Samoa Joe: Repair or Repo?

[The Hiphopapotamus]

Okay,Samoa Joe is a good wrestler.But TNA seem to be ******ed when it comes to him in the last year.I will just point out how they fucked up.

1)They booked him very well from his debut.They gave a background on his indy success and had him destroy the X division wrestlers,which put him incredibly over.He put on great matches,especially with Daniels and Styles.Think of unbreakable 2005,what a match.His unique style of hard hitting,huge power and surprising agility made the fans turn him from heel to face.They started to chant "Joe's gonna kill you!".He had a huge undefeated streak in which he only lost the title in a 3 way without being pinned.But it all kicked off for him in the weeks leading to Bound for glory 2006...

2)They had him steal the title which led to him being placed into the monster's ball that year (in which he was victorious).He then,because of his plundering,feuded with Angle,the new superstar.They had multiple Matches that were very good in which Angle came out on top,but by putting Joe over.He then had a title shot but was cheated out of it by Christian Cage,the Champion.He then joined team Angle for lockdown which they won,had a non storyline match with AJ at sacrifice and then came close in the king of the mountain.Which led to another feud with Angle in which he was again cheated, out of ALL the titles!He then ended Cage's unbeaten run at BFG.

3)He then joined with Nash and hall,but when Hall no showed,he cut what I thought was a great promo which he almost got fired for going too long.He joined with Nash and Cage for the "Unlikely Alliance" to take care of the Angle Alliance.His dream was realised at Lockdown where in a great match he defeated Angle.He then retained at BFG,which should have been a huge push,but after an okay feud with Booker and an underwhelming reign,it all fell down at BFG 2008...

This is where Joe started to become the one we know today,mainly due to TNA

4)He completely dominated Sting before being screwed by Nash.For some reason they put the 50 year old over the future.He had an alright match with Nash that he lost again.This time putting over the guy who can't even walk.He was then taken out by the Main Event Mafia,but this would see the birth of the Nation of vilence...

5)When he reappered on impact,I will admit i marked out a little.I liked the new gear and gimmick,didn't mind the tattoo.But the knife was god damn stupid.Why need a knife when you are already a killing machine?And the growth of his girth.Maybe he was depressed from his loss and started snacking.He needs to get back into his less out of shape self.he then stopped wrestling and just torturing.It was hard to take him seriously.When his match with Steiner was just a huge brawl,I got a little sad.They are starting to book him better,with Taz and a feud with AJ.

He is still the same great wrestler that can do so many insane things.But I am afraid his new found belly will lead to him losing one of the things that made him unique.His agility.To me,he needs to lose the Tattoo,the Knife and the huge belly(and the moobs) to really become better than he was.His gimmick is better,but he needs the crowd to start chanting "Joes gonna kill you" again to really realise his potential.And when he makes these changes,and combines the goods of new and old Joe,the 3 time star match wrestler,the 2 time best brawler,the 1 time most outstanding wrestler and #4 in the PWI 500 last year,it will be brilliant.

 

[RVDgurl]

Since when has Samoa Joe been hailed the savior of TNA? I must have missed that. So much expectation has been put on this guy's shoulders that it's nearly impossible for him to ever live up to it.

Joe doesn't need to be "repaired" or "repoed". He needs to be booked differently. Joe is a great athlete for a man of his size and shape; let's face it, Joe's not going to ever be on the cover of Muscle Magazine. However, he is not the man that is going to carry TNA on his shoulders.

I think TNA has done a fairly good job of booking Joe over the past couple of years and the results are plain to see. Joe has done a fairly decent job, but he's not setting the world on fire. TNA has a handful of other guys that could and should be trying to book into the main event scene.

Joe has reached his potential. There's only so much talent in one man. Joe will always be good for the upper mid card but he is just not that guy to carry the main event scene.

 

[Milkyway!]

Joe is a good wrestler. He can't carry a company. I think he could easily keep the X-division alive though. Basically from what I've seen theres three things wrong with Joe.

1) Hes a fat piece of garbage. Go on a diet, and lose some wieght. You're in a professional sport. At least LOOK like you're fit. I mean honestly, his fat looks like jello.

2) Joe needs to pick back up on a dominant gimmick. He can play a mean heel, and be made to look dominant. Hes somoan, large somoans can't play faces its in the wrestling 101 handbook. TNA should read it sometime.

3) Joe needs to have a better work ethic. He half butts everything. Its like me, cleaning, without a cause, and without a reward. It will only look half as good as when I started. Joe used to bust his butt in 2005, you could tell that. But today, in 2009, hes slacking off, and has one of the worst work ethics I've ever seen. He makes HBK look like John Cena. HBK only shows up on PPV's to work his magic. But thats for another thread.

People need to stop blaiming TNA for Joe. A wrestler can put themselves over, and keep themselves over. Stone Cold did it, why can't Joe? Thats the same with any wrestler. No I'm not saying every wrestler can do that, but I am saying Joe can. Hes booked on a silver platter. Gets the best piece of turkey, he just drops the ball when he needs to carry it the most.

 

[rnzrkorip]

i personally like joe and his nation of violence. i like everything about joe right now other than the fact that he needs to lose weight. and that thing on his face looks like a sideways arrow. actually, i think that's what it is. him using the knife is different, nobody else is doing it. just like the suicide character; nobody else is doing anything like it, so tna should try it. i thought joe's new attire was dumb as hell, than they changed the way they put on his boots and now it doesn't look nearly as bad. his character actually has....well, character. samoa joe is comeplete psycho that doesn't care about anyone or anything other than beating the hell out of people and i believe he does it rather well. if joe loses about 15-20lbs, i believe he will be a lot better off in every aspect. just what i think.

 

[Total Impact]

Let me just say that is a shame what TNA has done to Samoa Joe. They guy who could have been their Austin, Hogan, Rock, Raven, Sandman, Goldberg, Sting, the biggest star they ever made, they buried the shit out of him with this stupid Nation of Violence gimmick.

Now on paper, the gimmick would have been perfect, however, Joe didn’t need a gimmick change as he already was a badass from day one. I still say that the problem with Samoa Joe and TNA is that they waited too long to put the title on him and when he did win the title, it didn’t mean anything as he never won the belt as his peak of popularity. They did the same thing with AJ Styles and Ron Killings, either too early or too late.

Now we have a Samoa Joe who looks like an idiot on TV in this gimmick, he is overweight, growing breast and is sham of what he once was. I know people who love TNA hate the WWE, but if Vince spent a year pushing a guy, making him roll through talent, have undefeated, and he is over with the crowd, he would have pulled the trigger on making him world champion at his peak instead of TNA who waited a year or so after it was at his peak.

TNA is used to destroying the talent they make, like Monty Brown, a guy who was over with the crowd as face and heel and what did TNA do, let him go the WWE. And the WWE tried pushing him, but he had family issues, but TNA really missed the ball with him. Same thing is happening with Abyss.

TNA just can’t make talent.