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Samoa Joe will go down as one of the most memorable wrestlers in history. Starting off his career on the independent circuit, The Samoan Submission Machine found his footing in TNA. After achieving almost every accolade the promotion had to offer, Joe joined ROH for a short period before making his grand entry in WWE.
Joe would go on to become one of the most successful wrestlers in NXT, being the first two-time and the first three-time NXT Champion. He was also the only wrestler to have defeated Finn Balor's Demon King persona on the former black and gold brand. Unfortunately, his main roster run wasn't that good, having only won the United States Championship twice, and even those reigns were not that memorable.
Earlier this year, the veteran made his way to All Elite Wrestling, winning his first ROH World Television Championship. Here are nine facts you need to know about “The Samoan Submission Machine”.
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#1 Samoa Joe has the longest ROH Championship reign in history
Samoa Joe may be most famous for his TNA exploits but he made his name in the independent promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). Offering a great mix of veteran stars like Ricky Steamboat and Mick Foley along with future stars like AJ Styles, CM Punk and Joe himself, ROH was one of the hottest promotions in the industry. The alumni list further reaffirms its status as to what a special place it was.
Before jumping ship to TNA full time, The Samoan Submission Specialist was one of the company’s most featured players. He was the longest reigning World Heavyweight Champion in the company’s history with a championship reign spanning a mind-boggling 645 days between March 22 2003 and December 26 2004. During his record-breaking reign, Samoa Joe had countless excellent matches and did more than anyone to elevate the championship's status, before losing it to Austin Aries.
#2 Going into Business for himself
If a list is made of people having problems with wrestling legends Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, Samoa Joe's name would probably be somewhere near the top. The incident that turned Joe against Hall and Nash took place during the 2007 Turning Point pay-per-view organized by TNA. The show's main event was supposed to feature Samoa Joe teaming up with The Outsiders. However, the promotion was forced to find a replacement when Scott Hall no-showed.
When it became apparent that Hall wasn’t going to show up, TNA management instructed Joe to go to the ring and cut a promo on him while putting over the young, up-and-coming TNA talent as a way to take heat off of the company. Originally, the promo was only supposed to last about a minute. However, The Samoan Submission Specialist overran by about five minutes and went into business for himself with some pretty cutting comments aimed toward Hall’s friend Kevin Nash.
During the promo, Joe turned to TNA President Dixie Carter (who was off-camera) and said, "Go ahead and fire me, I don’t care". Carter was understandably upset and so was Kevin Nash. When the two men got backstage, Nash confronted Joe about his comments and a shoving contest followed. Joe later apologized for the incident.
#3 He is Friends with Mick Foley, WWE signed Punk over Joe
Wrestling legend Mick Foley has spotted a lot of talent that has often missed sight of WWE's top cream. Working with ROH in 2004, Foley was immediately impressed with the work put in by Samoa Joe and CM Punk. Foley even had a brief feud with Joe, although the two never had an official match together.
Upon returning to WWE, Foley made a strong pitch for both Punk and Joe to be signed by the promotion in 2005. The Hardcore legend had mapped out a whole programme all by himself that would see Joe and Punk aligning with Foley in his attempt to take down then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon. The former RAW GM had even planned to detail the specifics for angles taking place on every episode.
Unfortunately, WWE didn’t show much interest. This was a time when the promotion was committed to pushing tall, muscular superstars. Then-President of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis was a fan of Samoa Joe and was quoted as saying that the latter was the "top-level heel that Rikishi could never pull off". However, Vince wasn’t interested.
#4 Was involved in one of the best matches in TNA history
From mid-2005 to 2007, TNA belonged to three men: AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe. The three men carried the promotion with their series of breathtaking matches against each other. Their three-way feud is considered one of TNA's highest points.
Any combination of Joe, Daniels and Styles generally produced the match of the night for any given event. The main event of the 2005 Unbreakable pay-per-view (their first triple threat match together) is considered by many to be the best TNA match of all time. The match swayed to and fro among the three men and fans went wild for the bout. The match was of such high quality that even notoriously hard-to-please Dave Meltzer was compelled to give it a five-star rating. To this very day, it remains the only five-star match in TNA history.
#5 60 minutes with CM Punk
Outside the ring, Samoa Joe is friends with CM Punk. Anyone who has seen their interviews together will know that they have a natural chemistry when put in a room together. Some of Joe’s greatest and most celebrated matches include the aforementioned Unbreakable 2005 triple threat match, his ROH match against Kenta Kobashi and his series of matches with CM Punk. Joe, who already has a great equation with Punk, used their real-lifechemistry to put on some of the best matches in the early years of Ring Of Honor.
The matches were very well received by the fans and what made it even more impressive was that the matches routinely went an hour. The Punk-Joe trilogy of 2004 included two sixty-minute draws, the second of which went on to earn a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer. It’s amazing that a guy of Joe’s size could wrestle at that pace for an hour and the sixty-minute matches gave further credence to the fact that Samoa Joe was one of the very best in the world at that point in his career.
#6 He is inspired by MMA
Anyone who has watched Samoa Joe’s career would say he is heavily inspired by MMA and often incorporates MMA moves and holds into his matches. One such instance of this was his MMA-inspired Lockdown 2008 match against Kurt Angle. This match was like a breath of fresh air amongst the usual TNA lunacy. Another instance of his level of comfort with MMA was in an episode of Rob Van Dam’s web series RVD TV showing Joe rolling and sparring with Van Dam and McNully in California.
Samoa Joe looked pretty good and agile for a man of his size.
#7 Is one of Stone Cold Steve Austin's favorite wrestlers
After turning up for various promotions all over the world, including in Europe, Japan and Mexico for over a decade, Samoa Joe has earned a lot of respect. He carries himself like a superstar and hardly puts a foot wrong when in the ring and as such his talent’s have been widely appreciated by fans world over. Not only that, he also has a high-profile fan-list that has several big-wigs of the wrestling industry.
As previously mentioned, Mick Foley is a big fan. Punk, although he is a little biased because he and Joe are friends, always sings his praises. Kurt Angle has gone on record to say that Joe is one of his favourite opponents ever. Good ’ol JR has said that, were he in charge of a company, he would sign Joe in a heartbeat. Bret Hart’s a noted fan, too.
But perhaps Joe’s biggest supporter is none other than the biggest wrestling star of all time. Stone Cold Steve Austin has gone on record to say that Joe is one of his favourite wrestlers in the business and lambasted WWE for not signing him.
#8 His Weight Issues
Despite setting the indie wrestling circuit on fire almost a decade ago, one primary reason why Samoa Joe wasn’t snapped by WWE was his weight and huge physique. Joe is a big guy and his compounding injuries have gotten even bigger. Over time, Joe ballooned in size and the TNA was not very happy about it.
Joe was suspended by TNA in 2010 because he was either unwilling to or physically could not shed weight. Joe’s size was one of his unique selling points, but it turned out to be pretty underwhelming at one point during his TNA run. He even had to switch out the trunks he famously wears for baggy shorts and pants.
#9 He has wrestled for the WWE before
It’s true he has wrestled in WWE before, but he didn’t come in and run through the competition ala the Samoan Submission Machine, but was used as an enhancement talent. Samoa Joe’s sole WWE appearance was on the March 3rd 2001 episode of Jakked against perennial jobber Essa Rios. It says something about Joe’s status when that he was brought in to take the pin for Rios, a man who lost against everyone. Sporting a brown vest, blonde hair and long pants, Joe looked enthusiastic but undoubtedly green during this brief appearance.
