#2 John Cena has been friends with him for years
Long before he was the "Face that Runs the Place" in WWE, John Cena was just starting out as a pro wrestler.
He joined other trainees at the Ultimate Pro Wrestling Federation, a small regional promotion that also had its own wrestling school. Among his fellow trainees was a young Samoa Joe eager to learn his craft.
The connection between the two men goes deeper than just being students at the same school, or wrestling for the same regional promotion, however. It seems that the two struck up a friendship with one another.
John Cena even invited Samoa Joe over to his house for Bar B Que after Ultimate Pro Wrestling Shows. It would be intriguing if WWE were to touch upon this prior relationship as part of a storyline or angle.