Why I Love Wrestling 7.15.07: Samoa Joe
Posted by Jordan Linkous on 07.15.2007
Guns don't kill people, Samoa Joe kills people.
Hello hello hello. I come back to you, my loyal readers, with another rip-roaring edition of the most positive article in all of 411Mania land, as said by me. I hope you all enjoyed my ode to the Indies last week. This week, I focus in on a wrestler who knows quite about the Indies, Samoa Joe. He is one of my favorite wrestlers on the scene today, and is very talented as well.
Samoa Joe
When people think of TNA, a few wrestlers come to mind. AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Christian Cage, Abyss, Chris Sabin, Kurt Angle, and, of course, Samoa Joe. But when people think TNA and ROH, only two, possible three, names come to mind. Those are AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Samoa Joe. Of the three, only one has had such an impact on both companies. Obviously I'm talking about Samoa Joe. Multiple time X-Division Champion, ROH Pure Champion, and, most notably, the longest reigning ROH World Champion, are just a few words that describe Samoa Joe. Some other words are hard-hitting, stiff, Samoan Submission Machine, and sandwich destroyer. Samoa Joe is not only one of my favorite wrestlers in TNA and ROH, but my one of my favorite wrestlers period. His matches are fantastic. He is able to draw in the crowd and create a story with psychology. But, you say, many wrestlers do that. So what is it that makes Samoa Joe so beloved by fans? Is it the fact that they can relate to him? Is it because he is so entertaining? Or is it because he is one of the greatest technical, hard hitting, and athletic wrestlers around? I believe it is a combination of all these traits.
Samoa Joe was brought into ROH to be Christopher Daniels hired hand. He was only scheduled to be a one-time thing, but his style drew in the fans and he would up becoming a part of the roster. He won the ROH Championship in 2003 by beating Xavier, and held it for a record 21 months. Not only that, but he made it a world championship by defending it in the United Kingdom. After losing it to Austin Aries, he picked up the Pure Championship, which he held for three months. Also, Joe is one of two who have held both the Pure and World Championship, the other being Bryan Danielson. Pretty good ROH resume, right? I have only seen but a few of Joe's ROH matches, but they are all great. Probably the best Samoa Joe Match I have seen is the match against Austin Aries at Third Anniversary Celebration Part Three. It was an awesome match that had hard-hitting action, athleticism, and technical awesomeness. Joe fought valiantly only to come up short to the intelligence of Austin Aries. I absolutely loved this match. I still made Joe look like a beast and he had me believing he would win the title back. He came in looking strong and Aries only barely won. So, Joe still came out looking strong, and Aries came out with another big notch in his belt. Perhaps the funniest match I have ever seen was the Four Corners Survival match between Delirious, Ebetaroh, Jack Evans, and Samoa Joe. The first thing that struck me was what an odd combination of wrestlers this was. Delirious did the usual freak out and ran under the ring when the match started. Delirious and Ebetaroh eventually had a showdown that featured some slo-mo wrestling. The announcer makes it all the better, too. He is screaming and yelling like it is the highest paced match he has ever seen. Joe brings the awesomeness by booting Evans out of his shoes and then using one of the shoes to try and break up a pin attempt. This match is extremely entertaining and each man did there part to make to match entertaining. And Ebetaroh busted out some vintage Flair, which always leads to a great match. Another great match put on by the two men who have made a large impact in both ROH and TNA is the match between Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe. These guys have great chemistry and delivered a good fast paced match. Joe came out on top and Daniels came off looking like a big jerk for not following through with the code of honor. All in all Samoa Joe's run in ROH was phenomenal to say the least. He debuted as nothing more than a one time thing that eventually led to one of the most successful ROH runs of all time. He had memorable feuds with AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, CM Punk, Austin Aries, Low Ki, and Homicide. He ended his relations with ROH in March and went out with a bang. He defeated his long time rival, Homicide, and finally ended his tenure in ROH. But what does the future hold for ROH? I'm sure that I, along with all other ROH fans, hope that Joe will return to ROH and be used like he deserves.
ROH is only one part of Samoa Joe's wrestling career. Joe has also made a name for himself in TNA as the most over guy on the roster to not win the big title. That could change tonight, though. But that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to talk about how awesome Joe in TNA is. He has probably made the biggest impact (no pun intended) in TNA in such a short period of time. He is a three-time X-Division champion, Super X Cup Winner and Mr. TNA for 2006. Not only that, but he was able to maintain an 18 month undefeated streak. I have decided to give a list of my favorite Samoa Joe matches in TNA, starting at five and going to NUMBA 1~!
This match brought all kinds of awesome. This was (I believe) early in Joe's TNA career. Joe came into the match looking like a completely brutal monster and Sabin was the underdog. This match was quick paced and full of action. Chris Sabin was behind most of the match, and whenever he got some stream, Joe would demolish him. Sabin tried many time to use his agility to out maneuver Joe, but Joe was ahead of him, weakening him with submission holds and power moves. The finish came when Sabin went for the Cradleshock only to have Joe reverse it into an Enziguri followed by the Muscle Buster/Coquina Clutch combo. I love how this match worked. Joe, like I said before, was an unstoppable monster, and Sabin looked like he had a chance to come out on top, only to be thwarted by Joe' size and power.
4. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles from Sacrifice 05
This comes from the time period when Joe, Daniels, and Styles were the X-Division. They all had great chemistry together and put on tons of amazing matches. This match is no exception. As always, Joe is playing the power machine with Styles using his quickness and agility to outmaneuver Joe. Each wrestler hit all the right chords, and Joe demonstrated how awesome he is by delivering a big dive onto Joe. The end came thanks to some Christopher Daniels shenanigans and Joe capitalized and hit the Muscle Buster/Coquina Clutch Combo. This match wasn't as one-sided as some of Joe's early matches were, and both men worked there their asses of to deliver a fantastic match.
3. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels from Final Resolution 06
This match had tons of emotion going into it. This feud got red hot at the eight-man tag match from Genesis 05. Joe and Daniels won it for their team, but got into a scuffle after the match (As seen above. I couldn't find the actual match, but this is better than nothing.). Joe destroyed Daniels with a steel chair, which busts him open. He followed that with an Ole Kick, followed by a Muscle Buster. Joe topped it off with another Muscle Buster on a chair. The feud continued from there, with AJ Styles facing Joe and losing his belt. Joe started assaulting AJ with the belt until Daniels made the save. The feud came to a head when the two met for a match at Final Battle 06. This was a great match with Joe looking like a complete monster, devastating Daniels with stiff shots and big hits. He worked over Daniels and looked extremely vicious. Daniels would occasionally get a glimmer of hope before being shut down. The finish came when Joe repeatedly hit Daniels with knees to the head until AJ Styles made the save and threw in the towel. Joe was brutal in the match and Daniels took quite a beating, so Joe came out looking like the most unstoppable force in TNA, which he was, at the time.
2. Samoa Joe vs. Raven vs. Abyss vs. Brother Runt
(This is a general video from Bound for Glory 2006. The whole video is good, and there are clips from the Monsters Ball.)
This is one of my favorite TNA matches ever. I love the match, and all the competitors have something to offer. There are plenty of fun spots for everyone to enjoy. There is a tribute to ECW when Abyss throws Runt into the crowd, only to have him be surfed around. Abyss did some high spots, such as the chokeslam off the entrance thing followed by a elbow drop. Plus, we got to see Jake Roberts DDT Raven. The real star of the show was Joe. He was as hard hitting as ever and he delivered. He took a plunge off the entrance ramp after Raven knocked him off, which looked pretty gnarly. He performed a beautiful plancha over the top rope and landed on his feet, much to the enjoyment of the crowd. My favorite spot was when he sentoned Abyss face first onto the tacks and Abyss got up and you could see the tacks in his face. The finish came when Joe unleashed a devastating Muscle Buster on Raven for the win. It definitely isn't the best technical match by any stretch of the imagination, but I'll be damned if anyone can say that this match isn't a helluva lot of fun.
1. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles
If you thought I would put anything else here, you would be mistaken. You better believe that I was able to bring you the whole match as well. There is not much to be said about this match that hasn't already been said. It was an extraordinary match that was full of action, near fall, and excitement. Awesome four-plus stars match that has every right to be as highly praised as it is. By the way, all of the mentioned matches besides the Monster's Ball Match can be found on the Samoa Joe DVD.
Samoa Joe has had a wonderful career so far. Aside from the fact that TNA has yet to make him the star that he really can be, his time in TNA has been great. He has had tons of awesome matches with opponents ranging from Christopher Daniels to Scott Steiner. Joe IS TNA. Thank you Samoa Joe.
So that concludes my look at one of the hottest acts in wrestling today. What more is there to say? Samoa Joe is awesome. He is technically gifted, has tremendous power, is athletic, and tells a story in the ring. Make sure to send me your comments, questions, or concerns pertaining to Samoa Joe or any topic in general. Make sure to check out the other articles on this site. Stay Classy, 411Mania readers.
