Samoa Joe on NXT, Vince McMahon, and Lesnar Dream Match

Recent episode of Talk is Jericho podcast show had Samoa Joe as the guest discussing several topics including his time in NXT, Vince McMahon, and a dream match involving Brock Lesnar.

When discussing NXT, Joe mentioned his time with the brand ended up being longer than planned due to NXT shifting into a touring brand at the time. WWE needed stars to help sell tickets and decided on him, Finn Balor, and Shinsuke Nakamura to be the main attractions for house shows. As a result, all three had to stay longer in the brand than the WWE originally expected.

“I want to say almost close to two years. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I think a part of that too was about driving the brand. And I think that was kind of the issue with myself, Finn, and Nakamura. We were kind of these mainstays, it was a touring brand at this point, and it was like I felt kind of needed us, Bayley, is another consummate player, just it was kind of what people showed up and paid to see.

NXT is at a level now where it is a third touring brand within the WWE spectrum and you have to now produce talent that have the risk of being gone. I liken it to a Ring Of Honor or an ECW where it’s like you’d build these huge stars, but eventually opportunity comes calling and now you have to start from scratch.”

Joe revealed during the show he has yet to have a formal meeting with Vince McMahon since being promoted to RAW although has heard tales about these type of meetings with Vince being unpleasant overall.

“We haven’t really had a sit-down meeting. We talk in passing and like I’m not big on like having real long, drawn out conversations and I guess that’s to my detriment. I’ll show up and be like, ‘hey, what do we need? Alright, cool.’ I’m out the door. Let’s go get it done.” Joe exclaimed, “I heard, if you do have a meeting, nine times out of 10 it’s not a good thing!”

Later in the interview, Joe stated a dream match he would like to have in the WWE involves Brock Lesnar. Joe feels he fits well with Lesnar’s style for matches to make it a potentially great match if it ever happens.

“Absolutely. I think, and I’ve stated it a lot, I think it’s something the fans want to see and I’d definitely like to get into it with Brock.” Joe explained, “he’s very intense. It has got to be believable. I think that’s part of it too.”