Samoa Joe became the favorite wrestler of the diehard fan in the early 2000s when wrestling was evolving into the 21st century. The character, presentation, and in-ring style of Joe allowed him to stand out as a rising star for both Ring of Honor and TNA. Joe would undergo noteworthy changes throughout his career from the start of his rise to the current spot in WWE.
The wrestling intelligence of Joe makes him one of the best wrestlers at adapting to change and staying relevant even when he’s not getting the biggest push. Even though he did his best in every role, some of the chapters were more memorable than the others. Find out just which much change happened in one’s career with every version of Joe ranked from worst to best.
10 Nation Of Violence
TNA booked a strange storyline of Samoa Joe leaving for a few months after getting attacked by the Main Event Mafia. Joe returned with a drastically different look of a new haircut, the tribal face paint, and he even started carrying a huge knife with him.
The Main Event Mafia members were targeted by Joe, but it felt like a sad version of the once great top star. TNA started moving Joe lower down the card and this version of his character didn’t provide much help to turn it around.
9 WWE Commentator
WWE was surprised to find out that Samoa Joe could contribute outside of the ring in a new role. Injuries forced Joe to stop wrestling for most of 2020, but he has been stellar for Raw as a color commentator.
Joe is among the smartest and most well-spoken wrestlers on the roster. It is easy to forget that when he’s playing the vicious wrestler looking to take down his opponents. WWE accidentally found a great commentator even though Joe is best as a wrestler.
8 Tag Team With Magnus
TNA paired Samoa Joe and Magnus together when both were upper mid-carders in need of a new direction. The unlikely duo had stellar chemistry to become one of the best tag teams in TNA at the time.
Joe and Magnus captured the TNA Tag Team Championship to achieve their ultimate goal, but the tag run didn’t last too long. They ended up breaking up to start a feud against each other since both wrestlers had more upside on their own.
7 Beat Down Clan
MVP’s current WWE faction The Hurt Business is reminiscent of the Beat Down Clan faction from TNA with Bobby Lashley once again as the top star involved. TNA saw MVP, Lashley, Kenny King, Low Ki, Homicide, Hernandez, Eric Young, and Joe uniting for the powerful faction.
Joe was great in the faction, but it once again ended too soon to lead to any bigger changes. Hernandez appeared at the TNA tapings despite being under contract with Lucha Underground. TNA was forced to remove all BDC segments from the month of tapings to avoid getting sued and the faction ended there.
6 NXT Champion
Wrestling fans were shocked when Samoa Joe made his WWE debut in NXT, saving Sami Zayn from an attack via Kevin Owens. Joe was given the verbal agreement to work with NXT while getting to keep his name since Triple H didn’t expect him to ever get called up to the main roster.
The fan support of Joe saw NXT growing with him in a top spot and he even outsold every main roster star in merchandise during his first month in WWE. Joe became a top star for NXT and eventually ended Finn Balor’s legendary reign to become the NXT Champion. Joe is only one of two wrestlers to hold two reigns with the NXT Championship, the other being Shinsuke Nakamura.
5 Main Event Mafia
The heel turn for Samoa Joe joining the Main Event Mafia was polarizing to the fan base. Many hated that Joe basically lost his spot as a top star and was now relegated to a secondary role in the heel faction.
Joe handed the belt to Kurt Angle, allowing the Olympic gold medalist to win the TNA World Championship in a King of the Mountain match to give up his chances at winning gold. The time in the Main Event Mafia did get him over as a heel again, taking part in the faction’s dominance.
4 TNA's Top Face
There was a two-year period from late 2006 to late 2008 where Samoa Joe was the top face in TNA. Joe officially ditched his heel persona when getting a short-term program with Jeff Jarrett. The news of Kurt Angle joining TNA saw Joe feuding with him in a trio of matches.
Joe had great matches with Angle, Christian Cage, and AJ Styles around this time to keep the fan support. The TNA World Championship win over Angle saw Joe succeeding as a top champ. Unfortunately, the run ended in disappointing fashion losing to Sting before moving back down the card.
3 WWE Superstar
The main roster run of Samoa Joe in WWE has seen him mostly playing a heel character. Joe debuted on Triple H’s behalf attacking Seth Rollins during the build to WrestleMania 33. The programs with AJ Styles, Roman Reigns, Rey Mysterio, and many others cemented Joe as a ruthless heel.
WWE did let Joe play into many of his more enjoyable character traits when feuding with Brock Lesnar. Joe never officially turned face, but he was booked as a threat to Brock which made him a face to the fans. Regardless, the eventual return to the ring will see Joe continuing his WWE career.
2 ROH Champion
Samoa Joe’s importance to the history of ROH is understated when looking back at the scenario. ROH was barely staying afloat after huge personnel changes in the early years. Joe’s legendary ROH World Championship reign changed the company’s perception for the better.
Great matches from the rising star improved the attendance, DVD sales, and just about every business metric for ROH. Joe set a legacy as an ROH icon by holding the world title for 645 days. The reign showed how great Joe was at his absolute best.
1 Dominant X-Division Force
The X-Division start of Samoa Joe’s TNA career gave him the perfect introduction to new viewers of his work. Joe developed an undefeated streak with his X-Division matches both featuring great entertainment while also making him look stronger in the process.
The feud with AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels for the X-Division Championship saw Joe playing a huge role in winning over new fans. Joe organically became the hottest act in TNA when taking over the X-Division in the first chapter of his TNA career.