BRYANT’S TAKE: The Joe We Want

Two years ago Samoa Joe gave his notice to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, informing the company he would not be re-signing with them after nearly a decade of service. Dutiful service. Dutiful, unappreciated, and undervalued service. Service that included wielding a real, deadly machete at one point. Service that two years before leaving TNA saw Joe feuding with the likes of Devon and Knux.

In under two years in the WWE system, Joe has transformed into a bonafied main roster, Monday Night Raw main-eventer. Samoa Joe did not take the A.J. Styles career route and do an 18 month cross ocean tour where he was able to shake off that TNA stink. Showing he can be apart of drawing huge gates and headlining gigantic shows.

Joe went to developmental just months after his TNA departure. Developmental had a plan for him and they executed that plan pretty flawlessly. The ideal character for Joe isn’t hard to figure out. NXT creative did what made the most sense and didn’t get in their own way. Joe’s talent in the ring and out of the ring did the rest.

Now Joe is on the main roster. He debuted in grand fashion last week destroying Seth Rollins on behalf Triple H. He was ready and most importantly the audience was ready to accept him as a guy that is as good if not better than the current main event scene.

This week throwing Roman Reigns around in his nasty, aggressive way during the main event match on Raw and then pinning and beating Reigns works great for the audience in the know as well as the general fan seeing Joe for the first time. They made me believe that when Joe said he was going to destroy all of the heroes, he will and I now have to believe in his mission statement.

WWE rightfully catches flak when they botch pushes. When they blatantly sabotage themselves. When they consistently shove another guy named Joe on top as a babyface much to the collective chagrin of the majority of fans. So it is only right to point out when they not only cultivated, but positioned and promoted a talent perfectly from developmental day one to main roster debut. And that is exactly what WWE has done in this case. They have utilized Joe’s talents so far to their most effective and efficient.

Just my take.