6 Things We Learned From Samoa Joe On Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast

2. AJ Styles And Shinsuke Nakamura Should Thank Him

Samoa Joe NXT
WWE.com

Okay, so maybe he wasn't entirely to thank, but Samoa Joe's arrival in WWE has changed things up ever so slightly. Whilst there were individuals before him, no arrival has been followed by an onslaught of similar names in the way Samoa Joe's has been.

Within months of Joe turning up other TNA alumni were showing their faces in NXT, and more are expected to come.

In the podcast with Sam Roberts Joe shifts from talk over his name to the similar situations experienced by other big name arrivals since, such as AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura.

Joe admits that he feels his success and subsequent influence definitely helped both guys make the move and transition to WWE.

Joe and AJ go back a long way, and the relationship Joe has with Nakamura is also longer-lasting than many realise, as the two met in the LA New Japan dojo way back when.

Joe's success in NXT made it easier for WWE to approach his buddies.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.