10 WWE Stars Who Managed To Shake Off The 'TNA Stink'

6. Samoa Joe

Consequences Creed Xavier Woods
impactwrestling.com

For many TNA mainstays who have made the jump to WWE, it has often been a case of being disappointingly used or barely used at all during their WWE stay. Case in point, poor Eric Young. In EY, there's someone who can do literally anything you could ask for - from serious, to comedic, to in-ring mastery, to brawling - yet Young's time with WWE ended with a prolonged spell of being a rarely-seen enhancement talent on Raw.

Thankfully for Samoa Joe, he has managed to avoid the same fate of so many other TNA alumni. While we can all argue that Joe could have maybe been given a run with one of WWE's top titles over the past few years, you can't look past the fact that the 'Samoan Submission Machine' has regularly been used at the top of the card during his WWE career, and that he even got a PPV singles match against Brock Lesnar.

To the credit of WWE, they have so often placed Samoa Joe in key spots across their programming, yet the sad reality is that Joe has had an unfortunate habit of picking up injuries at the worst possible times across these past few years.

There appears to still be plenty left in the tank for Samoa Joe, so maybe we'll get to see him with one of WWE's biggest prizes before all is said and done with the career of this former TNA mainstay.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.