3-Minute Warning was an American

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establis ...

consisting of cousins Matt Anoaʻi and

Eddie Fatu Edward Smith Fatu (March 28, 1973 – December 4, 2009) was an American professional wrestler, best known for his time with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under the ring name Umaga. Fatu was also known for his time with All Japan Pro Wrestl ...

, most notable for their time with WWF/E under their ring names of Rosey and Jamal, respectively. As they were the members of the prominent

Anoaʻi family The Anoai family ( ) is a family of professional wrestlers originating from the Samoan Islands. Family members have comprised several tag teams and stables within a variety of promotions, most notably WWE. Famous members of the family include Roma ...

, Rosey was an older brother of current WWE wrestler

Roman Reigns Leati Joseph Anoaʻi ( ; born May 25, 1985), better known by his ring name Roman Reigns, is an American professional wrestler and former gridiron football, football player. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he performs on the Sm ...

and Jamal was also a brother of

Rikishi A , or, more colloquially, , is a sumo wrestler. Although used to define all wrestlers participating in sumo wrestling matches, the term is more commonly used to refer to professional wrestlers, employed by the Japan Sumo Association, who par ...

and an uncle to nephews

Jimmy and Jey Uso The Usos were a Samoan-American professional wrestling tag team which consisted of twin brothers Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso. They are signed to WWE, where Jey performs on the Raw brand while Jimmy performs on the SmackDown brand. They are the thre ...

and

Solo Sikoa Joseph Yokozuna Fatu (born March 18, 1993) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Solo Sikoa and is the second leader of The Bloodline. After Fatu played college ...

; the four of them used to wrestle together as The Bloodline.

History

Anoaʻi and Fatu trained together at the Wild Samoan

professional wrestling school Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that o ...

operated by members of their

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

. When their training was completed they debuted in their uncle Afa's

World Xtreme Wrestling World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) was a Florida-based independent circuit, independent professional wrestling promotion which has held events across the United States and toured in Japan, the Middle East and South Pacific region including American S ...

(WXW), where Matt held the

WXW Tag Team Championship This is a chronological list of WXW Tag Team Champions. The WXW Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title created in 1996 as part of for Top Rope Productions (later renamed World Xtreme Wrestling World Xtreme Wrestling ...

as one half of the Samoan Gangstas with another cousin,

Lloyd Anoaʻi Lloyd Anoaʻi (born May 7, 1970) is an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling manager and producer for Qatar Pro Wrestling, and World of War Wrestling in South Africa. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrest ...

. In 1996, Matt and Eddie were brought into the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

(WWF)’s

Heartland Wrestling Association The Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA) was a Midwestern independent professional wrestling promotion based in Cincinnati, Ohio. A former developmental territory for World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Entertainment, World Wres ...

(HWA) " farm league". There they used the individual names Ekmo Fatu (Eddie) and Kimo (Matt), with the team name Island Boyz. They held the

HWA Tag Team Championship The HWA Tag Team Championship is the tag team titles contested for in the Heartland Wrestling Association. It was established in 1996 when the Head Bangers (Mosh and Thrasher) became the first champions. Title history Key See also *Heartlan ...

once, and for a time Haku served as their

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. They left HWA together, and in 2000 traveled to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

to wrestle for

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion (FMW-E) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fir ...

, where they held the FMW Hardcore Tag Team Championship. The next year they returned to the United States to wrestle for

Memphis Championship Wrestling Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) was a professional wrestling promotion run by Terry Golden, based in Memphis, Tennessee. The promotion's first event was on February 20, 2000, and it remained active until mid-2001. It was employed as a World ...

, where again they held gold, holding the

MCW Southern Tag Team Championship The MCW Southern Tag Team Championship was the tag team title in Memphis Championship Wrestling from 2000 until the promotion closed in 2002. Title history See also *Memphis Championship Wrestling Memphis Championship Wrestling (MCW) was a ...

on three occasions in one month. In 2002 they returned to (the now renamed)

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

as enforcers for Raw

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Eric Bischoff Eric Aaron Bischoff (born May 27, 1955) is an American television producer, Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Booker, professional wrestling booker, promoter, and performer. He is best known for serving as Executive Producer and later Sen ...

. Now known as Jamal (Eddie) and Rosey (Matt), the team was used to

squash Squash most often refers to: * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (plant), the fruit of vines of the genus ''Cucurbita'' Squash may also refer to: Sports * Squash (professional wrestling), an extr ...

any activity in the ring that Bischoff deemed "boring". They made their debut on the July 22 episode of ''Raw'', interrupting a match between

D'Lo Brown Accie Julius Connor (born October 22, 1973), better known by his ring name D'Lo Brown (also formatted as D-Lo Brown), is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to TNA Wrestling, where he works as a producer. He is best known for his t ...

and

Shawn Stasiak Shawn Emile Stipich (born July 21, 1970) is an American-Canadian chiropractor, motivational speaker and retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the professional wrestling promotions the World Wrestling Federatio ...

that had been previously allotted three minutes. When the time limit expired, Rosey and Jamal entered through the crowd and laid out both men, to the delight of Bischoff watching on from the entryway. The

gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand out ...

continued over the next few weeks, with Bischoff either giving people three minutes to entertain him before they were attacked, or otherwise deciding that three minutes of a segment was enough before the team appeared to end it. As a result of the time period, the team became known as Three Minute Warning. One of their attacks was on

Jeff Hardy Jeffrey Nero Hardy (born August 31, 1977) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and also appears on partner promotion WWE on its NXT (WWE brand), NXT brand. He is re ...

, as ordered by Bischoff who thought Jeff was leaving for the

SmackDown! ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE. It airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on USA Network in the United ...

brand to reunite with his brother

Matt Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

, only for the actual defector to be Jeff's scheduled opponent Crash. For a time, the team used the

2 Skinnee J's 2 Skinnee J's (alternatively spelled Two Skinnee J's or Too Skinnee J's) is an American hip hop band from Brooklyn, New York, whose music has been categorized as nerdcore and rap rock. The band was founded in 1991 by Special J (vocals), Rabbi J- ...

song "3 Minutes" as its entrance music. According to 2 Skinnee J's guitarist, Lance Rockworthy, the band did not receive any compensation for the use of the song. During the September 12 episode of ''

'' Three Minute Warning and Eric Bischoff crashed the "

commitment ceremony A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicities, races, religions, denominations, countries, social classes, and sexual orientations. Most wedding ...

" being held for the Billy and Chuck tag team. Afterward

Rico The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was ...

, Billy and Chuck's manager, started managing Three Minute Warning full-time. With Rico by their side they engaged in a

feud A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...

with the

Dudley Boyz The Dudley Boyz (also known as Team 3D) are an American professional wrestling tag team who consisted of kayfabe half-brothers Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley. The team was also joined by various Dudley family members, notably Spike Dudley and ...

( Bubba Ray and

Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...

) and Jeff Hardy which resulted in their highest-profile match as a team — an Elimination

Tables match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

at the November

Survivor Series Survivor Series, branded as Survivor Series: WarGames since 2022, is a professional wrestling event produced annually since 1987 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Held in November generally the week of Thanksgiving ( ...

, which they lost when Bubba Ray, the last man left for his team, received assistance from longtime partner D-Von. The team stayed on the low- and mid-card for the remainder of 2002 and early 2003, most notably, on an April 28, 2003 episode of ''Raw'' when Rico and the Three Minute Warning interfered in a match between Goldberg and

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, which never began and the three men began to proceed to beat down Goldberg until Jamal and Rosey were speared and Christian hit him with a steel chair. In June 2003, the WWE released Jamal from his contract, following his involvement in a bar fight. Shortly after, Rosey then went to form a superhero tag-team with The Hurricane, winning the

World Tag Team Championship In professional wrestling, a championship or title is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in predetermined rival ...

in the process, while Jamal did a short stint in

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by busines ...

(TNA) under his "Ekmo Fatu" name before returning to WWE. They reunited one last time on WWE on a dark match for ''

Sunday Night Heat ''WWE Heat'' (formerly known as ''Sunday Night Heat'' and also known as ''Heat'') is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and aired from August 2, 1998 to May 30, 2008. Or ...

'' as they defeated

Trent Acid Michael Verdi (November 12, 1980 – June 18, 2010), best known by his ring name Trent Acid, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He worked as a tag team wrestler for most of his career, primarily as part of The Backsea ...

and Bison Bravado on January 9, 2006. Jamal was being repackaged as Umaga, and twice winning the Intercontinental Championship. Rosey was released by the company in March 2006. Umaga (Jamal) was released by the company in June 2009.

Championships and accomplishments

FMW/WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship The WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship was a tag team hardcore wrestling championship contested in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling from April 2000 until FMW closed in February 2002. The title was picked up by Big Japan Pro Wrestling that same mont ...

( 1 time) *

(1 time) *

( 3 times) *Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards ** Worst Tag Team (2002)

References

External links

Online World of Wrestling profile
{{WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship Anoaʻi family Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling teams and stables Independent promotions teams and stables Japanese promotions teams and stables WWE teams and stables