In a new interview with Sports Illustrated ahead of the premiere episode of AEW Collision, Samoa Joe reflected on his time spent on the independent circuit, where he helped revitalize the circuit alongside the likes of CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels and others. Expressing pride at having paved the way for the future before eventually heading to TNA, WWE and now AEW/ROH, Joe shared,
“I worked for the ability to have more work on the independent circuit. We worked to build out a scene that would bring in more fans. There were a lot of small houses. When I left independent wrestling, those houses were dramatically up.”
“And it was an exciting process to be part of this new company exploding onto the scene. Back then, there weren’t a lot of places to work in the industry. If you weren’t in WWE at the time, potentially TNA but they were in their early days, there weren’t many places where a young independent wrestler could get out there in front of fans and build a fan base. We were selling out small buildings in Ring of Honor and the fans were rabid. It was such a fun time.”
Joe has been off of AEW television for a considerable amount of time, having not been seen since losing the TNT Championship to Wardlow at AEW Revolution. He has been a regular feature in Ring of Honor being the ROH World Television Champion.
CM Punk signed with WWE in 2006 before his highly publicized and controversial exit in 2014, while Joe joined NXT soon afterwards. Discussing the prospect of crossing paths with his long-time rival after almost two decades, Joe said,
“When you look at the breadth of our careers, there was a large span of time when we didn’t touch. Now we’re back together, doing what we do best. I’m looking forward to seeing what he’s picked up, I’m down to show him what I’ve picked up, and we’ll see how it all hashes out in the ring.”
CM Punk and FTR will face Samoa Joe, Juice Robinson and Jay White in the main event of the premiere episode of AEW Collision, set to air tonight at 8/7c on TNT.
Hyping up the match, Joe said,
“Juice is wildly underrated. Jay is coming into a new market, and not everyone has seen his work before, but that’s all part of the process. Stylistically, physically, they’re in their prime. FTR is an amazing tag team. I’ve got to watch their evolution from NXT to AEW. I’m looking forward to facing off against them.”
