Samoa Joe is poised to battle in what might be the most anticipated Universal Championship match to date. But only a few short years ago Joe was one of the top guys on TNA. Or do I call it GWF now even if I’m referring to something that happened in TNA or Impact? But now Impact is just the name of their show. You know what? It’s all confusing and Samoa Joe said it was toxic, you guys know what I’m talking about. My point is Joe was big in TNA back in the day.
But as successful as Joe has been in WWE the credit goes to two amazing things: Samoa Joe’s ability and the fans’ support. But what brought Joe to the show had more to do with who he knew and what important people he had made a good impression on along the way. Who would have guessed the guy from VKM in TNA would turn out to be head writer of SmackDown Live?
Joe recently spoke to Edge and Christian on their Pod Of Awesomeness about taking the leap into the great unknown when he decided to sever ties with TNA. (I’m calling it TNA because it was called TNA back then and that’s the standard I’m going by. Sorry for speaking in the first person so much.) Samoa Joe also credited knowing great people in the business who could really get in Triple H’s ear and convince them to give Joe a chance.
“When I left TNA I had literally no offers on the table. Some came in very quickly and it was cool and there was work. But I remember when the day before I talked to [Christian] and a week later made my decision, or actually a few days after I made my decision [to leave TNA]. Shortly thereafter — and a lot of it has to do with working with great people that remember you and go to bat for ya and a lot of guys did.”
“And it started with Paul Heyman and [Christian] and Regal, Road Dogg and Joey Mercury and I mean there was a lot of people who got in Hunter’s ear and I think you know it just got to the point where it was like — ‘okay geez I’ll take a meeting with the guy. Shut up about it already I got stuff to do.’ And the meeting went really well and it was kinda laid out to me and I started in NXT.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit E&C’s Pod of Awesomeness with a H/T to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription
