Pro Wrestling: Is Samoa Joe a Good Fit in WWE?

The first time I saw Samoa Joe I was floored. Fast, ferocious, agile, able to leave his feet whenever the mood strikes him, Joe is an aberration of the typical big man formula in pro wrestling.

In other words, for a 280-pound guy, he should not be able to move the way he does.

The intensity in his eyes and the controlled violence he displays in his style is cold and calculated, setting his character apart from everyone else in TNA. There is no doubt about it, Joe is one of a kind.

Could this one-of-a-kind personality eventually wind up in WWE?

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin apparently wants him. He said on Twitter recently that the Samoan Submission Machine should sign with WWE when his contract is up, calling Joe one of his favorite workers today.

If Joe didn’t feel appreciated for his efforts in the business before, he surely does now.

The truth is, while Samoa Joe is surrounded by some legends of the business in TNA, he has been somewhat underutilized in the past few years.

For me, Samoa Joe is the guy who should be wearing the World Title in TNA. I understand that Sting is a big-time player, that he has instant name and face recognition, and if he’s in your locker room, then he is a World Title threat on any given day of the week. This way of thinking makes sense, and I cannot deny the logic behind it.

But one of the key arguments against putting that belt on an established star week in and week out is another point that also cannot be denied.

TNA, or Impact Wrestling, exists today because of the young talent that put it on the map. Period.

The holy trinity of the company—Joe, Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles—is as important to the overall success of the company as any “big three” that an NBA team could put together. Simply put, without these three men, Impact would not be the same program.

But in TNA’s efforts to directly compete with WWE perhaps a bit faster than they should, they have, as a company, resorted to signing the big names of the business.

Either the workers in question have seen their better days come and go, or they were recently employed by Vince McMahon. Whenever a signing of this nature occurs, it causes many fans to shake their heads in obvious frustration over yet another potential opportunity for a young TNA star to achieve greatness being evidently lost.

For this company, as it was for WCW before it, the basic premise seems to be that real success can only come from names that were really hot five minutes ago in another company.

Judging from Impact’s ratings, however, this approach does not seem to be working all that well.

That being said, WWE’s track record of using TNA stars is not very impressive at all. Remember Braden Walker? Neither does anyone else.

If Joe were to indeed jump ship, one has to wonder whether or not he would be used in the right way. The general consensus among fans is that he would be buried on Superstars, jerking the curtain more than the Brooklyn Brawler.

It’s hard to ignore that assumption, especially when considering WWE’s handling of a recent Samoan wrestler, Umaga. Would Joe be barefoot with war paint on his face, growling and grunting whenever a mic is put in front of him?

In the past, Joe has alluded to the fact that he feels he would not be utilized the right way in WWE. This observation is hard to ignore, because despite what we as fans would like to see, Joe is on the inside of it all, and only he knows what is best for his career.

But, to borrow a joke from Chris Rock, in WWE, the sky is the limit. In TNA, the limit is the sky.

There is only so far he can go in the company he currently works for. So why not give WWE a go? Even if it did not work out, if he only had an inch of the success that he has in TNA, as long as he proved he can do it, his overall stock would rise, and he would be worth more in the future if he wanted to come back.

I personally would love to see Joe in WWE. He and CM Punk had some great matches in Ring of Honor, and considering the direction WWE seems to be taking right now, Joe may just be the perfect fit.

Hey, Stone Cold thinks so. That’s enough for me.