NXT Champion Samoa Joe recently spoke with Forbes to promote Saturday’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II special. Joe was asked about this Sunday’s match between Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton. He gave an interesting response to the question.
Here are the highlights.
On why he’s picking Brock Lesnar over Randy Orton at SummerSlam:
“For selfish reasons, I’d like to see Brock stand tall until I get my hands on him. I’d like to see Brock pull through so I can get my shot at him. WrestleMania 33. Where else would we fight?”
I think many fans would love to see this match but several things would need to happen first. Joe would need to drop the title at some point between now and WrestleMania season and Vince McMahon would need to look at Joe as being on the level of Lesnar. I think the fans see Joe as a top star. Hopefully, Joe is pushed like a top guy when he moves to Raw or Smackdown Live.
Conor McGregor’s comments about WWE stars:
“I think Conor McGregor is a promoter, and I’m not here to promote any of his fights. If he were here in WWE, that would be a different story, but until that happens I don’t feel like I need to address it”
Joe took the smart route in response to McGregor instead of lashing out like some have on social media. It’s clear that McGregor’s comments were meant to rile up some people in WWE and my hunch is that McGregor is hoping to open the door for a potential payday in WWE in the future.
For now, Joe continues to lead the NXT brand. He is scheduled to face Shinsuke Nakamura at Sunday’s NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II. That match has the potential to be the match of the year.
You can read the entire interview here.