Samoa Joe returned to Wrestling Weekly to talk to Doc Young and Les Thatcher about TNA, ROH, working the independents and more. Talk immediately turned to the new timeslot for TNA when iIMPACT! goes to Thursday nights at 11:00 p.m. on April 13. He said he is “absolutely excited” about the change.
Samoa Joe made his wrestling debut in 1999 after training only a few short months with Cincinnati Red at the UIWA West Coast Dojo. Joe asked rhetorically, “Was I ready?” but said he didn’t know. He said he got his first booking through Red and is still working with guys as a mentor. He said Red is “a good solid person” who wasn’t there to just take his money. He said he’s been lucky to have “been in good environments” throughout his career so far but has made sure to take advantage and do his best work when opportunities knock.
Joe is currently participating in a series of ROH matches facing Christopher Daniels throughout the month of March plus also faced on March 25th in the “Best of the World” match, GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji with partner and ROH Champion Bryan Danielson. Joe says KENTA and Marufuji are “a couple of young, hungry guys” that work very hard at their craft. He also added, “There’s always a special spot in my heart of ROH.” When asked from the chat room if he would ever be interested in working at the WWE, Joe said that right now it isn’t a viable choice but he “would love to say that he did” someday.
Asked about his favorite wrestler of all time, Joe said without question it is Arn Anderson. He said he “got” Arn and connected with him in his role as “The Enforcer” early on. Joe said he admired that Arn always gave the impression that he could get the job done plus he cut “awesome promos.” Joe said although there is definitely a place in wrestling for theatrics, Arn’s no frill style made him seem “like a guy who would beat the s*** out of you.”
Joe said some of his favorite guys to work with include the obvious AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels but he also gave props to Brian Danielson, Austin Aries and Jay Lethal who Joe says is a good person and a great wrestler. He said about Lethal, “I think he’s going to be huge this year.”
Asked about accusations that Joe works stiff he said, “I work as hard as I like it.” One thing he’s learned over the years is “there is no right way” to do things in wrestling and the key is to find a happy medium. He said, “I work stiff. I work tight” but with the caveat that he takes everything he gives out. For some reason, some guys get the idea that they have to punch him in the face immediately. He says it annoys him a little bit but his understands why they do it.
For more about Samoa Joe, check out his official Web site
www.samoajoe.com.
