last week. Was told it was significant of a fine. WWE has an unwritten rule about not recording/posting during rehearsal.”
Later in the night, Tonga and his fellow MFT member, JC Mateo, lost their tag team titles to the team of Damian Priest and R-Truth. However, it is currently unknown if Tonga only paid a fine or was punished for that act by losing his titles as well.
