Samoa Joe is one bad, bad dude. The self-proclaimed “King of Television” after winning the Ring of Honor Television Title on the April 13th edition of Dynamite and the AEW TNT Championship at Full Gear, Joe defended his straps twice last week, first against Darby Allin on Dynamite and then against Juice Robinson at ROH Final Battle and in both contests, he came out on top looking better than the match before.
Afforded a chance to speak about his in-ring efforts immediately following ROH Final Battle with Tony Khan by his side, Joe laid out a challenge to anyone who had the courage to step up for him and either of his belts, be that the ROH TV Title, or the TNT Championship, the strap originally won in its inaugural match by Cody Rhodes in a bout versus Lance Archer. But who would take up the challenge? Certainly, it wouldn't be Rhodes, as, you know, he's recovering from a torn pec while being under contract with WWE. Still, if Rhodes were to step up, by some modern wrestling miracle, Joe would be willing to knock him down and prove once and for all that he's the best champion in television history.
“Anybody can get it, let’s be real clear about this,” said Joe h/t Fighful. “If you think you’re the guy that is going to come take this from me, show up, I’ll whoop your a–. It don’t matter if it’s Miro, Cody (Rhodes) can come back, bring anybody. If you want to come here and take my championship, you’re more than welcome to come. I don’t hunt people. I’m not out here chasing cats. They come chase me. The king sits on the throne, you come to me. That’s how this works and how it’s going to continue to work as long as I hold these championships.”
Whoa, I get mentioning Miro in a conversation about the television titles, he is reportedly sitting around without much to do at the moment, but why mention Rhodes? Maybe because Joe is simply feeling himself, as, after a stop-and-start beginning to his time in AEW, Samoa's finest submission machine is finally feeling himself in an AEW ring.
“I think another thing that escapes a lot of people’s attention is when I first entered AEW, I was gone for essentially the first three months,” Joe said. “We could never really get into a groove, there is time and working cooperation with people, those things were happening, and I was busy. Now, I’ve had a good month under my belt here, a month and a half or two at this point, where I’m kind of getting into my flow of things and getting back in there and getting into a nice rhythm, which is a very hard thing to do in this industry when we have limited events scheduled. Anytime I can get in there and get a little bit of time, it ends up sharpening me up. We’re at that point right now.”
Watching Joe's matches as of late, where the super-sized heel has been mocking smaller opponents by no-selling his opponents' moves in more ways than one, it's clear the 43-year-old 23-time champion is relishing his chance to be the sort of dominant force that made him an indie all-time a decade ago in promotions like ROH and TNA-now-Impact.
Cody Rhodes didn't want to be a 15-time TNT Champion in AEW.
Speaking of Rhodes potentially wrestling Joe for either the TNT or ROH Television Championship, “The Son of a Son of a Plumber” famously commented on the prospects of even more runs with AEW's secondary title on The Ringer Wrestling Show immediately following his return match at WrestleMania against Seth Rollins. *spoiler alert* Rhodes wasn't looking to set a record for the most TNT Title reigns in AEW before his professional wrestling career was done.
“Perception of me is all over the place. ‘He’s an egomaniac. He asked for all this money.’ It’s kind of fun to hear, but in reality, I grew up here (in WWE),” Rhodes said h/t Fightful. “I was 20-years-old, I didn’t know what a contract was. I was 19 when I went to OVW. Now, it’s a different story. It’s not so much about, ‘this has to be this way,’ it was just more of, I was the Executive Vice President of AEW, one of the founding fathers. I wanted to make sure that leaving, it was with the utmost respect and not, I hope no one is lazy enough here, which no one is, to make AEW jokes or bingo hall references or anything like that. Nothing against them, it was just time for me to move on. I had wrestled everybody that I wanted to wrestle. I didn’t want to be a 15-time TNT Champion and hold the belt hostage. I wanted to move on to a different piece of leather. Nick Khan is another one, ‘perception is reality,’ everyone has these opinions on Nick Khan. That guy was the nicest guy I ever met in my life. The nicest guy. Bruce to come in, the Chairman himself (Vince McMahon). The courtship felt so good.”
Would Rhodes have continued to compete for the TNT Title and the TNT Title only had he stuck around in AEW? Honestly, probably not; since Rhodes' absence, AEW has officially unleashed the Ring of Honor Galaxy, and he certainly could have put on matches with/for the Ring of Honor World Championship – which he held before – or even the ROH Pure Championship in a sort of “TNT open challenge” on steroids. Still, it's hard to argue that pursuing one dream should be put on hold, even if a 15-time TNT Title run would have been interesting to see, especially if it came in quick succession.
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