“The Destroyer” Samoa Joe, recently sat down with The Mirror to discuss his upcoming opportunity at the WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam. Joe goes over if his match at “Great Balls Of Fire” lived up to his expectations & much more.
Here are the highlights:
Did Joe’s Match With Brock Lesnar At Great Balls Of Fire Live Up To His Expectations:
“Aside from the result, it was every bit the physical encounter I expected it to be. Brock is one of those special athletes, so everything in the ring is elevated to another level with him. I’m a very intense individual and I have no qualms in saying he definitely lives up to his hype as a very intense individual too. It was furious, it definitely lived up to the experience I thought it would be.”
Joe Being Positioned As A Top-Star In The WWE:
“Erm, in that realm, obviously tremendously fortunate that the opportunity had presented itself. I feel in the lead-up to it we definitely made the most of that opportunity, so much so that although the result wasn’t what I hoped for, I definitely came out the better regardless of the outcome. I can say it will probably be one of those moments of my career that I can pinpoint that a lot of things spawned from it that were positive. I felt great to be put in that position.”
Fans Being Surprised That Joe Wasn’t “Bullied” In The Ring By Brock Lesnar:
“Yeah and it’s also because Brock sees it that way. He knows what I’m capable of and what I can do in the ring. I think there is this false assumption that he’s really tone-deaf to the rest of the world when really he’s probably, from what I’ve seen of how he has conducted himself, he is probably one of the most savvy businessmen in our industry, if not all combat sports. So he knew what he was getting into, who he was doing it with and he understood the magnitude of what was going to go down and what kind of threat I presented to him. I think him being convinced if anything was what kind of lent more fire and hyper meaning to the match.”
Having A Pro-Fighting Background & Mixing It In With Pro-Wrestling:
“Well I think you have a lot of people now who have their own interpretation of what we do and I’m very much a supporter of that. I think our sport evolves as the talent evolves and the mindset evolves. Though there are some core principles that we always cling to, obviously they are passed on and aren’t any less valuable but it’s just expanded upon. To go into what me and Brock did, it was definitely more of a vision of what I feel what we do should be. If the lines are blurred then I’m more than happy with that.”
The SummerSlam Universal Championship Match:
“I’m beyond enthused I think is the best way to put it. Obviously, I would have loved to have another singles match with Lesnar, but when you look around at the talent that is surrounding me in that ring, what I might view as kind of a lame duck opportunity, has actually turned into an opportunity for me to show the entire world how much better I am than the very best in the world.”
Does Joe Feel That He’s At The Peak Of His Career And Does He Wish He Signed With WWE Sooner?:
“It’s funny. Timing is a real issue. If you were to ask me would I change anything or could I go back to the past and change anything, I really wouldn’t. I think part of my journey here and the places I was able to be at and the styles of wrestling I was able to experience and the friendships and just the world experience that I garnered before I came here to WWE helped me tremendously when I got here. To use an analogy, when I got here I hit the ground running, with a lot of confidence in my abilities and what I had to offer. It is later in my career that I entered WWE and I think the same could be said for AJ and a few other gentlemen, but that being said, like I said, I don’t think I would change anything.”
“I tremendously enjoyed my journey in professional wrestling and I wouldn’t want to trade a time or a place. Even the low times because it was those things that kind of tempered me and forged me and pushed me ahead to be here now. To be honest with you, this career has been tremendously lucrative and giving to me, so I feel like to say ‘I wish I was here earlier’ would kind of demean a lot of the great accomplishments and the patronage that I was fortunate enough to receive through my varied career. The time was right, I’m here now and we’re doing big things.”