The newly-crowned Ring of Honor Television Champion has a long history with ROH. He’s one of the men who elevated ROH to its peak as a strong style American super-indie promotion in the mid-2000s. To this day, Samoa Joe holds the record for the longest reign as ROH World Champion at 645 days.
Something exciting to keep in mind while going through this list is that Samoa Joe coming to AEW means we could see some rematches soon. CM Punk and Bryan Danielson in particular had phenomenal rivalries with Samoa Joe, and it’s now possible we could see them revived almost TWO decades later. Pro wrestling is a small, crazy world, isn’t it?
10 Samoa Joe vs. James Gibson (6/4/05)
This match took place at ROH’s PPV New Frontiers. It was for the ROH Pure Title, which Joe held at the time. As is typical for a “pure” ROH match, this showdown featured a lot of technical wrestling, and its storyline was very much grounded in Gibson’s attempts to disarm Joe’s offensive submission maneuvers. Joe came out on top this time around and continued his dominant run in ROH.
9 Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels vs. James Gibson vs. CM Punk (ROH Redemption, 2005)
A four-way match’s biggest strength is simultaneously its biggest weakness; there are so many moving parts involved that the action can turn the match into a barn-burner or a train wreck. This match, fortunately, went the first way.
The match lasted 50 minutes and ended with James Gibson walking away with the gold. Each man, though, got his fair amount of shine. Overall, the match is proof that chaos can not only be controlled but utilized for a match’s benefit.
8 Samoa Joe vs. Homicide (05/22/04)
This was definitely one of Joe’s more violent affairs in ROH, which is saying something. Joe and Homicide clashed several times throughout their careers, and this time they met at the Generation Next PPV. Joe is defending his ROH World Championship against Homicide, and since their last match ended in a no contest, the stipulation here is that there must be a winner. Homicide, no stranger to illegal tactics, brings some foreign objects into the match. The most notable of these is a fork which he uses to cut up Samoa Joe’s head. Samoa Joe wins, though, and lives to fight another day as ROH Champion.
7 Samoa Joe vs. Low Ki, (10/05/02)
This match was Joe’s debut in Ring of Honor. He was brought in as Christopher Daniel’s “hired assassin” at the PPV Glory by Honor. Joe’s job was to take out Low Ki, one of Daniels’ biggest rivals. This match was originally going to be a one-off appearance for Joe, but he impressed the crowd so immensely with his brutal, martial arts-inspired wrestling style that ROH brought him in as a full-time performer.
6 Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson (10/2/2004)
This match was for Samoa Joe’s ROH World Championship, during his record-breaking title reign. It was, predictably, another classic between two of pro wrestling’s heaviest hitters. The story of the match was that Bryan Danielson, the young, scrappy underdog, tried whatever he could to dethrone the most intimidating wrestler in all of ROH. Though Bryan ultimately came up short, he put on an incredible performance that further helped bolster his growing reputation as one of the best technical wrestlers in the world.
5 Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk (ROH World Title Classic)
A lot of CM Punk's matches, especially those he had before going to WWE, almost feel like they happened in a past life. Something that made this match especially notable and memorable is the fact that it was a 60-minute time limit draw, something that was virtually unheard of back in 2004. CM Punk, in an attempt to dethrone the champion, Samoa Joe, tried to outlast his opponent in the hopes of tiring him out. Though he was unable to dethrone the champion, they put on a showstopper from beginning to end. Both men came away looking even stronger, and Samoa Joe left the match an even more dominant champion than he was before.
4 Samoa Joe vs. Bryan Danielson (Fight Of The Century, 2006)
If there’s one thing to take away from this list, it’s that sparks are going to fly whenever Bryan Danielson and Samoa Joe are in a ring together. Neither man pulled any punches here (not that they ever do).
What separates this match from their other encounter on this list is that this time around, Bryan was the one holding the World title. It ended in a 60-minute time limit draw, which is another theme for Samoa Joe’s best matches. With both Bryan and Joe in AEW, fans can only imagine what another feud between them would unleash.
3 Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk (ROH All-Star Extravaganza II, 2004)
This match is the third in the CM Punk/Samoa Joe trilogy. The two wrestlers were in the same roles as they had been before, with Samoa Joe as World Champion and CM Punk as his challenger. Since their last two matches ended in draws, the stipulation here was that there was no time limit, and if CM Punk lost he could never challenge for the title again, as long as Joe held it. The match had a lot of callbacks to their previous encounters and is widely considered a classic by ROH fans. It’s a treat for those who had kept up with the Punk/Joe rivalry while it was running its course.
2 Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk (ROH Joe vs. Punk II, 2004)
Ring of Honor did, in fact, name an entire event around this match. This alone should tell you just how much hype there was for the rematch. The two certainly delivered, even with all the bubbling anticipation. Their chemistry, as per usual, was off the charts. The match was a mix of technical work, strikes, and submission holds that all worked together to make this another classic between two of pro wrestling’s biggest underground stars.
1 Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi (10/1/05)
With an average rating of 9.67, this match is the highest scored match on Cagematch’s entire site, making it the best match of all time according to its users. In addition, Wrestling Observer Network awarded it Match of the Year for 2005, adding even more prestige to this dream match.