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Samoa Joe is one of the toughest wrestlers in the industry today, and he showed just how fearless he is by standing up to Seth Rollins and The AOP this week on RAW.
While Joe has been out of competition for some time and has taken to the announce table on the Red brand in recent weeks, he did not back down from a fight at a time when the heels were beating down Rey Mysterio.
However, the numbers game proved to be too much for the Samoan Submission Machine, and The AOP drove him through the announce table following the instructions laid down to them by The Architect.
While Joe might be out for a week or so following the attack, we will watch him return and exact revenge from the heelish trio sooner than later.
In this article, we will look at the 5 ways in which Samoa Joe could exact revenge from The Architect and The AOP.
#5 A backstage attack
Rollins and The AOP took out Kevin Owens in a backstage attack a couple of weeks ago. By doing so, the three men formed an alliance that will likely haunt the RAW roster for months to come.
Joe, on the other hand, has been out of the ring for some time and is enjoying his time commentating on the Red brand. This week, he fell victim to Rollins, Akam, and Rezar, and suffered a double chokeslam through the announce table.
To repay Rollins and his henchmen, we could watch Joe attack The Architect (or all three men) backstage, causing them to skip an episode or two and prove that his attack was lethal.
Since we don’t know whether he is ready to compete again or not, a backstage segment could be safe enough for the Samoan Submission Machine, and he could put The Architect to sleep and send a message to anyone else who wants to stand up to him.
Joe never backs down from a fight, and even though he may not be cleared to compete for some time to come, he will look to exact revenge from the heelish trio sooner than later.
#4 Cost him a Championship match
Rollins was after Rey Mysterio’s United States Championship this week, and it seems that The Architect won’t stop until he has his hands on another title.
Mysterio went through hell once again on RAW, as he was unable to finish the match and pick up the victory because The AOP interfered and beat the Champion down. Had it not been for Akam and Rezar, we would have watched The Master of the 619 pick up a clean victory over Rollins and protect his title in the process.
Now that the match ended in a disqualification, we could watch The Architect come out again and demand another match against the US Champ.
If that does happen, then Joe could be the one to interfere in the match if Rollins closes in on a victory, and upset The Beast Slayer by not allowing him to win the title.
This will be the perfect way for the Samoan Submission Machine to exact revenge from the former Universal Champion and will give the two men a great storyline to work with once Joe is cleared to compete again.
A Joe vs. Rollins storyline will work really well, and also help establish the former as a babyface whenever he returns to the ring as he was playing a heel before his injury.
#3 Lead an NXT team
Recently, we have been watching an NXT Superstar appear each week on RAW to make an impact and gain some more attention.
NXT’s Deonna Purrazzo competed against Asuka in a singles match last week, while Chelsea Green made her RAW debut this week against Charlotte Flair.
Both women delivered a good performance, and it seems like the company may be using some underutilized NXT talent on the Red brand to give them some spotlight and a much-needed push.
Similarly, we could watch some male talent appear on RAW in the weeks to come. If Joe is not cleared to compete himself, we could watch him lead a team of his own from NXT into RAW to take down The AOP and Seth Rollins.
A team such as The Forgotten Sons could stand up to The AOP and also do great on television as they are good in the ring but need some more exposure to get over.
While RAW itself has a few teams who can pair up with Joe to take down the three heels, it would be interesting to watch the Red brand give some NXT talent a chance to shine on the main roster and step up to the big men.
Joe, on the other hand, has proven that he is a gem inside the ring, on the mic, and behind the announce table. Could the company give us another side to Joe by allowing him to manage a lesser-known tag team?
#2 Return to the ring to eliminate them
Joe will be looking to repay Seth Rollins and The AOP grandly as he is one of the few men on the RAW roster with whom no one really wants to pick up a fight.
With The AOP’s devasting move on the big man, we could watch him go off RAW for a few weeks as Rollins and his cronies extend their reign of terror at Rey Mysterio and Kevin Owens’ expense.
With Royal Rumble not too far away, we could even watch The Architect use Akam and Rezar in the Royal Rumble match to his advantage and have them protect him from getting eliminated.
Since Rollins won the Royal Rumble last year, he’s put himself above the rest of the roster as the favorite to win the match once again this year.
This could result in a surprise return from Joe, who can return to the ring in grand fashion and eliminate The Architect (or all three men) to make a huge statement.
Waiting for a few weeks before allowing Joe to react would give RAW some time to build on Rollins’ current storylines with Mysterio and Owens while building a new one at the end of January at Royal Rumble.
#1 Partner with Rollins & The AOP’s victims
Joe may be down thanks to the attack from Akam and Rezar, but he won’t be out by any means. He has proven to be one of the few men who’ve brought Brock Lesnar to his knees and put him to sleep during the build-up to their matches.
With that in mind, Joe will be the favorite now to take down Rollins and his heelish duo in the months to come. With that in mind, he might look for some unlikely allies backstage to stand up to The Architect and The AOP with him.
This could result in him aligning with men like Kevin Owens and/or Rey Mysterio. Joe had a long feud with Mysterio before his injury, and it will be interesting to watch the two men team up for once if they do go down that road.
Owens, on the other hand, can easily take down the heavyweight AOP along with Joe, and they could prove to be the undoing of the heelish faction.
With numerous babyface Superstars such as Humberto Carrillo, Ricochet, and Cedric Alexander looking for a challenge, we could watch the Samoan Submission Machine pick a few of the men up to align with him and protect RAW against Rollins and The AOP.
