Interview: Samoa Joe on His Wrestling Career, Dream Matches, NXT, Muscle Buster Future

City Pages held a recent interview with Samoa Joe and some of the topics discussed included changes in the wrestling industry during his career, his choices for career dream matches, his thoughts on NXT, the future of his Muscle Buster finisher, and more.

On the topic of the changes in wrestling during his fifteen year career, Joe stated the biggest change has been the evolving tastes of fans, who now favor wrestlers that “click all their boxes” for wrestling style or interest as their stars.

The biggest change is in the experience of the fan. Fans now have a much more comprehensive fight IQ than they did in the past. Fans are very, very particular, and you can’t just have that blanket appeal anymore. That’s gone. Fans root for guys that click all their boxes.

It makes it more competitive. Now, the stars that resonate with people, there’s a lot of thought put into their character and what they present. It’s a more high-skilled, specialized sport. The guys who meet those challenges, those are the ones who are mobilizing the fanbase.

On the topic of dream matches for his career, Joe mentioned a mix of fantasy booking matchups and current SmackDown brand matchups as his choices.

From a purely fantastical standpoint, I would’ve loved to get in there with Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen, those legendary tough guys. It’s hard to say you wouldn’t want to be in the ring with the Rock, either when he was at his height or even now. Big matchups like those, it’s a shame it didn’t happen, but I’m sitting here looking down a SmackDown roster at a plethora of great matchups with Rey Mysterio back, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Shinsuke Nakamura. I could go on all day.

On the topic of his thoughts on NXT, Joe stated he feels NXT has a “murderer’s row” of great talent currently featured on the brand.

NXT is a murderer’s row. Lars Sullivan, here’s a guy that I feel a lot of fans haven’t really seen his full potential, and he’s getting to come into his own. He’ll be an interesting addition to whichever roster he lands on. Keith Lee is a big, incredible athlete. Then there’s Matt Riddle. He has a tremendous combat pedigree, and he’s made a triumphant transition to pro wrestling. He’s a force to be reckoned with.

On the topic of the future of his Muscle Buster finisher, Joe stated his Muscle Buster finisher could return one day in the WWE.

The Muscle Buster is something I use at my pleasure when I choose to. Trust me, when the opportunity arises and the conditions are right, you never know what I’ll pull out. Maybe I’m not ready to pull it out of my arsenal yet.

Other topics discussed included his thoughts on developing great promo skills and his plans post-Survivor Series 2018.