Samoa Joe Discusses Signing With WWE & Being Hesitant To Sign With Them, More

The Sam Roberts’ Wrestling Podcast recently interviewed newly crowned NXT champion Samoa Joe. Below are some highlights.

Joe on being less hesitant to sign with WWE due to the success CM Punk, Daniel Bryan and Seth Rollins had in the company: “It’s crazy because it was never a timetable issue for me. First of all, all those guys are really good friends of mine, so it was like, I was beyond stoked for them. I was like, ‘man, that’s awesome, man!’ because I understood the concept of the character, I understood what they brought to the table, and I’d been in the ring with them, traveled the roads with them, so I knew what they were capable of and I knew their ability level. And to see them be WWE Champion just reinforced what I had already believed about them. When the opportunity presented itself here, I felt more confident because of the inroads they had made, if anything. Like, if that hadn’t happened before I came here, I’d probably be more apprehensive about coming to WWE because it’s like the place to be, but at the same time, it’s like, ‘am I really going to get the fair shake that I hoped I would?’ And seeing what they had done here, I more than realized, ‘yeah, I would.’”

Joe on if he helped his friends help get into WWE: “I’ve been able to, I hope, have some influence on some of my friends being here, AJ [Styles], [Shinsuke] Nakamura, who I remember when he first started in the L.A. dojo with me and in the Inoki Dojo in Santa Monica [California] and to see him debuting here [at NXT TakeOver: Dallas] is crazy.”

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