10 Things You Didn't Know About Samoa Joe

6. He Was A California State Judo Champion

If you look at Joe's wrestling style, you'll notice that he incorporates elements from various different martial arts disciplines. One of the most prominent among these is judo, which is seen through his simple-yet-strong take-downs, chokes, and joint locks. A major reason that Joe added these elements to his wrestling repertoire is because he was one of the most successful judokas in California. Joe became a Junior Judo Champion in the state of California before he embarked on his professional wrestling career. That comes as a major asset, because if gave him experience in a combat sport that shares techniques with pro wrestling. Joe was also able to add an important element of realism to his wrestling, which helped him distinguish himself more easily from his peers. While many of his fellow wrestlers adopted high-flying or more theatrical wrestling styles, Joe's always looked more 'real', because he had martial arts training that gave him an air of legitimacy and danger.
In this post: 
Samoa Joe
 
Posted On: 
Contributor

Alexander Podgorski is a writer for WhatCulture that has been a fan of professional wrestling since he was 8 years old. He loves all kinds of wrestling, from WWE and sports entertainment, to puroresu in Japan. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Queen's University in Political Studies and French, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration. He speaks English, French, Polish, a bit of German, and knows some odd words and phrases in half a dozen other languages.