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Samoa Joe Interview: Talks about TNA, debut on Spike TV, ROH & more |
» Reported by Adam Martin of WrestleView.com
» On Tuesday, September 27, 2005 at 4:29 PM EST
Tim Stein sent in the following recap:
WTR Sunday Night featuring Samoa Joe
September 25, 2005; Hosted by Tim Stein and Jason Clevett in Calgary and JJ Sexay in Oklahoma City
Report by Ian Hamilton
Listen to the full show here.
With TNA’s debut on Spike TV just days away, one of the company’s biggest stars joined WTR Sunday Night this week, as the Samoan Submission Machine, Samoa Joe, talked to the show.
Joe joined the show towards the end of the first hour, and Jason opened up the questioning by promoting Joe’s two matches for Ring of Honor next weekend involving Kenta Kobashi. Joe said he didn’t know what was going on with ROH’s deal to bring in Japanese talent, but he’d resigned himself to spending the entire month of October “beating up Japanese people”. Jason followed that up by asking how he feels to participate in what has been billed a “dream match”, before bringing up the bizarre nature of the tag match on October 2, featuring Joe teaming with foe Low Ki against Ki’s fellow Rottweiler Homicide and Kobashi. Joe said that he was tagging with Low Ki “because the people who sign my pay check told me to”, but acknowledged that it was a match for the fans more than anyone else.
They then turned to the next TNA PPV, saying that Joe will be up against Jushin “Thunder” Liger at the Bound For Glory show, noting that Joe had tagged with Liger in ROH last November. Joe described the match with Liger as a “treat”, and said that he was excited to be able to have the chance to put on a good match with a wrestling legend.
Eventually, Jason asked Joe about TNA’s impending debut on Spike TV. As you’d expect, Joe was excited about being able to showcase his skills to a national audience on TV, noting that there aren’t many spots available for guys to wrestle for a national company on national TV. Jason asked why Joe picked TNA over WWE and if WWE wouldn’t know what to do with a Samoa Joe, to which Joe responded that TNA had a clear set of ideas for what they wanted to do with him, which would allow him to “do what he does”, rather than have to fit to a WWE-created gimmick. here.
Jason brought up how CM Punk took the WWE route, and is currently in Ohio Valley Wrestling – while Joe’s now main eventing in TNA and getting rave reviews. Joe said that “you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know that what Samoa Joe is and what WWE expects from their wrestlers just doesn’t match up.” He talked about Punk making his own decisions based on his own reasons and is getting positive reviews from Paul E. Dangerously in OVW.
JJ talked about how Mick Foley’s signing for the WWE looks to have ended any hope of a Foley/Joe match. Joe interrupted, saying that he believes that that match will happen at some point down the line, putting over Foley as the man who broke the mould of what a “prototypical superstar should look like” and talking about what Foley being so high on his work meant to him.
They then played a clip of an interview from WTR earlier this year from John Cena, over the “The Champ Is Here” music that Joe had been using in ROH. Cena put over Joe as “one of the grandfathers of thuganomics”. Joe backed up the good things that Cena had said, and told a road story about how the pair of them did freestyle rapping to stay awake during a long trip. Jason talked about the famed cooking of Samoa Joe’s mother, but Joe was at pains to point out that while his mother cooked, it was his dad’s sauce – and he would not tell his own son what was in his “secret sauce”. He explained that the famous Samoan BBQ was “cuts of the best meat in the world, marinated all day cooked on the grill and served in heaping piles till people throw up or pass out.”
JJ asked Joe if there was a chance of a match between himself and Shane Douglas in the near future. Joe wouldn’t kill off all talk of it, saying that they did some promos for it at Unbreakable, and continued to tease a possible match up between the pair. here.
Jason asked Joe about the relationship between TNA and ROH, and how it’s healed over the past 18 months, with TNA allowing their stars to work for ROH, while several ROH guys have signed contracts with TNA. Joe said that the fans have done a total 180 on their perception of TNA, and that TNA’s perception of ROH had also changed. He feels it is good for both companies because there are cross over fans and that there were first time fans at Saturday’s ROH show in Boston that came because they had seen talent on TNA.
Joe also noted how ROH has evolved to the point where their schedules are as busy – if not more so – than TNA’s, and they could no longer use the excuse of “come to TNA for more bookings”. Joe also said that TNA allowed the ROH guys to pretty much work their ROH gimmicks, and that had helped them rebuild their bridges with the ROH fans.
Jason brought up how some fans have now been sold on Samoa Joe since his TNA debut, winning new fans through his performances for the company. Joe admitted that while he may not be “the most in-shape guy in the world”, he’s always looking to improve his in-ring abilities. He said that Terry Taylor one described him as “the most deceptively perceived person he’s ever seen in his life”, before talking about how people backstage at TNA weren’t convinced on his ability, only to totally change after doing his debut match.
JJ also chipped in, saying that Samoa Joe was changing people’s perceptions of a “Samoan wrestler”, away from the stereotypical images left from workers such as the Headshrinkers and Rikishi.
Jason brought up a tag match in ROH involving Jack Evans, where Joe slammed Evans out of his shoes, before using them to break up a pin. Joe said that he was jealous of Evans’ dancing, which is why he enjoyed hitting him as hard as he does. He put over Jack’s progression as a wrestler and that fans can expect a lot of great things as he has a ton of potential.
Jason talked about Joe’s match with AJ Styles at the Pro Wrestling Guerilla All Star weekend earlier this year. Joe put over AJ as “one of the best athletes in wrestling today”, saying that there’s a reason that he’s called “phenomenal”. Joe added that almost every star in wrestling today can be traced back to the King of Indies weekend, before rattling off a list of wrestlers who’d been involved in that event that set the stage for the industry today. A fan asked about Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and Joe said that they were doing a good job of surviving in a difficult market as there are so many things to do in southern California at any given time and have a good product.
A question from the chat room asked what Joe was listening and watching right now, before being asked for his favorite ROH matches. Joe recommended the Manhattan Mayhem and Back To Basics shows from earlier this year, but then conceded that he couldn’t think of a single ROH DVD release that had bad matches on it. Joe put over DVD Joe vs. Punk II, saying that it was the biggest selling DVD in ROH history, which he consistently holds over Gabe Sapolsky’s head.
Jason talked about the night when Joe lost the ROH title at Final Battle 2004, when Austin Aries ended his long run as champion. Joe said that 2004 was a great year for his career, as he helped ROH rebuild from “that” incident early in the year, making the company stronger than ever. He talked about what they did to accomplish keeping ROH alive and the quality of the shows that started when ROH was “reborn.” Moving to the current era in ROH, Jason asked who Joe would want to tag with as he goes after tag gold – following his Pure title loss to Nigel McGuinness. Joe said he wanted to tag with Jay Lethal.
A chat room question asked Joe to put over some ROH talent: Joe name dropped Bryan Danielson, Homicide, James Gibson and a few others, before saying he could mention the entire roster. here.
Jason brought up WTR’s recent interview with Jimmy Rave, before asking Joe to describe his style of wrestling. Joe said it was “pretty rough, in your face… what I believe pro wrestling should look like and should be”. He admitted he wasn’t a flashy wrestler, saying he’d rather punch someone in the face than do a cool kip up.
Jason mentioned a story from Joe’s Live Journal, discussing the origins of the Ole Kick. Joe confirmed that it originated at the Frontiers of Honor joint FWA-ROH show, and he got the idea after watching a commercial during the English FA Cup (soccer) final. Low Ki challenged Joe to “get the crowd to chant Ole Ole Ole”, which Joe accepted, and during his match with Zebra Kid later that night, he dumped the Kid in a chair, and thus the Ole Kick was born!
They then talked about the bloody cage match between Joe and Jay Briscoe from At Our Best, before asking whether or not TNA’s late time slot would allow the company to put on more brutal matches, especially since they’d be following UFC. Joe said that it would, but that wouldn’t be the focus of the company’s promotion.
Another question asked Joe for his memories for wrestling in Japan. Joe put over the late Shinya Hashimoto, among others, and joked that even though he’s not working in Japan now, he’s still wrestling against Japanese guys. They then asked Joe what he does away from the ring: he admitted that he was a mark for video games, and fishing. JJ asked Joe what videogames he’d been playing lately: Joe said that he and Steven Richards had played Burnout Revenge during an all-night session, before plugging the latest Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks game. Joe said that TNA were in the process of sorting out a deal for a video game, with the company having signed contracts to license likenesses of wrestlers for a video game. Joe said that there was a possibility that he and AJ would be involved with creating the game, and that he’d already played as himself in the Japanese wrestling game, King of Coliseum (and wound up Low Ki in the process).
Keeping the toys theme going, Jason asked if Joe would be able to resist the urge to play with himself… as an action figure. Joe said that they’d be releasing a Samoa Joe action figure, but one of his friends had threatened to put the doll in a dress when it comes out.
They went loosely back to the TNA theme, asking Joe which Universal Studios he preferred – saying that he preferred the original in Los Angeles. Another question followed asking about James Gibson and Spanky going back to the WWE, which Joe said he understood, as they gained financial security by returning to the WWE. Joe said that he, and the entire ROH locker room, would miss Gibson, while he personally would miss Spanky’s presence. They also mentioned Frankie Kazarian’s WWE departure, and said that Kazarian mad ehis decision to leave WWE based on what was right for him, just like Gibson and Spanky, and that everyone has made decisions to make themselves happy, and we would probably see Kazarian back in TNA soon.
Jason mentioned some guys from the PWG show who weren’t “big names”, before asking Joe how he managed to break out from Southern California and become a bigger name on the independent scene. Joe gave some advice, saying that you have to make your own opportunities, and you have to work harder at pro-wrestling than anything else in your entire life – and only then, if you’re good enough, will you become successful. Joe conceded that wrestling wasn’t a fair business, but it was up to the wrestlers to make sure that they delivered in their performances, and justified their paychecks at the end of the night.
Finally, Jason asked Joe what he thought of Canada, bringing up a story with Kevin Steen and poutine. Joe said he wanted to return to Canada, preferably when it wasn’t the coldest week in history (recalling his trip to Quebec). He said he didn’t get the appeal of freezing your body parts off in winter, adding that he doesn’t get along with winter. Switching seasons, Joe said he preferred wrestling in a building that’s hotter than hell, than wrestle while being unable to feel his extremities, as their attempts to convince Joe to move to Canada fell way short. Joe wrapped up his segment by plugging his website, and the two companies he is most prominent in: TNA and ROH. here.
Elsewhere on the show, we celebrated Jason Clevett’s first year anniversary on the program, and talked with the unofficial WWE sign guy, while also recapping the week’s wrestling news. Don’t forget to tune into WTR Sunday Night next week, where we’ll be going over the fall-out from the first ever episode of Impact on Spike TV, former WWE on-air personality Kevin Kelly, and the possibility of a former WWE titleholder on the show as well.
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