Is the NXT Championship a Blessing or a Curse?

#8 Samoa Joe - Curse

Samoa Joe (8th and 10th NXT Champion)

Samoa Joe has had an interesting time in WWE. Though the fans clung on to him immediately thanks to his work in TNA/Impact Wrestling, his biggest rivalries in NXT were against Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura who are both insanely popular with the fans. Going up against these two automatically put him in a position against the fans, which he did well with.

This guy is a pro, I remember going to see an NXT taping in Full Sail and at the end, he was still in the ring as everyone left. I had stayed to watch him get up since I was in the front row, and as he was leaving the ring some of us booed. I wish I had a video of it because Samoa Joe just walked up to me and stared me down face to face, leading me to immediately stop booing and leave the place. This guy is intimidating.

Sadly he hasn't had much of a push on the main roster. His biggest claim to fame on Raw is that he came "this close" to making Brock Lesnar tap, and has spent much of his time in rivalries against fellow Samoan that can't seem to beat Lesnar...Roman Reigns.

Now could be a good time for him to go for one of the lesser belts to build up his stock so that Vince McMahon will believe him as a real champion. Brock Lesnar had nothing but praise for Joe after their fight (which is not very common), so maybe instead of seeing Lesnar pass the torch to Reigns, he could drop it to Samoa Joe for a more popular reaction, but until then I'm still marking this one as a curse.