Samoa Joe, MVP

By Alex Howells. Catch him on Twitter @AJHowler.

It is almost a year to the day (20^th May 2015) that Samoa Joe made his NXT debut at Takeover event at Full Sail University. Joe entered the arena to an rapturous ovation when he came out to confront then NXT Champion Kevin Owens after a vicious beat down of Sami Zayn. Joe and Owens went nose to nose and the NXT Universe lapped it up.

From that night on Samoa Joe has been on an incredible run with NXT. He has been a babyface, he has a been a heel, he has been a tag team competitor and he has been a singles star at the very top of his game. In the last twelve months Samoa Joe has been the NXT MVP, and by some margin.

As a man associated closely with TNA Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor, both the companies who provide any modicum of competition for WWE, some onlookers were unsure as to the “push” that Joe would receive upon arriving. Much like AJ Styles on the main roster hardcore wrestling fans were just happy to see stars arriving in the world’s biggest promotion and using their ring names, their gimmicks and still being the characters they had watched outside of WWE.

Casual fans have been able to buy into Samoa Joe, even without prior knowledge of the man, as you can’t help but be impressed by the versatility, mobility and quietly intense charisma of the man from Orange County California. The merchandise sales for the original Joe shirt was huge (one sale right here!) and it appears that any doubts WWE head office may have had about the marketability of the former TNA World Champion were quickly dismissed. Samoa Joe is money.

Since those embryonic days of battling Kevin Owens Samoa Joe has tackled the very best that the NXT roster has to offer. Tyler Breeze, a series of brutal battles with Baron Corbin and matches with veteran ECW legend Rhyno all allowed Joe to display to fans his wide array of moves, his intensity and his unique ability to move like a man half his size.

The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic allowed Joe to take some time away from singles competition and team with then NXT Champ Finn Balor to win the tournament in memory of the late great American Dream. Throughout the tournament, while proving to be a very successful and talented team Joe made no secret of his desire to be NXT Champion, declaring to his partner on a number of occasions. The tension was teased and following Apollo Crews winning a Battle Royale to be the number one contender to Finn Balor the good guy Samoa Joe quickly became the more intense, brutal and sadistic heel.

The changes in Joe were subtle in the most part as even while a fan favourite a competitor of Joe’s standing wasn’t a smiling, baby kissing, high-fiving babyface. Now as a bad guy Joe was merely more remorseless. Having had some incredible battles with Finn Balor to be crowned champion of the hottest brand in wrestling Joe came up short on a number of occasions, this despite inflicting serious damage to the previously largely unchallenged champion.

What followed was a brilliantly written, performed and executed collection of matches with the wonderful Sami Zayn to attempt to earn another shot at Balor. Those matches saw some of Joe’s best work in NXT, and arguably his career, culminating in Joe once again becoming the man to the challenge THE man.

When you look now at the condition of Samoa Joe, he has dropped weight, got himself into incredible shape and is working like a man many years his junior. Clearly the NXT lifestyle and surroundings are to Joe’s liking and it shows. If WWE is a body industry then don’t let Samoa Joe’s body fool you it is a machine, a machine built for destruction. He looks great and is more than ready for a call to Monday Night RAW whenever and wherever it may come.

Now able to look at Joe’s NXT career as a year in review he has done it all. He was a fan favourite, now he’s a despised vicious heel. He was, and is, a great singles star but he’s also been part of an all star tag team. He’s bought it in the ring every time we’ve seen him, with a wide variety of opponents. All shapes, all sizes, all standards have been made to look like a million dollars by the brilliant veteran they’re working with. Now NXT Champion following a low key, yet widely reported, title change at a recent house show Samoa Joe is now set to the be the guy in NXT for a long time.

With the expected call up of Finn Balor seemingly imminent, Apollo Crews, Tyler Breeze and Baron Corbin all already on main stream WWE programming, with huge stars like Enzo & Cass doing their thing on RAW and with a new influx of talent from the development program and other promotions you can be sure that whatever is thrown at him, whatever creative come up with and wherever his second year takes him Samoa Joe can and will be up to the task, and he will deliver. So congratulations on a wonderful first year to Samoa Joe – NXT MVP.