Samoa Joe Recalls Brilliant Move During His WWE Run
Samoa Joe has looked back on his WWE NXT run and a specific creative decision that was made during one of his big matches.
During his 25-year career as a pro wrestler, Samoa Joe has had a huge impact everywhere he has worked. Joe first became known internationally in Ring Of Honor as their World Champion.
When Samoa Joe decided it was time to leave ROH, he chose to go to TNA. Joe would go on to have a decade-long run with TNA that would see him win their World Title as well, in addition to pretty much every title that mattered in the company.
The powerhouse Joe would then go on to have a seven-year run with WWE that saw him in many different roles as a main roster superstar, an announcer for a full year and he also had a memorable run on the NXT brand. Joe is the only three-time NXT Champion in the history of the brand that goes back to 2012 when Triple H took over the third brand.
Since departing WWE, Joe has been a dominant force in AEW and was the man to end MJF’s record-long AEW World Title reign at the first AEW Worlds End PPV last December.
Samoa Joe Recalls Winning NXT Title At Live Event
The first of Samoa Joe’s three NXT Title wins happened at a live event in Lowell, Massachusetts on April 27, 2016, when he beat Finn Balor. It was a shocking result simply because title changes happening at live events in this era are so rare.
While speaking at a recent Q&A session at Terrificon, Joe called the live event title change a “brilliant” thing.
“I thought it was one of the most brilliant things that we did. When you’re building a new brand and an imprint like we were in ‘NXT,’ you know a major thing is we want people to come to our live events. We were running live events around the nation, and if you knew if you showed up to an ‘NXT’ live event that a world title could change hands, I mean it just makes that event so much more exciting.”
“So much more fan interactive, so much more better that you know, potentially on one night, any given Sunday, you could see something amazing happen.”
In addition to holding the AEW World TItle earlier this year, Samoa Joe is also a two-time TNT Champion in AEW as well.