When news broke that the co-main event of AEW Revolution was going to be a three-way match for the AEW World Champion between incumbent Samoa Joe, “Hangman” Adam Page, and Swerve Strickland, many felt the match was the Moguel Embassey leader's to lose.
On paper, it made sense, right? Swerve is about as popular as a performer can be in AEW, transcending the promotion's typical ceiling with his work in podcasting, music, and beyond, but would Tony Khan really pull the trigger on a title change in Greensboro, North Carolina, taking some spotlight away from the match of the night, Sting's retirement?
Well, as it turns out, the answer was no, as TK helped to orchestrate a perfect storm where Strickland opted against using Prince Nana's crown for an easy win only to see his championship dreams come to an end via a tap-out submission by the “Hangman,” but just because Joe survived Revolution doesn't mean he's safe to sit back and cruise to another year-long title reign. No, for Joe, the real challenge starts on the first Dynamite of March, as he's now a marked man with a guaranteed title grudge match against Wardlow on the books and a rematch with Strickland all but certainly in the cards moving forward.
Can Joe shake the transitional champion moniker he was maybe unfairly labeled with coming out of World End back in December, going on one of his legendary title reigns of yesteryear defined equally by its length and his in-ring dominance? Or will someone like Strickland use a win over Joe to truly cement himself as the next AEW Champion, holding the belt until Will Ospreay can challenge for it at All In in the main event at Wembley Stadium? Either way, after securing the win at AEW Revolution against a stacked field, the real hard part is about to start for everyone's favorite “Samoan Submission Machine.”
Samoa Joe always knew he'd get back into the World Title picture.
After securing his massive win over “Hangman” Adam Page and Swerve Strickland at Revolution, even if the former sort of tipped the scales by icing two referees before eating the pin, Samoa Joe was riding high, proud to still be the AEW World Champion and defacto face of the promotion moving forward.
Discussing his path back to the World Championship picture after being largely overlooked on the main roster back in WWE, Joe told Sean Ross Sapp at the Revolution media scum that he never doubted his day would eventually come, as he kept putting in the work and remains as dominant as ever even into his 40s.
“Obviously, I was planning and taking the time to recover so that I could be back here at this capacity competing at this level. Far too many dumber athletes in this industry don't take the time to heal, don't bet on themselves and say, ‘Hey, listen, I'm gonna step away from things a little bit, and I'm going to come back, not 90% not 80%, 110%.' I took that time, and I came back 110%. Now, I'm the AEW World Champion. So I mean, this is just indicative of me understanding what I need to do to get things done,” Samoa Joe explained via Fightful.
“I'm playing this on a very different level than everybody else. Everybody else out here just hoping to get their shot. Hoping they're doing things. I'm planning dynasties. I mean, it starts with me, and that's not going to change anytime soon. They're playing checkers, I'm out here playing chess. I mean, it's a totally different game, man. Doing commentary in ponchos, I am still a millionaire. I don't know what he's talking about. So I mean, he may not like that issue, but, hey, that guy in the poncho just whipped his ass tonight and is still World Champion. So I mean, you tell me, you tell me who's running things around here.”
Widely viewed as a transitional champion who could take the title off of MJF before passing it off to another star in the not-too-distant future, Joe has now been champion for 67 days and counting, with a real chance to get that number up over 100 before AEW's next Pay-Per-View, Dynasty, in April. While only time will tell if Joe can survive that show too, setting things up for an absolute gauntlet of PPVs over the summer leading to All In 20204, for now, the “Samoan Submission Machine” is a champion, and Swerve Strickland isn't, which is a result few fans would have expected heading into the show in Greensboro.
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