10 Great WWE NXT Storylines You Don't Remember

Samoa Joe's first NXT run is the stuff of legend. He jumped ship from TNA in 2015 and initially signed a non-exclusive deal, but his merchandise sales were so strong WWE soon snatched him up on a full-time basis. The Samoan Submission Machine's feuds with Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura resulted in plenty of hard-hitting contests that have held up very well over the past eight or nine years.

Joe's second NXT run, though, is largely lost to history. After a four-year main roster run and a release in 2021, Joe was rehired in June of that year. Initially, he served as GM William Regal's "enforcer," which was a fun callback to Steve Austin's time as a non-wrestling "sheriff" of Monday Night Raw.

Unlike Austin's angle nearly two decades earlier, this one had a payoff. After weeks of tension with NXT Champion Karrion Kross, Joe won the title for the third time at NXT TakeOver 36. However, Samoa Joe wouldn't wrestle another match with the company, giving up the strap after testing positive for COVID-19, which came around the same time Vince McMahon wanted to revamp the developmental company (into what turned out to be NXT 2.0).

There's much more good than bad here, though. Samoa Joe got to return to WWE after being released and show he had more gas in the tank, which gave NXT fans another great moment.