What’s the story?
Samoa Joe recently weighed in on several questions surrounding his mindset and approach going into WWE’s Fastlane Pay-Per-View, the last PPV before Wrestlemania 33, in an interview with WrestlingInc.
He clarified that although WWE’s road schedule was tough and the WWE locker room was filled with tension on the Road to WrestleMania 33, he was unfazed and was focused on giving his best performance regardless of whatever match he was booked for.
Here are a few excerpts from the interview:
"I was seeing NXT grow into this third brand within the realm of WWE. It needed me.
We had these big events every year - Dallas, Toronto, Brooklyn - and to not have me there would definitely affect the product and definitely affect the momentum that the brand had going for it.”
Furthermore, he stated that the biggest adjustment that he has had to make in the WWE was to get accustomed to the company’s year-round schedule that, in his words, is “the heaviest schedule in the industry”.
In case you didn’t know...
Samoa Joe is a 2-time NXT champion, former TNA World Champion, 2-time TNA tag-team champion, 5-time X-Division champion, Impact Wrestling TV champion and a former ROH (Ring Of Honor) world champion.
Also read: WWE Rumors: Samoa Joe getting a big match at WrestleMania 33
He made his WWE RAW debut on RAW’s January 30th edition this year, in a segment that involved him attacking Seth Rollins at the behest of Triple H.
The heart of the matter:
Being a part of the professional wrestling industry since 1999, Joe has wrestled in several promotions all over the world, however, Joe states that he found NXT to be the most challenging of them all and that he embraces the challenge.
After being restricted to the NXT brand for about two years, he finally got a main roster call-up. Here’s him addressing his late call-up to WWE’s main roster:
“I also knew that when you do get that call, you want to make sure there are things in place to give you the best opportunity to succeed, whether it be on Raw or SmackDown.
It's very much about timing.”
What’s next?
Samoa Joe is all set to face Sami Zayn at the RAW brand’s Fastlane PPV on the 5th of March at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Furthermore, with WWE Creative initially having booked Joe in a storyline with Seth Rollins (Rollins suffered an injury), a future feud with ‘The Architect’ is most definitely on the cards for the Samoan.
Sportskeeda’s take:
Samoa Joe vs Sami Zayn is one hell of a matchup and the stage is set for ‘The Samoan Submission Machine’ to make an impact as a WWE main-carder.
Furthermore, given the fact that both wrestlers are excellent technicians with a penchant for putting on amazing performances time-and-again, the Joe-Zayn matchup is definitely the dark horse for being the match of the event at Fastlane 2017.
Tune in on March 5th and don’t blink folks, this fight could be over in an instant, Muscle Busters and Submission-Holds galore! Joe is destined for big things in the WWE.
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