So... did TNA do a better job with Samoa Joe?

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

I'm not sure whether to include NXT in this, but after last night I'm starting to wonder if, aside from financially, WWE is actually doing an even shittier job with Joe than TNA did.

Please don't get me wrong, I watched TNA from 2006-2012... I've seen some shit. I've seen Joe get booked on a losing streak. I've seen him get kidnapped by ninjas, and return with no explanation, and have a machete as his gimmick weapon despite never being able to use it, including off-camera when he kidnapped Scott Steiner.

But Joe got some pushes too. He was undefeated what, 18 months? He drew two out of three(? possibly only one) of the company's biggest buyrates and was a legit main eventer whenever they needed him to be. And he sure as shit was more decorated over in TNA.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

Nah, TNA not only put him through greater depths of bullshit, but they squandered Samoa Joe at his peak. Joe is fine now, but he's not what he was ten years ago.

[The Ichi]

Samoa Joe debut up until the Angle feud was great. Things went very badly from there.

[rnrk supports BLM]

In TNA, he painted a dick on his face.

...

I'm not sure whether that's a Yes or a No.

[JoDaNa1281]

Yeah, pretty much by default. While he dealt with some dumb shit(Abducted by thugs, coming back as a machete wielding madman with a penis drawn on his face), his high's were much higher than his high's in WWE, so far(18 month undefeated streak, a Grand Slam Champion).

[Kalmia]

WWE haven't managed to top the Joe that destroyed the X Division or had that first feud with Kurt Angle. The last couple of his years with TNA were horrible, though.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

With Dutch Mantell booking and without Russo in the company, Samoa Joe became the hottest act in wrestling. He was so over that he drew the highest ppv buys ever for tna, twice. Samoa Joe was so over that Umaga was created as a response.

Then came Vince Russo and once he took over, he made it his mission to kill Samoa Joe as a draw.

Nonsensical heel turns and a penis in his face, let’s not forget ninjas kidnapping him.

TNA and Russo killed him.

[MolotovMocktail]

For a while, he was about the only one on the roster to get over in spite of Russo, so yeah.

[Deleted]

At least WWE hasn't gotten him kidnapped by ninjas.

[Deleted]

Joe was insanely hot from soon after his debut in 2005 till he lost his 1st match with Angle in November 2006 and yet they didn’t put the title on him till April 2008 he felt like TNA’s first real legit main event star they ever created at the time in a lot of ways way more than AJ and they had him lose all The time to the former WWE guy really hurting his all important momentum.Soon after winning the title they turned him into a dumb whiny bitch babyface that caused the formation of The Main Event Mafia due to the old geezers annoyance to his dumb whiny bitchyness.In 2006 he ushered in the era of a bunch of guys being undefeated yet having won and lost titles multiple times.He was kidnapped by ninjas but we’ve all been there so that’s a wash.He had a huge sword and attacked people with it and yet they were back the next show like nothing happened.He did nothing for a bunch of years and then he joined The Beatdown Clan and then he left.I’d say his WWE run is better because the checks cleared.

[Mayonnaise]

I'd say it is impossible to say. TNA got a healthy Joe with very little miles on his body. WWE is got a motivated Joe that, while in okay shape, had a lot of wear and tear on him. It's easy to give TNA the win but WWE is doing a damned good job, IMO, they just haven't had him around and healthy for a good stay.

[Deleted]

I'd say Joe's TNA run had much better highs but also much deeper lows.

[Shark]

TNA booked him better his first 18 months, but they also booked him far far worse.

[chazraps]

TNA also managed to somehow rebuild Joe's credibility - twice - after the Russo era squandering, and proceeded to squander him an additional two times in 2013 and 2014.

[Deleted]

If you forget the fact that he LOST every single time, WWE actually booked Joe well.

He was built up as a serious threat to Brock, Roman and AJ. It’s the fact that they didn’t pull the trigger on a title run when he should have won it ages ago.

I would have had him beat Brock to be honest. I could have easily bought it.

[corndog]

Nov 20, 2018 11:05:02 GMT -5 @negan said:

If you forget the fact that he LOST every single time, WWE actually booked Joe well.

He was built up as a serious threat to Brock, Roman and AJ. It’s the fact that they didn’t pull the trigger on a title run when he should have won it ages ago.

I would have had him beat Brock to be honest. I could have easily bought it.

The problem with Samoa Joe is that he has never gotten his signature win. While he is presented as a serious threat, he never wins in those matches. I would compare his spot in WWE to Tomohiro Ishii in New Japan, but if you look at Ishii in New Japan he has beaten all of the top guys. A great example is his G1, he defeated all of the singles champions, but didn't do well on points. He can beat anyone, but he usually falls short in the big matches against top stars.

In the end, I would say WWE is doing better with Joe than the later years, but TNA did much better in his early run. After the kidnapping nonsense TNA took away his credibility that they built and while WWE keeps having him loss they somehow have protected his credibility and keep his character strong.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

No

WWE has gotten an older broken down Joe. For as much people complain about him not getting key wins, he still maintains his heat and is excellent on the mic

[Woo]

Kind of.

Joe's first year in TNA was absolute gold. Then things fell apart.

[Deleted]

Yeah definitely.

[realist]

Nov 19, 2018 20:24:33 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

With Dutch Mantell booking and without Russo in the company, Samoa Joe became the hottest act in wrestling. He was so over that he drew the highest ppv buys ever for tna, twice. Samoa Joe was so over that Umaga was created as a response.

Then came Vince Russo and once he took over, he made it his mission to kill Samoa Joe as a draw.

Nonsensical heel turns and a penis in his face, let’s not forget ninjas kidnapping him.

TNA and Russo killed him.

To be fair, according to Russo, the ninjas kidnapping Joe was 100% Eric Bischoff's idea.