What's the story?
Samoa Joe is among the five challengers for Daniel Bryan's WWE Championship at this Sunday's Elimination Chamber PPV.
He spoke with Busted Open Radio and spoke about why he thinks he hasn't had a WWE Championship run yet. WrestleZone carried a transcript of Joe's interview.
In case you didn't know...
Samoa Joe challenged AJ Styles throughout much of the summer while Styles was still holding the WWE Championship.
He failed to capture the title and was also defeated by Brock Lesnar in a Universal Championship match while he was a member of the Raw roster.
Joe has another chance to capture WWE gold when he enters the Elimination Chamber this Sunday against five other men.
The heart of the matter
Samoa Joe was the NXT Champion but has yet to capture any title on WWE's main roster. He has had shots at the gold, but he thinks he's always had to prove himself first wherever he's wrestled.
“It’s a real simple thing and it’s something I dealt with my entire career. I’ve always needed to convince more than the average person. A lot of cats come in and people hook their hopes and dreams on them and they say, ‘This is the guy. This is the guy. This is the guy.’ I’ve never had that luxury and it’s not something I hold in spite. It’s not something I’m all mad about. That’s just business. This is my life.”
Joe also mentioned that it took him almost 15 years just to get to WWE, but now that he's in WWE, he'll still need to keep proving himself.
“It took me a long time to get to WWE because I was sitting there – it took me to put together an illustrious career to find a ridiculous stereotype to get in, and then when I did get in, I was told that I wouldn’t do anything. I was destined to stay in a certain spot and a certain place, and within two days we proved that wrong.”
He also knew that his day will come at some point in WWE, but he'll keep doing things his way until that day.
"I have no doubt in my mind, I’ll be a WWE Champion. I have no doubt in my mind the success I will achieve before my career is said and done. I just know, at the same time, I’m still fighting these same battles and I will continue.
It might be a way for WWE to switch things up this Sunday or even in 2019, but Joe will bide his time.
I’m not gonna complain about it. I will convince you. I’ve done it before. I’ve done it my entire career. I’m not worried about me. I’m not worried about what I bring to the table. I’ve got the arsenal. If you look at my armory, we’re ready for war. When the powers that be come around and they realize, ‘Hey, we’ve got some killers out here that are ready to do something,’ then that’s what’s gonna happen. I’ll sit here and I’ll keep being consistent, and I’ll keep spitting the fire people want to hear, and I’ll keep saying the things people wish they could say."
What's next?
Unfortunately for Samoa Joe, he's been booked as a threat only to ultimately fail in his bids to capture major WWE titles. His main roster run is still only a couple years old, so it's not over for him.
He's still salvageable and could easily walk out of the Elimination Chamber as WWE Champion. He'll put on a great match at WrestleMania 35 regardless of opponent, but he'd tell you that he already knows that.